Eidur Gudjohnsen was born in Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital, on September 15th 1978.
He started his career with Valur Reykjavik after his family returned from Belgium, where he had been in the books of Brussegem, where his father was a professional footballer. Eidur made his debut for Valur at the age of 15, but had played for Iceland Under-16's at the age of 13 and won 30 caps at that level. He went on to win Under-18 and Under-21 caps before making the move to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in 1994. With Luc Nilis, Rene Eijkelkamp and Ronaldo ahead of him it seemed Eidur had little first team opportunity, but he made his debut at 17, and three months later played as a substitute against Barcelona in the European Cup in the Nou Camp.
On April 24th 1996 Eidur was supposed to play in the same international match as his father Arnor, then 34. Against Estonia in Tallin, Eidur replaced his father as a second half substitute, maintaining the record that no father and son have ever played on the field at the same time in the same internatonal, however it was the first time a father and son played in the same international.
He played 13 times for PSV, scoring a few goals before breaking his ankle. After recovering from his ankle break Eidur was in great pain and could not play. This was due to nobody diagnosing that he had tendonitis in his ankle. He travelled far and wide to try to find somebody who could help him to play again, even returning to Reykjavik to try and play, but the pain was too great, and it was not until the Rosenborg club doctor recognised the problem and forced him through a training session that he finally overcame the problem.
PSV had long since given up on Eidur playing again and he had been released. Their loss was most definately Bolton Wanderers' gain, and Eidur was snapped up. It took him a long time to slim down, while spending time in the reserves, scoring 3 goals in 6 early appearances. He made his Bolton debut as a late substitute in the 3-1 win over Birmingham City in late September, but was still overweight. It was not until the following March that Eidur made a real impact, coming from the bench at Swindon Town with his team-mates trailing 3-1, Eidur set up a goal for Claus Jensen, and then scored a headed equaliser in the 3-3 draw. He repeated the feat three days later, coming of the Reebok bench to net a scorching low 20 yarder to equalise against Barnsley in another 3-3 draw. He went on to score a total of five goals as the season drew to a close, undoubtedly being the difference between Bolton reaching the playoffs or not. He scored a superb goal that clinched the Wanderers' place in the playoffs with the second in the 2-0 last day win at Portsmouth. Unfortunately after overcoming Ipswich in the two-legged semi final Eidur missed several guilt edged chances in the final against Watford, who went on to the premiership 2-0.
However, in the beginning of the 2000-2001 season, Eidur made it to the premiership. Due to financial problems Bolton lost their striker to Chelsea FC for four million pounds. He signed a five year deal, now he is playing for Barcelona.