A Family's Fine Football Tradition

Young Albert Gudmundsson, just 20, has scored 37 goals in 57 matches for his club, PSV Eindhoven’s reserves, and is a product and child of Iceland’s football revolution in the 1990s.

- Samindra Kunti

It is a ritual that’s repeated every four years, in May, to be precise. The minutiae are always the same: hysteria and speculation in the build­up analysis and, at times, discontent in the aftermath. The press pack, driving different narratives, are front and centre of the drama, while the fans all have their own favourites.

The coach sits down, often in a nondescript auditorium, with a list of 23 names in front of him. Everywhere, there is flash photography. The nation is watching. And, suddenly, before it has even begun in earnest, it’s over. The 23 names of the World Cup squad have been revealed and preparations for the final tournament can begin. Across continents, the ritual is repeated in 32 countries.

On May 11, Heimir Hallgrimsson, coach of World Cup debutants, Iceland, sat down behind the lectern in the auditorium of Laugardalsvollur, Iceland’s national stadium in the capital Reykjavik, to read the names of the 23 chosen ones. From the qualification campaign, Birkir Bjarnason, Kari Arnason and other stalwarts of the team had been guaranteed a spot on the plane to Russia. The inflexion of the coach’s voice, the tension in the auditorium, the media inquisitiveness — it was no different, but for one family, the Gudmundssons, the squad announcement was the apex of a longstanding relationship with the beautiful game.

Plying his trade in Holland