Career
Even though his most common position is in central midfield he can also play as a winger and has been playing as a fullback with the Iceland national football team After transferring from Sweden to Denmark in 2013 he stated in an interview that he"d asked to be bought as a left-back to cement his place as the starting left-back in the national team He will consequently be playing as a left-back in Denmark.
Ari started his career at Valur.
He then went to the Netherlands as a sixteen-year-old and spent two seasons with South Carolina Heerenveen before being released at the end of 2005 after not being able to make the first team He returned to his old club Valur where he played half a season before signing with Allsvenskan club BK Häcken.
The club was relegated but even though they were a second tier team they were still able to compete in the 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 F.C. After the club failed to get promoted 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 as of 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. 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 bought 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 left-back in the Iceland squad.
