Heimir Hallgrímsson (born 10 June 1967) is an Icelandic football manager and former player who is the current manager of the Republic of Ireland men's national team.
Heimir as Iceland coach at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Heimir Hallgrímsson[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1967-06-10) 10 June 1967 (age 57)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defender | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Republic of Ireland (head coach) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1992 | ÍBV | 93 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Höttur | 17 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | ÍBV | 26 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Smástund | 20 | (10) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2007 | KFS | 48 | (10) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 204 | (23) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Höttur (women's) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2001 | ÍBV (women's) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | ÍBV (men's) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | ÍBV (women's) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2011 | ÍBV (men's) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2018 | Iceland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2021 | Al-Arabi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Jamaica | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Republic of Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Heimir was born on 10 June 1967, and grew up in a family of six children on the island of Heimaey. His father ran a business repairing fishing nets.[3] Heimir originally studied computer science at Reykjavik University with the aim of becoming a software engineer,[4] but later qualified in dentistry, working as a dentist in Heimaey.[3][5]
As a player Heimir started playing for ÍBV from his local town Vestmannaeyjarin1986. 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 Vestmannaeyjar, 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.[6] Throughout his playing career, he also served as the dentist for his home village, and even after taking sole reign over the Icelandic national team after Euro 2016.[5]
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.[7]
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,[8] 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.[9][10] 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.[11][12] 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.[10] He then didn't coached any club in 2005 but again took over as the coach for the ÍBV men team mid-season in 2006, coached the team in the last 6 matches but failing to prevent relegation.[10][13] He remained this time as coach and got promoted with the team in the 2008 season, finishing 10th out of 12 in the top division in 2009 before managing two 3rd-place finishes in a row in 2010 and 2011.[10]
On 14 October 2011, KSÍ announced they had appointed Heimir as assistant coach of the Iceland national football team alongside Lars Lagerbäck as coach.[14] Iceland qualified for the play-off stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, however, Iceland lost there against Croatia.[15] Shortly thereafter Heimir and Lagerbäck signed a new contract, this time as joint coaches.
Iceland reached its 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.[16] 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 in disgrace immediately after the final whistle.[17] However, they were eliminated by host nation France in the quarter-finals, 5–2.[18]
After Euro 2016, he became the sole coach of Iceland with Lagerbäck becoming coach of Norway.[15][19] 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 Croatia, Argentina and Nigeria in a group that was considered by many as the "group of death".[20][21] Despite a challenging group, Iceland were tipped to advance from the group by several journalist websites, based on their impressive performance in Euro 2016.[22] Their maiden match at the World Cup was against 2014 runners-up Argentina, with Iceland holding Argentina to a 1–1 draw.[23][24] 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.[25][26] 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.[27][28]
Heimir resigned as coach of the team on 17 July 2018 after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[29]
On 10 December 2018 Heimir was hired as Head Coach for the Qatar Stars League club Al-Arabi. His contract was for 2+1⁄2 years or until summer of 2021.[30][31]
In September 2022, the Jamaican Football Federation announced Heimir as the new coach of the Jamaican national team.[32]He would resign however after a poor performance by Jamaica at the 2024 Copa América.[33][34]
On 10 July 2024, the Football Association of Ireland announced Heimir as the new coach of the Republic of Ireland national team.[8][35]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Iceland (joint manager) | 25 November 2013 | 3 July 2016 | 32 | 14 | 7 | 11 | 043.75 |
| Iceland | 3 July 2016 | 17 July 2018 | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 044.00 |
| Al-Arabi | 10 December 2018 | 30 June 2021 | 51 | 17 | 13 | 21 | 033.33 |
| Jamaica | 16 September 2022 | 30 June 2024 | 27 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 040.74 |
| Republic of Ireland | 10 July 2024 | Present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— |
| Total | 135 | 53 | 32 | 50 | 039.26 | ||
