Heimir Hallgrímsson (born 10 June 1967) is an Icelandic professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who is the current manager of the Republic of Ireland men's national team.

Early life

Heimir was born on 10 June 1967, and grew up in a family of six children on the island of

Heimaey Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...

. His father ran a business repairing fishing nets. Heimir originally studied computer science at Reykjavik University with the aim of becoming a software engineer, but later qualified in dentistry, working as a dentist in Heimaey.

Career

As a player Heimir started playing for ÍBV from his local town

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

in 1986. He played with them until 1996 except for the 1993 season in which he played for Höttur while managing their women's team. From 1996 until 2007 he played lower league football with another club from

, from 1996 to 1997 he played with Smástund and from 1998 with KFS, the merged team of Smástund and another lower league team from Vestmannaeyjar called Framherjar. From 2002 to 2007 his appearances were sporadic. Throughout his playing career, he also served as the

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

for his home village, and even after taking sole reign over the Icelandic national team after Euro 2016. In the summer of 2016, he cared for a player who had a tooth knocked out at a local women's game he was attending, going on the pitch while the player was knocked unconscious and putting the tooth back in place, and then personally making the necessary tooth repair at a nearby dental office.

Coaching career

Club

In 1993, while playing with the men's senior team of Höttur, he coached their women's team, helping the team come first in the second tier and achieve promotion. Alongside working as a dentist in Vestmannaeyjar, he started coaching the town's women's senior team, ÍBV, guiding them towards the top of the Icelandic women's Premier league, gaining places in the table each year. In 2002, he was hired as assistant coach for the men's team of ÍBV, being their coach for the last games of the season after the coach was fired. In 2003, he again took over the women's team, guiding them to two 2nd-place finishes in the league and two cup finals, with ÍBV winning the second one in 2004. He did not coach any club in 2005 but again took over as the coach for the ÍBV men team mid-season in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, managing the team in the last 6 matches but failing to prevent relegation. He remained this time as coach and got the team promoted in the 2008 season, finishing 10th out of 12 in the top division in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

before managing two 3rd-place finishes in a row in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Iceland

On 14 October 2011, KSÍ announced they had appointed Heimir as assistant coach of the

Iceland national football team The Iceland national football team () represents Iceland in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland, and have been a FIFA member since 1947 and a UEFA member since 1957. ...

alongside Lars Lagerbäck as coach. Iceland qualified for the play-off stage of the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

, however, Iceland lost there against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Shortly thereafter Heimir and Lagerbäck signed a new contract, this time as joint coaches. Iceland reached their first major tournament by qualifying for Euro 2016. At the tournament finals, Iceland recorded 1–1 draws in their first two group stage matches against Portugal and Hungary. They then advanced from their group with a 2–1 victory against Austria. Iceland qualified for the tournament's quarter-finals after a 2–1 upset win over England in the Round of 16, which led to England manager Roy Hodgson resigning immediately after the final whistle. However, they were eliminated by host nation

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the quarter-finals, 5–2. After Euro 2016, he became the sole coach of Iceland with Lagerbäck becoming coach of Norway. Iceland qualified for the 2018 World Cup, their first ever appearance in the world championship and second major tournament overall. Iceland were drawn to play

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in a

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

that was considered by many as the " group of death". Despite a challenging group, Iceland were tipped to advance from the group by several journalist websites, based on their impressive performance in Euro 2016. Their maiden match at the World Cup was against 2014 runners-up Argentina, with Iceland holding Argentina to a 1–1 draw. However, their chances of advancing from the group were hurt following a 2–0 loss to Nigeria, with several missed opportunities in the first half and a penalty kick in the second half missed by Gylfi Sigurðsson, putting Iceland in position to play a decisive match against already qualified Croatia. Iceland lost to Croatia in their final group game and were eliminated; and because Argentina won against Nigeria, Iceland finished bottom of the group with a single point. Heimir resigned on 17 July 2018 after the World Cup.

Al-Arabi

On 10 December 2018, Heimir was hired as head coach for Al-Arabi in Qatar. His contract was for years or until summer of 2021.

Jamaica

In September 2022, the Jamaican Football Federation announced Heimir as the new coach of the Jamaican national team. He would resign however after the Reggae Boyz performed poorly at the 2024 Copa América.

Republic of Ireland

On 10 July 2024, the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

announced Heimir as the new coach of the Republic of Ireland national team.

Managerial statistics

References

External links