Hjörtur Hermannsson

Hjörtur Hermannsson returns to IFK Göteborg as a familiar face rather than a newcomer. The centre-back first wore the club's shirt on loan from PSV Eindhoven back in 2016, making seven Allsvenskan appearances before going back to the Dutch club.

His path to that first loan ran through Iceland and the Netherlands. He started out at Fylkir in Reykjavík, then joined the PSV academy, spending three years with Jong PSV and racking up 59 appearances before Brøndby IF paid a fee to sign him in the summer of 2016. Denmark became the making of him: across five seasons at Brøndby he made 124 league appearances, scored three goals, and won the Danish Cup in 2017–18 and the Superliga title in 2020–21.

A free transfer took him to Italy in 2021, where Pisa became his longest stop after Brøndby. He made 71 league appearances for the club and scored his only goal for them in the 2021–22 Serie B play-off final against Monza. Spells at Carrarese and then Volos NPS in Greece followed, the latter bringing 46 appearances and two goals, before his move back to Göteborg on a contract running to 2028.

At international level, Hermannsson has earned 32 caps for Iceland and was part of the squad at UEFA Euro 2016, though he did not play at the tournament. He came through Iceland's youth ranks at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level, and was named to the Team of the Tournament at the 2012 European Under-17 Championship.