AT LONG LAST, the FAI’s painstaking search for a new manager of the men’s international football team is over. Step forward Heimir Hallgrímsson.

Not exactly a household name, Hallgrímsson’s moment in the managerial sun came during his time as joint-coach of the Icelandic national team that defied all odds and reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, boasting a shock victory against England in the process.

During that tournament, much was made of Hallgrímsson’s side-hustle as the dentist for his local village – a role he held onto even as he managed the his home country’s national side between 2013 and 2018.

Following the departure of his coaching partner Lars Lagerbäck in the wake of that tournament, Hallgrímsson then guided Iceland to qualification for the 2018 World Cup, where they were eliminated at the group stage. Hallgrímsson resigned in the wake of that tournament as the only manager to have guided the Iceland team to qualification of both the Euros and the World Cup.

Welcome to Ireland Heimir Hallgrímsson 🇮🇪

Our new Ireland MNT Head Coach 💚 pic.twitter.com/aKZMMOPtyL

— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) July 10, 2024

Since then, Hallgrímsson plied his trade for three seasons in the Qatar All Stars league as manager of Al Arabi before taking over as manager of the Jamaican men’s national team. Under Hallgrímsson, Jamaica topped their qualifying group for this summer’s Copa America, which is currently underway in the United States.

Hallgrímsson resigned from the Jamaica job two weeks ago following his team’s poor showing at the tournament. Jamaica were eliminated after losing every game in a group that also featured Venezuela, Ecuador and Mexico, finishing with a goal difference of -6.

In a farewell article published in the Jamaica Observer two weeks ago, Hallgrímsson’s time in charge of the Reggae Boyz was described as “less than convincing” but also “fairly respectable,” having racked up a win percentage of over 40% across 26 games. By contrast, Stephen Kenny’s win percentage as Ireland manager was 27.5%.

One notable feature of Hallgrímsson’s time as Jamaica manager was his attempts for bring on board foreign players with Jamaican ancestry, such as the Arsenal squad player Reiss Nelson i.e. the ‘granny rule’ so heavily relied upon by Ireland throughout the years.

Hallgrímsson also showed a willingness to reintroduce Aston Villa attacker Leon Bailey to his squad despite the winger’s public criticisms of poor organisation and a lack professionalism within the Jamaican Football Federation — a drama with at least one very high-profile parallel in Irish football history. There have also been reports that Hallgrímsson’s relationship with some key players has “soured,” which is hardly an alien concept to followers of the Irish football team. 

Hallgrímsson comes as a shock announcement, ending the FAI’s search for manager that has been ongoing since Kenny was sacked in November of last year. Many of the names touted throughout the search – including Lee Carsley, Gus Poyet and Willy Sagnol – had begged off the job for one reason or another. Ireland’s last two sets of fixtures have been helmed by former international John O’Shea. 

The 57-year-old tooth-puller now faces a baptism of fire, set to take charge of Ireland’s opening Nations League game against England on 7 September.