Joey Guðjónsson

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. 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…

Jóhannes Karl made his international debut for the Iceland national team on 15 August 2001, in a 1–1 friendly draw with Poland. He scored once for the national team in a 1–1 draw with Norway on 22 May 2002. Jóhannes Karl was involved in Iceland's qualification for both the 2002 FIFA World Cup when he made three appearances during qualification when Iceland finished fourth in group 3, including a 3–1 home victory over the Czech Republic as well as away defeats to Northern Ireland and Denmark and 2006 FIFA World Cup when he made four appearances during qualification when Iceland finished fifth in group 8, playing a total of seven World Cup qualifying games. He was also involved in Iceland's qualification campaigns for the UEFA European Championships. Including Euro 2004 where he started in Iceland's games aniseed Scotland which they lost 2–1 as well as both their 2–1 wins over the Faroe Islands, a 3–0 away win over Lithuania and Iceland's 0–0 home draw with Germany. Jóhannes Karl picked up his 16th and 17th caps for Iceland against England and Japan in a mini tournament held in Manchester prior to Euro 2004. Jóhannes Karl has earned 34 caps scoring once for Iceland.

Jóhannes Karl was appointed player-manager of HK in 2016 and served in that role through the 2017 season. Before the 2018 season he moved to fellow 1. deild karla club ÍA, his hometown club. He joined as manager, retiring from playing. He guided ÍA to a promotion to the top tier Úrvalsdeild in his first season in charge and kept them up the following three seasons. Before the 2022 season he was hired as the assistant manager of Iceland. In May 2024, he was announced as the new manager of Danish 2nd Division side AB. On 15 November 2025, the club announced that Guðjónsson had decided to step back from the position.

Jóhannes Karl married his longtime girlfriend, Jófríður María Guðlaugsdóttir in June 2006. The couple have four sons, Ísak Bergmann (2003), Jóel Thor (2005), Daniel Ingi (2007) and the youngest, Emil Karl (2010). His father, Guðjón Þórðarson, has managed Stoke City, Notts County, Barnsley and the Iceland national team. He has three brothers who have also played professional football, Þórður (Thordur or Doddi), Bjarni and Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson. Whilst another brother, Atli Guðjónsson, played in the Icelandic leagues before retiring.