The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has announced the appointment of Heimir Hallgrímsson as the new Head Coach of the Senior Men’s National Team. The former head coach of Iceland and Jamaica will lead the team for the UEFA Nations League and FIFA World Cup 2026 campaigns. Hallgrímsson will assume charge of his first competitive fixture this September as Ireland face England in the UEFA Nations League. He was identified as the FAI’s number one candidate earlier this year with his experience aligning perfectly with the Association’s search criteria. These criteria included, amongst other factors, previous international Head Coach experience, an ability to move international teams up the FIFA world rankings, a track record of qualifying and competing at major tournaments and experience in the development and progression of young players. Heimir’s international experience started with Iceland where he was first assistant manager to Lars Lagerback from 2011 to 2013, joint Head Coach alongside Lagerback until 2016 and then sole Head Coach from 2016 to 2018. His time at the helm of the Iceland national team coincided with one of their most successful periods famously reaching the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2016, eliminating England in the last 16. In this time Iceland also qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and reached a qualification playoff for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Over the course of his time with Iceland, the team reached its highest ever FIFA ranking of 18th. Most recently, Hallgrímsson was the Head Coach of Jamaica (2022 – 2024), where he led the team to qualification for this summer’s Conmebol Copa America 2024. His time with Jamaica also saw the team rise from 64th to 53rd in the FIFA World rankings. Hallgrímsson resigned from his role as Head Coach of Jamaica following the conclusion of their Copa America 2024 campaign at the start of this month (July).
