Inside Iceland’s second city’s football clubs and the unique challenges from the frozen north

EXCLUSIVE Daily Star Sport recently took a trip to the frozen north and discovered the unique challenges that face football clubs stranded on the edge of the world

Akureyri is actually quite big, at least by Icelandic standards.

It can look and feel like the last outpost on the edge of the world – separating humanity from the most extreme north of our planet. And you’re very quickly reminded of its extreme location.

Its low colourful houses and short shopping street are dwarfed by the fjord – Eyjafjörður – which is one of the longest in the country. The Súlur, which roughly translates to town mountain, overlooks the settlement with its snow-capped peak.

If you were to go any further north, the fjord opens up, and you’re met with icebergs and whales. While a trip to the south lends to Iceland’s volcanic interior – Reykjavik, or any other sort of civilisation, seems a world away.

And yet, it’s Iceland’s largest settlement outside the Reykjanes peninsula. The quaint town has just under 20,000 inhabitants – just under five per cent of the Icelandic population.

It’s located on the edge of the world but at the centre of Northern Iceland’s sporting universe. There are two semi-professional clubs here: Íþróttafélagið Þór (Þór or Thór in English) and Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar (KA).

Thór came first in 1915 – taking its name from the Norse god – before KA set up shop in 1928.

Their histories are intertwined: from the bitterest of rivals that split the town to joining forces and putting on a united front in the top tier. However, in the 1980s, they would split and become rivals once more.

KA would soon one-up their local rivals, conquering the Icelandic top division in 1989. It remains the only time the title has made it this far north.

They’re also the most successful of the pair in recent seasons – winning the Icelandic Cup in 2024 while Thór languished in the second tier.

Thór, however, can claim to have developed Icelandic footballing royalty in recent years, Aron Gunnarsson, the man who captained Iceland at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup.

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Developing young talent has been key to their survival this far north – it’s local lads (from the Akureyri area) that make up the team, Thór’s Managing Director, Reimar Helgason, explained to Daily Star Sport .

Reimar noted that even attracting Icelanders from Reykjavik can be difficult – and it’s often easier and cheaper to bring in foreign talent. Icelanders see it as moving away from the big city; for foreigners, it’s an adventure to Iceland.

Thór, who are in Iceland’s second tier, have six foreigners in their first team, ranging from Spain to the Cote d’Ivoire. While their top talent is often shipped off to Denmark, Norway or Sweden – sometimes to other Icelandic sides, but never to KA, Reimar joked.

Meanwhile KA have their own problems in terms of keeping hold of talent.

Vikingur Reykjavik have been able to flex their new financial muscle, thanks to their Europa Conference League exploits, to lure Daniel Hafsteinsson to the capital.

However, it’s the appeal of playing college football stateside that has seen some talented Icelanders leave Akureyri in recent years. Sævar Pétursson, KA’s managing director, admitted he understands the appeal – even those who leave to study in Reykjavik.

It’s a new issue that has sprouted across Iceland – FH lost young starlet Ulfur Bjornsson to Duke University. Sævar says that he keeps in contact with the players once they make the jump, hoping they’ll come back to KA, but that decision is out of his hands.

Bjarni Aðalsteinsson was part of KA’s starting side in their season opener with KR earlier this month.

Bjarni had turned heads over at the University of Vermont, making the America East All-Rookie Team and America EastAll-Championship Team in his debut season.

KA are one of three teams in the Icelandic top division located away from the capital – Vestri, in the wild and windswept Westfjords, and IBV, located on Vestmannaeyjar off the east coast, are the other two.

Their funds are often directed towards travel; they fly to Reykjavik’s domestic airport most weekends and take the four-hour drive home on the country’s ring road.

Sævar explained that they are forced to drive as the last flight home to Akureyri is at 5pm and the league wants their games to be later due to TV timings.

Thór face the same problems – and it’s often parents that pay for travel in the youth sides. Travelling can prove an issue in pre-season too, teams from Reykjavik don’t want to travel to the north.

And Thór and KA are left playing local teams, of a much lesser quality, ahead of the season.

And that is more important than ever this season, with KA set to turn out in the Europa Conference League this summer. As Icelandic Cup winners, they have booked their spot in the second qualifying round – Vikingur have already proved just how lucrative a European spot can be.

At the centre of the town’s sporting success is its famed football hall, Reimar said it has changed everything. Akureyri’s Arctic Cathedral can be seen around the town, before the hall footballers would train by running up and down its steps.

However, with the hall eliminating frozen pitches, players can train all year round. It’s a shared facility, but located at Thór’s headquarters, and open to the public.

As Daily Star Sport visited, seniors were getting their steps in around the hall, while local school kids kicked around a football. In the corner, filming his workout, was Blaine McConnell.

McConnell had dreamed of representing Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the bobsled, but narrowly missed out on qualification. Now based in Akureyri, he uses the hall to film his workouts for his social media followers.

He joked he gets questioned online about where he trains, Americans can’t believe such facilities are open to the public.

The hall itself is almost in constant use – after the seniors are done, school’s shut and it’s time for the youth clubs. While the semi-professionals train daily, the kids can train up to three times per week.

It’s not just football here – both sporting clubs have several sports they also represent. Thór boasts an athletics track for its track team, there’s also basketball, handball, taekwondo, and esports.

During Daily Star Sport’s visit, Thór’s darts team had just staged the Akureyri Open and were gearing up for a trip to the Faroe Islands the following week.

While KA’s volleyball team is something of a juggernaut in Iceland. Like Thór, KA have a handball team as well as judo and some racket sports.

This small town on the edge of the world has positioned itself at the centre of Icelandic sporting culture. In the summer, when the sun doesn’t dip below the horizon, golfers from across the globe tee off in the early hours of the morning during the Akureyri Open.

Thrill seekers charge up the Súlur each summer as endurance athletes run distances up to 100km to the famous peak overlooking the town.

On that run, they might see skiers on the slopes of Mount Hlíðarfjall, just a seven-minute drive from the town centre. While the gravel trails nearby will soon host The Rift’s first foray into mountain biking.

Akureyri is town unlike any other – one that has sport at its heart.

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