“Our boys” is what Icelandic fans call their favorites, and it’s clear why: even today they don’t look like stars at all, more like provincial boys, especially since the guys, for the most part, grew up not in the capital. We have compiled a guide to the hometowns of football players and found out what they did there before they came to football.
Keflavik
Aron Gunnarsson, captain
Keflavik is a city on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland. It is located 30 km from the capital and is known primarily for the fact that it is here that the international airport of the same name is located. Until 2006, the city also housed the headquarters of the Icelandic Armed Forces (now peace-loving Iceland does not have a standing army). Keflavik is a harbor town, so the weather here is always very windy and rainy: not surprisingly, most sports take place indoors. And since not everyone has access to a football field, Icelanders are very fond of handball (and recently the main sport in the country). Thus, the current captain of the national team, Aron, began his sports career as a handball player, and quite a promising one at that.
Photo: thearchive.footballgroundsinfocus.com
Vestmannaeyjar
Heimir Hallgrimsson, coach
Heimir Hallgrimsson, the head coach of the national team, was born on one of the islands of the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. You can get to the islands lost in the cold waters by plane from Reykjavik or by ferry from several city ports. Interestingly, when Heimir was 6 years old, a strong volcanic eruption occurred on the island, which lasted for a whole year and a half. All residents of Vestmannaeyjar were evacuated, the city was completely covered in a layer of ash and partially destroyed. Fortunately, the future coach of the national team remained alive, went to England and studied there to become a dentist. In Britain, Heimir began to take an interest in football, and upon returning home, he got a job at a local club – in the morning he operated a drill, and in the evening he showed how to hit the ball. Vestmannaeyjar has two main attractions. A lonely house known as the home of the singer Björk (they say it was given to her by the country’s government for glorifying Iceland in the world) and the local stadium – thanks to the local landscape, it is deservedly considered one of the most impressive in the world.
Reykjavik
Hannes Thor Halldoursson, goalkeeper
Birkir Mair Sevarsson, midfielder
The northernmost European capital of Europe can hardly boast of an abundance of attractions (the cathedral, a pond with ducks, a dozen museums and the same number of pools with water from mineral springs – that’s all),
but it is considered one of the most fun cities: Europeans like to come to local bars and clubs (the most popular are NASA and Pravda) on weekends. Winter sports are also popular in Reykjavik. Hannes, for example, loved snowboarding as a child. Once he even injured his shoulder while skating, which is why he gave up football for a long time and began making money as a director. In particular, he produced the video for Iceland’s representatives at Eurovision 2012.
The sky is another attraction of Iceland: it seems like there are no such expanses opening before your eyes anywhere else. Thus, the current national team midfielder Birkir Sevarsson fell in love with the skies so much that he seriously intended to become a pilot and even entered a flight school. When he was expelled for lack of responsibility and discipline, he rushed towards the stadium.
Selfoss
Jon Dadi Bedvarsson, forward
The town of Selfoss is located in the southern part of Iceland, near the Atlantic coast. It is the largest city in South Iceland. It stands on the Elvusau River, on the circular highway number 1, connecting the capital of the country, Reykjavik, with the eastern regions of Iceland, between the towns of Hveragerdi and Hella. Surprisingly, the main attraction of Selfoss is the local cemetery, where world chess champion Bobby Fischer was buried in January 2008. At the start of his career, Jon worked part-time at a local port, helped with unloading fish and, in the meantime, strengthened his body and spirit.
Hafnarfjörður
Gylfi Sigurdsson, midfielder
Hafnarfjörður is the third largest city in Iceland. It is located on the southwest coast of Iceland, 10 km south of Reykjavik. Hafnarfjörður also has a port and the current footballer Sverrir Ingason, although not a laborer like his teammate, was also involved in the fishing industry. He is the chairman of a large fish selling company, where his father also works.
Kópavogur
Sverrir Ingason, defender
Kopavogur is the second most populous city in Iceland. Although the city is not anything surprising, architecture lovers will certainly appreciate the local Lutheran churches, laconic and similar in shape to museums of modern art. The city’s oldest church is located on Borgarhold hill, overlooking Kópavogur, Reykjavík and the surrounding area. It is her profile that is used for city seals. Digraneskirkja Church is also beautiful in its own way and is one of the main attractions of the city. Even as a professional, Sverrir put on a green jacket and cleaned the streets of his hometown from garbage, and in the evening he laced up his boots and ran across the field – quite typical for Iceland.
Akureyri
Birkir Bjadnason, midfielder
Akureyri is the “northern capital” of Iceland. The city is located at the bottom of the western part of the Eyjafjord and is surrounded by mountains. Thanks to the mountains that protect the city from strong winds, the climate here is not similar to the coastal one. Thus, Akureyri is characterized by greater temperature differences than many other parts of Iceland, for example, there are more pronounced cold winters and warm summers. Not far from the city there is one of the most important waterfalls in Iceland, the famous Godafoss – after baptism, the inhabitants of Iceland threw pagan idols into it.
