Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson

Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson (born 18 February 1995) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Danish Superliga club Copenhagen and the Iceland national team. He has also previously played for Dijon, Nordsjælland, KR Reykjavik and Arsenal.

Family
Rúnar Alex is the son of Rúnar Kristinsson, a former professional footballer.

Club career
Rúnar Alex was player of the season for FC Nordsjælland in the 2017–18 Danish Superliga. In June 2018, Rúnar Alex joined French side Dijon on a four-year agreement.

Arsenal
On 21 September 2020, Rúnar Alex signed for Premier League club Arsenal on a four-year deal. He chose the number 13 at the club. Rúnar Alex made his debut for the club on the 29th October 2020, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 UEFA Europa League win over League of Ireland side Dundalk at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal faced Manchester City in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on 22 December. With the score at 1–1, Rúnar Alex let Riyad Mahrez's free kick slip through his arms to put Manchester City back in front. Arsenal lost the tie 4–1.

After first choice goalkeeper Bernd Leno was sent off against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 2 February 2021, Rúnar Alex made his Premier League debut as a substitute for Thomas Partey in a 2–1 away defeat.

Loan spells
On 31 August 2021, Rúnar Alex joined Belgian First Division A club OH Leuven on loan until the end of the season. On 27 October 2021, Rúnar Alex made his first appearance of the season for OH Leuven in their 2–1 Belgian Cup win over Lierse Kempenzonen, with his league debut coming one month later on 26 November 2021 in a 1–3 away win to league leaders Union SG.

On 15 August 2022, Arsenal announced that Rúnar Alex was loaned to Süper Lig side Alanyaspor.

On 18 August 2023, Rúnar Alex joined Championship side Cardiff City on a season long loan. He was recalled on 1 February 2024 to Arsenal, where he was released on a free by mutual termination.

Copenhagen
Rúnar Alex made the move to Danish side Copenhagen on 1 February 2024 via a free transfer.

International career
Having previously represented his country at youth level, Rúnar Alex was called up to the senior Iceland squad for the 2017 China Cup, where the team became the silver medalist He earned his first senior cap in a friendly against the Czech Republic on 9 November 2017.

In May 2018, he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.