title: Atli Helgason
text: # Atli Helgason
  
  Atli Guðjón Helgason (born 7 March 1967) is an Icelandic lawyer and former footballer who played three games for the Iceland national football team. In 2001 he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder of his business partner Einar Örn Birgisson.
  
  ## Football career
  
  ### Club career
  
  Atli played for 14 seasons in the Icelandic leagues. He was the captain of the Víkingur Reykjavík team that won the national championship in 1991.
  
  ### National team career
  
  He won three caps and scored one goal for the Iceland national football team between 1991 and 1992.
  
  ## Murder of Einar Örn Birgisson
  
  On November 8, 2000, 27 year old Einar Örn Birgisson, went missing. Einar, a football player and the son of former basketball star Birgir Örn Birgis, was Atli's business partner and former teammate. A week later, Atli confessed to his murder, having beaten Einar four times in his head with a hammer in Öskjuhlíð in Reykjavík and hiding his body near Grindavík. On 29 May 2001 he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder. He was released from prison in 2010.
  
  