Jóhannes Karl "Joey" Guðjónsson (born 25 May 1980) is ðjóan Icelandic former professional footballer and the assistant manager of Iceland. He earned 34 caps for the Iceland national team between 2001 and 2007.
His clubs include Real Betis, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City, AZ Alkmaar and Burnley. He has played in five top-flight league across Europe.
Club career
Iceland, Belgium & the Netherlands
Jóhannes Karl began his professional career in the Icelandic Premier Division with KA of Akureyri at the age of 17. It was not long before he moved abroad, and in 1998, he was transferred to top-flight Belgian outfit, Racing Genk. He made eight appearances for ÍA, scoring once.
He only played a handful of matches for Genk and the following season he was loaned out to newly promoted Eredivisie side MVV Maastricht. Again, he only spent one season with the club and then moved to another Dutch club, RKC Waalwijk in a permanent deal, where he had another season-long stay, making 35 appearances and scoring six goals for the Dutch side.
Betis
In 2001, he moved to La Liga side Real Betis, his fourth new club in four years, signing for a fee of £500,000 from RKC Waalwijk. In his first year Jóhannes Karl started five matches and made six substitute appearances in his first season.
Jóhannes Karl found his chances limited in the following season after only making one appearances for Betis in the 2002–03 season, prompting a loan move to Premier League side Aston Villa. He made his debut for Villa in their 5–2 away win at Middlesbrough on 28 January 2003, scoring his first goal for the club. He scored twice in eleven appearances with his other goal coming against Leeds.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Jóhannes Karl spent the 2003–04 season on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers as they battled against relegation from the Premier League, appearing 11 times in the league, 16 in total. Jóhannes Karl made his Wolves debut coming on as a substitute in their 0–0 league draw at home to Portsmouth on 30 August 2003. His first start of the season came in their 2–0 League Cup win over Darlington on 23 September 2003 when he scored his first and only goal for the club. He made his first league start for Wolves in a 0–0 draw at Fulham in October. Jóhannes Karl returned to Real Betis at the end of the season after making 15 appearances for Wolves in all competitions during the 2003–04 season.
After returning to his parent club in the summer, he ended up making a return to England, but to Leicester City rather than Wolves.
Leicester City
Jóhannes Karl joined Leicester on a free transfer in 2004 from Spanish side Real Betis. He made his Leicester debut coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute in their 2–1 away victory at Derby County on the opening day of the 2004–05 season. He made his first start of the season in a 1–0 home defeat to Watford on 21 August 2004. Jóhannes Karl became a regular first-team player as the Foxes struggled to make an immediate return to the top flight. He scored his first goal for the Foxes in a 3–2 home defeat to Preston North End in League Cup scoring a 68th-minute penalty on 2 October 2004. His first league goals came in a 2–2 home draw with Crew Alexander a month later on 2 November 2004. Jóhannes Karl made 41 appearances in all for Leicester during his first season at the club, scoring four times in all with two of them coming in the league.
Jóhannes Karl made his first appearance of the 2005–06 season on the opening day of the season in Leicester's 4–1 defeat away at Sheffield United. His first goals of the league campaign came in a 2–2 draw away at Crewe Alexandra on 20 August 2005. His second came just three days later in a 3–0 away win over Bury in the League Cup. He then scored a further two in a 2–2 draw at home to Watford on 22 November. On 4 May 2006 Jóhannes Karl scored two goals against Hull City including the winner scored in the 84th minute from within his own half in a 3–2 win.
Jóhannes Karl finished the season as joint top goal scorer with nine goals in all competitions for Leicester. He made 48 appearances with 42 of them coming in the league during the 2005–06 season.
He won the club's player and goal of the season awards in their end of season ceremony. His winning goal came against Hull City when he scored from the halfway line, a strike which also won several other goal of the month awards and the Central Soccer Night goal of the season.
Jóhannes Karl left Leicester at the end of the season to join Dutch side AZ after making 77 appearances and scoring 10 league goals for The Foxes over two seasons.