Our 2019 Showcase

The Soccer and Education USA Showcase was held for the third time late in January. Close to 90 coaches travelled across the Atlantic to get entertained by our talented players who got a valuable opportunity to showcase themselves over the two days. The showcase was held in Fifan, an indoor turf facility which homes Breidablik football club. Breidablik has grown some of Iceland’s best players, including Alfred Finnbogason (Augsburg) and Johann Gudmundsson (Burnley). The weather was lovely with snow and frost covering the ground which portrayed Iceland in a manner which many people think suits the country. A number of our coaches used the opportunity to see the sights of Iceland and its many beautiful locations.

We had over 100 players to take part and everyone got a chance to showcase their talents in front of ambitious coaches of many top programs, including Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia. This year was the first time we had a women’s showcase. The girls really performed at the highest level and we were really proud of their attitude and overall performance. The boys had a great weekend as well and really delivered an entertaining showing over the two days as they had done in our last two showcases also.

Before we kicked off our first match, Dadi Rafnsson, the former head of youth at Breidablik and former coach for Jiangsu Suning, held an informative talk about Icelandic soccer culture. It was really enlightening and beneficial for coaches to get to know the Icelandic soccer culture and mentality. Dadi spoke of what makes Icelandic soccer culture special and why our men’s and women’s national teams have had the success they’ve had over the years.

Overall, we were delighted with the weekend and look forward to host another top level showcase in 2020.