Ari Freyr Skúlason (born 14 May 1987) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a left-back for IFK Norrköping in Sweden. He previously played at senior level in Iceland and Belgium, and was also a youth player in the Netherlands. He made over 80 appearances for the Iceland national team. Club career Ari started his career at Valur. At sixteen, he went to SC Heerenveen in the Netherlands where he spent two seasons. He was released at the end of 2005 when he could not make the first team. He returned to Valur where he played half a season before signing with Allsvenskan club BK Häcken. Although relegated to the Swedish second tier, the club competed in the UEFA Cup qualifiers the following year because of their fair play ranking. Häcken managed to progress into the main competition after Ari scored the winning goal against Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic Häcken failed to gain promotion, and he signed with Allsvenskan club GIF Sundsvall at the end of the year. At the start of the 2012 season he became captain of the club. On 11 July 2013, it was revealed that Ari had signed a contract with Danish Superliga club OB for the start of 2014 when his contract with Sundsvall expired. On 19 July it was announced that the clubs had reached an agreement for his semi-immediate transfer. On 27 July he played his last game for Sundsvall, scoring two free-kick goals in a 3–3 draw against GAIS. On 18 July 2016, Ari officially joined Belgian-side K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen. On 31 March 2021, Swedish club IFK Norrköping, announced that they had signed Ari. International career After being capped at various youth levels he got to make his debut for the Icelandic national team in 2009 against Iran. In 2012, he started getting more frequent callups from new national team manager Lars Lagerbäck. Despite Ari having been playing as a midfielder for his club side he was nonetheless picked in the Iceland squad as a left-back and has been the first-choice left-back in the national team during most of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Consequently, Ari felt that he needed to change his position at club level and asked to be signed as a left-back when he was sold in July 2013, so he could play that position at club level to be able to hold his place as the first-choice