Rosenborg sports director in an interview
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As a player, Alfred Finnbogason shone above all as a goalscorer and crowd favorite at FC Augsburg and is still the Bundesliga record goalscorer for the Fuggerstadt team. The 37-year-old remained loyal to football even after his active career. The Icelander now works as a sports director at the Norwegian record champions Rosenborg BK. At Transfermarkt he looks back on his career, talks about an offer from BVB and his participation in the 2016 European Championships and the 2018 World Cup.
There are stressful months behind Alfred Finnbogason. He has been at Rosenborg since the beginning of the year and had to get to know many of the processes. There was also the transfer phase, which ran from the end of January to the end of March in Norway. “I’ve been under constant pressure since January 7th, so it’s good to relax a bit. The level of stress as a sports director is not comparable to that of being a player. As a player, you’re only responsible for yourself. As a sports director, you take on a lot of responsibility and make decisions for other people too. As a result, it can have both positive and negative effects. Nevertheless, I really enjoy working in this position,” he says.
Even during his active career, he thought about a possible subsequent career as an official. He initially studied psychology from 2012 to 2015, but without a degree. He made up for this by studying sports management and added a Bachelor of Business Administration straight after his career ended. Building on this, he completed a program at UEFA lasting several months with a focus on sports management, scouting and data analysis.
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“For me, it was always a waste of time to sit on the Playstation, which is why I preferred to pick up a book. The reason why I started thinking about a Plan B early on is because I became a professional footballer quite late. I only moved to Belgium when I was 21. During this time I also saw that a football career, no matter how talented you are, can end quickly. That’s why you need this Plan B,” says Finnbogason. “I can only recommend every player to use their free time wisely. These days you can quickly start studying online or learn a new language. Many FIFA and UEFA courses helped me to build up a broad network, which now helps me when I have questions about players from other countries. In the courses I was able to get to know great people like Ivan Rakitic, Marko Marin and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.”
Finnbogason on the toughest opponents, “heart club” Augsburg & BVB offer
When asked about the special moments he experienced as a player, the former attacker becomes nostalgic. These include the title of top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie in the 2013/14 season and 25 appearances in the Spanish LaLiga. “When you think about the great strikers who have become top scorers before and after me, it makes me even prouder.”
Even with the most difficult opponents of his career, he immediately has an answer ready. “In the Eredivisie I met a young defender from FC Groningen. He didn’t give me any chance, he was brutal in the duels, very fast, very nimble. My whole body hurt afterwards. You knew straight away that he had great potential. His name was Virgil van Dijk,” says Finnbogason with a laugh and names another professional who caused him problems: “I found Javier Mascherano very strong as an opponent. He could read the opponent really well, He was always one step ahead of us. He had something special in the way he played.”
But he experienced his best phase in the Bundesliga and especially at FC Augsburg, for whom he played 122 games and scored 39 goals. “The time in Augsburg was incredibly wonderful for my family and me. For me, the FCA is the club I love, thanks in part to the great people in the city and in the club environment. Every game in the Bundesliga was special for me because only a few Icelanders were active in Germany for such a long period of time. But the absolute highlight was that we always stayed in the Bundesliga throughout the years and celebrated staying in the league. When it comes to special games, I like to think of the game against Freiburg in the Back in the 2017/18 season, I scored a hat-trick and we turned a score of 1:3 into a 3:3. That was a nice Christmas present.”
I know that some top German clubs, including Dortmund, had me on their radar.
The striker’s qualities were shown again and again and probably even more would have been possible if injuries hadn’t stopped him. “I know that some top German clubs, including Dortmund, had me on their radar. Whenever things were about to become more concrete, I got injured. I had a lot of ambition and always fought my way back to the highest level, but it was frustrating at times. I would have thought I’d be at a top club if everything had been right, but in retrospect everything happened the way it was supposed to happen. I’m very proud to have played for FCA for so long “Something like that is often worth more than a transfer to a bigger club.”
Finnbogason: “Being at a World Cup obviously tops everything”
With the national team he qualified for two major tournaments, the 2016 European Championships and the 2018 World Cup, where the Icelanders caused surprises. “Participating in the European Championships and our victory in the round of 16 against England were already big highlights, but being at a World Cup obviously tops everything,” says Finnbogason, for whom the special Icelandic battle cries are unforgettable. “When I meet strangers today and tell them I’m from Iceland, many of them say ‘Huh’ to me. I remember that after the European Championship we were greeted by thousands of people at the airport. It felt like the whole country was on its feet. It was said that people had already parked their cars on the side of the road kilometers before the airport and continued on foot. That once again showed the special solidarity we have on the island.”
Finnbogason has a very special place in the history of the Icelandic national team. Because he scored the country’s first goal at a World Cup – against the football nation Argentina. “It was probably the best goal of my career. At that moment, all the difficulties, problems, obstacles and injuries that I had to overcome on my way to the top were forgotten. In the end, I swapped my jersey with Gonzalo Higuaín. I was actually also thinking about Lionel Messi, but there was such a big crowd around him that I didn’t feel like fighting for the jersey,” he says with a laugh.
Finnbogason starts his career as a manager: should lead Rosenborg back to the top
His many experiences – Finnbogason played in eight countries and speaks seven languages fluently – help him today as sports director to empathize with the players and possible newcomers. “Success and failure depend on communication. During my time in Spain I learned Spanish and haven’t regretted it for a day. On the contrary: the language has opened an incredible number of doors for me. Being a mother tongue gives you much better access to potential newcomers. My own experiences allow me to empathize with all the players’ emotional states: How does a top performer think and tick, or how does a young talent think and tick? I want to help the boys on their way up.”
Just as Iceland was the starting point for Finnbogason’s journey through Europe as a player, his homeland was also the starting point for his second career. In 2024 he joined the Icelandic first division club Breidablik as technical director and was responsible for the club winning the championship that same year. This meant moving into the league phase of the Conference League.
“Icelandic football has developed significantly positively in recent years. In the past, many European clubs had a hard time signing Icelanders because they weren’t sure whether they could keep up at the level. Today, Icelandic national players play in Germany, Italy and Spain. The international games also increase the market value of the players, which in turn benefits the league and the clubs. The market values are a good measuring tool to determine how well a club is working. I’m glad that Icelandic football is perceived more seriously today because that wasn’t the case years ago.”
A few months ago, Finnbogason took the next step and signed with Rosenborg Trondheim until 2030 – a huge leap of faith. His expertise is in extremely high demand at RBK, as the traditional club has had difficult years. After there was almost no other champion in Norway for decades, other clubs have now overtaken Rosenborg. The 26-time national champion has not won a title since 2018. With a squad value of 25.1 million euros, they are only the sixth most valuable team in the Eliteserien.
“In terms of fan base and reputation at home and abroad, we are still the largest club in Norway. I find the challenge and the appeal of leading the club back to the top incredibly exciting. We want to break new ground in the area of data scouting, as well as when it comes to performance. We are also still a driving force in youth work. Our young squad and players like Sverre Nypan and Marius Broholm show that Rosenborg is the right place for young talent,” emphasizes Finnbogason zum Graduation.
Text and interview: Henrik Stadnischenko
