Following a strong opening collegiate season in Yellow and Blue, South Dakota States Birna Bjornsdottir is representing her home country this week for a chance to compete on one of soccers biggest stages.
Bjornsdottir is one of 18 individuals playing for Iceland on a squad that will attempt to qualify 2024 FIFA U-20 Womens World Cup. The current SDSU freshman spent this past summer on Icelands U-19 squad that participated in the 2023 UEFA Womens U-19 Championship in Belgium.
The Iceland U-19 team finished third in its round robin table, with Bjornsdottir playing in all three matches, at the UEFA Championship last year. As part of its showing, Iceland will face Austria the other third place finisher at the 2023 UEFA U-19 Championship in a playoff match to qualify as the fifth country from the UEFA confederation and advance to the 2024 FIFA U-20 Womens World Cup.
Iceland defeated Sweden, 1-0, on Wednesday in a friendly in Iceland. Austria beat Italys U-20 womens squad 2-0 in a friendly in Italy on Thursday. The sides playoff will take place Dec. 4 in Salou, Spain.
Bjornsdottir is a native of Kopavogur, Iceland. She played in 19 matches for the Jackrabbits in 2023 and made 12 starts. Bjornsdottir was a member of SDSUs starting 11 in the final six matches of the season. Playing on the defensive side for the Jacks, Bjornsdottir had a goal and three assists for five points during her freshman campaign. She registered 13 shots with five on goal. Bjornsdottir played over 1,000 minutes on the pitch which included seven appearances of over 60 minutes.
The 2024 FIFA U-20 Womens World Cup will be hosted by Colombia and begins onAug. 31.
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