The dream of living abroad together did not work out

Þorgils Jón Svölu Baldursson’s plan to live abroad with his fiancée did not work out in Lisbon, but he has now secured a one-year contract in Spain.

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I went with Lovísa to Lisbon because we wanted to live together abroad.

The 29-year-old Icelandic handball player recently signed with top-flight club Caserío after leaving Val, the club where he developed. His fiancée, handball player and Iceland international Lovísa Thompson, joined Benfica after the previous season.

Þorgils traveled to Portugal with Thompson during the summer. He had hoped to find a club in Lisbon as well, but spent much of the search training alone. A Portuguese agent then helped him focus on teams in locations that would make it easier to visit Thompson.

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I trained a lot on my own while I was looking for a team, and, to be completely honest, it was not particularly enjoyable.

Caserío, based in Ciudad Real, offered a practical solution. Þorgils said the journey to Madrid takes about 50 minutes, and that Madrid has several daily flights to Lisbon. “Things happened very quickly, and it is good to have signed the contract,” he told Morgunblaðið.

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Things happened very quickly, and it is good to have signed the contract.