President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and President Elect Guðni Th. Jóhannesson both plan to attend tonight’s football game in Nice when the Icelandic men’s national team meets England at the EURO2016. Mbl.is reports they both arrived in Nice in the company of their wives, First Lady Dorrit Mousaieff and Eliza Reid, today. Guðni’s eight-year-old son is traveling with his parents.
The couples accidentally ran into each other on Massena square in Nice earlier today, Guðni and Eliza already sporting the Icelandic team jerseys.
Several hundred Icelanders arrived by air in Nice last night, and another Icelandair flight arrived at noon today.
Between 3,000 and 3,500 Icelanders will be attending tonight’s game at Aliianz Riveria stadium. Many more would have liked to attend, but no more tickets were allocated to Icelanders. They will be outnumbered by English fans, who are expected to be between 20,000 and 25,000.
Lucky for Icelandic businesses, the game begins at 7 pm Icelandic time, eliminating the need for closing early, as was done when Iceland faced Austria last week.
