Photo: Dantey Buitureida/SPP
As NJ/NY Gotham FC continues their busy off-season, the club announced on Friday that Iceland women’s national team forward Svava Rós Guðmundsdóttir has signed a two-year contract with the club.
“Svava is a versatile forward with the ability to score and create goals,” Gotham FC Head Coach Juan Carlos Amorós said in a press release on Friday. “She occupies the back line and constantly applies pressure. She has the knowledge to understand different moments of the game and the physical ability to get behind the opposition back line and be effective in the box. Svava also has a lot of valuable experience in international competitions. She is a team player and I’m confident she will help us in our growth as a team at Gotham FC.”
The ability of Guðmundsdóttir to apply pressure to the backline is one that surely caught Gotham’s attention. As Amorós hinted to the press at the 2023 NWSL Draft, this will likely be an important aspect to his system. “I am a big fan of the counter-press and trying to regain the ball as high as possible and create chances out of those situations,” Amorós explained.
Guðmundsdóttir is also sure to provide depth to the font line and more attacking power to Gotham FC, especially during the World Cup break. Although the 27-year-old forward has played for the Icelandic Women’s National team since 2017, notching two goals in 36 appearances, the team failed to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. having lost 4-1 to Portugal in a playoff qualifying match in October 2022.
Gotham will likely see the majority of the attacking line receive a call up to the World Cup, including Midge Purce and Lynn Williams for the US women’s national team and Ifeoma Onumonu for the Nigerian national team this summer, making Guðmundsdóttir’s addition even more vital.
“I’m very excited to be joining Gotham FC and to have the opportunity to represent such an incredible organization,” Guðmundsdóttir said in a press release. “The club’s mentality about pushing boundaries and putting women’s soccer at the forefront of professional sports, as well as their desire to build a championship-contending team, is extremely inspiring to me.”
Guðmundsdóttir’s accolades last season include six goals in 22 games last season with SK Brann in Norway’s top flight, the Toppserien. SK Brann finished first in the standings and qualified for the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Guðmundsdóttir’s lengthy professional soccer resume began in 2011 at the age of 15 when she joined Valur in the top-tier Icelandic league. In 2018, she scored 14 goals in 21 games with Roa IL of the Toppserien to help lead her club to a 10-2-10 record. She has also played for Breiðablik in Iceland, Kristianstads DFF in Sweden and FC Girondins de Bordeaux in France.
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“One of my career goals has always been to someday play in the NWSL, and I couldn’t think of a better club to do this with than Gotham FC,” Guðmundsdóttir continued. “This league is incredibly competitive because of the quality of players on every team and the intensity of every match. Not only am I looking forward to the level of play, but also the quality of infrastructure that is setting the example for women’s soccer everywhere.”
