Millwall midfielder Jón Daði Böðvarsson has had quite a successful career in club football, playing for many outfits across Europe.
However, the 29-year-olds greatest accomplishments have come as an Icelandic international, where he represented his national side in the most renowned and prestigious competitions, the Euros and the World Cup.
Humble Beginnings-
Böðvarsson was born in Selfoss, a small town in Iceland with just about 9,000 inhabitants, where he began his semi-professional footballing career with local side UMF Selfoss in the Icelandic 2nd division.
During a three-year stint at the club from 2009 to 2012 Jón mentions, in order to keep a stable income, “I was working at the ground as well while training.”
Departing from his homeland in 2012 to peruse a first professional contract with Norwegian side Viking FK, where he would remain up until 2015 when 1.FC Kaiserslautern, Bundesliga second tier side, would snap up the Icelandic for the season.
After Euro 2016 he went on to play one season for Wolves in the Championship, later joining Reading until 2019.
Reliving The Moment-
The highlight of his career was when he represented Iceland at their first ever major tournament in Euro 2016, scoring against Austria in the last group stage match.
Discussing this moment, the goal scorer shared that, “as a kid when you were playing with friends, you set the scene when you are imagining that you are playing in a major tournament and scoring a goal or a last-minute winner.”
Böðvarsson admitted that he didn’t expect to score in the Euros and that it “was crazy to think about.”
Millwall Magic-
Signing for Millwall on the 12th of July 2019, Jón has been at the club for three seasons, racking up 69 appearances in the Championship for The Lions.
At this stage of his career, the right-midfielder is now a seasoned veteran, and Millwall appears to be his favoured club surroundings, stating that the team morale at Millwall is very good: “The team sprint and chemistry is unreal. I’ve never experienced such a team spirit in my footballing career.”
Later admitting international football may just edge it in terms of an overall experience, which you can’t blame him for considering Iceland’s admiration for the current South-East London footballer.
On the other hand, Millwall are far from finished delivering more footballing moments for their signing, and the fantastic morale, in the words of Böðvarsson, “is certainly going to make it more likely that we are going to succeed even further.”
