Iceland review - 2016, Page 37

ICELAND REVIEW 35
warning that it can easily disappear in a
couple of years if not managed properly.
Heimir feels strongly about how the
funds should be used. “They should of
course be used to improve elite players
as well as the youth league, to build up
young players. It’s for the board [of the
Football Association of Iceland, KSÍ] to
decide how it’s spent but we have put
forward our suggestions.” When asked
if, despite being the coach of the men’s
team, he feels a duty to also promote the
women’s league, Heimir points out that
he worked as the coach of women’s teams
in the Icelandic Premier League for sev-
eral years and says it’s natural that the
money from the Euros be used to also
strengthen women’s football in Iceland.
The women’s team have twice made it to
the Euros and reached the quarter finals
in 2013. “The women’s team has been
our flagship in recent years,” he adds.
Now that the football fever of Euro
2016 is over in Iceland and Lars has
left, the team is not resting on its laurels
but looking ahead to continue to write
history. “Our next goal is to make it
to the final competition of the World
Cup, which no Icelandic national foot-
ball team [neither male nor female] has
done yet. This is a new and exciting
goal,” Heimir says. The first game of the
qualifying round is against Ukraine in
early September. “We’re a really strong
team, although we of course know that
this will not be easy. Only one country
out of six [in each group] will go directly
into the final competition of the World
Cup.” In the Euros the top two teams
went straight through to the finals. “But
this is our goal,” he explains, adding: “It
will be difficult, but one thing I think
we did well is that we have prepared for
this, we had said that a good result at the
Euros is not the end, that it was a good
trip but not the end because success is
not a destination, success is a constant
journey to the right direction.” u
F O O T B A L L
From top to bottom:
Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson scoring against Austria;
Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson and the team
celebrate after the 2-1 victory against Austria;
Icelanders celebrating the team’s first goal
in the game against England in Nice, which
Iceland went on to win 2-1.