Denmark 14–2 Iceland (Copenhagen, Denmark; 23 August 1967)
World Cup
Appearances
1 (first in 2018)
Best result
Group stage (2018)
European Championship
Appearances
1 (first in 2016)
Best result
Quarter-finals (2016)
The Iceland national football team (Icelandic: Íslenska karlalandsliðið í knattspyrnu) represents Iceland in men's international football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland, and have been a FIFA member since 1947 and an UEFA member since 1957. The team's nickname is Strákarnir okkar, which means Our Boys in Icelandic.
The team has enjoyed success in the second half of the 2010s. In the qualifying rounds for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Iceland reached the playoffs before losing to Croatia. Iceland reached its first major tournament, UEFA Euro 2016, after a qualification campaign which included home and away wins over the Netherlands. After advancing to the knockout stages of Euro 2016, Iceland defeated England in the Round of 16, advancing to the quarter-finals, where they lost to host nation France 5–2. They became the smallest nation by population to ever clinch a FIFA World Cup berth when they qualified for the 2018 tournament on 9 October 2017.[6] They drew with Argentina in their opening match, but nonetheless still went out in the group stage.[7][8]
Although Úrvalsdeild, the Icelandic Football League, was founded in 1912,[9] the country's first international match was played on 29 July 1930, against the Faroe Islands.[10] Although Iceland won 1–0 away, both teams were at the time unaffiliated with FIFA.[11] The first match officially recognised by FIFA took place in Reykjavík on 17 July 1946, a 0–3 loss to Denmark.[12] The first international victory was against Finland in 1947.[13] For the first 20 years of the Football Association of Iceland (KSÍ)'s existence, the team mostly did not participate in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship. In 1954, Iceland applied to take part in qualification for the 1954 World Cup, but the application was rejected.[10] In qualification for the 1958 World Cup, Iceland finished last in their group with zero wins, conceding 26 goals.[10]
In 1980, Iceland won the first edition of the friendly tournament known as the Greenland Cup.[14]
Since 1974, the team has taken part in qualifying for every World Cup and European Championship. In 1994, the team reached their then best ever position in the FIFA World Rankings, 37th. This record stood until 2016 when they managed to reach 21st.[15] In a friendly against Estonia on 24 April 1996 in Tallinn, Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen entered as a substitute for his father Arnór. This marked the first time that a father and son played in the same international match.[16]
21st century[]
Iceland national football team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Rostov-on-Don, Russia
In qualification for Euro 2004, Iceland finished third in their group, one point behind Scotland.[17] As a result, they failed to qualify for a playoff spot.[18]
In 2014, Iceland almost secured qualification for their first World Cup.[19] Finishing second in Group D, they played Croatia in a two-leg playoff for qualification.[20][21] After holding them to a 0–0 draw in the home leg, they lost 2–0 away.[22]
Iceland qualified for a major tournament for the first time in 2015 after finishing second in Group A of qualification for Euro 2016, losing only two games, and beating the Netherlands – which had finished third in the 2014 World Cup – twice.[23] During the qualification, they reached their then highest ranking in the FIFA World Rankings, 23rd.[24][25] Iceland were drawn into a group with Portugal, Hungary and Austria for the final tournament.
At the tournament finals, Iceland recorded 1–1 draws in their first two group stage matches against Portugal and Hungary. They then advanced from their group with a 2–1 victory against Austria.[26] Iceland qualified for the tournament's quarter-finals after a 2–1 upset win over England in the Round of 16, which led to England manager Roy Hodgson resigning in disgrace immediately after the final whistle.[27] However, they were eliminated by host nation France in the quarter-finals, 5–2.[28]
World Cup team 2018.
Iceland qualified for the 2018 World Cup, their first ever appearance in the world championship, securing qualification on 9 October 2017 after a 2–0 win against Kosovo. In doing so, they became the lowest-populated country ever to reach the finals.[29] Iceland were drawn to play Croatia, Argentina and Nigeria in a group that was considered by many as the "group of death".[30][31] Despite a challenging group, Iceland were tipped to advance from the group by several journalist websites, based on their impressive performance in Euro 2016.[32] Their maiden match at the World Cup was against 2014 runners-up Argentina, with Iceland surprisingly holding Argentina to a 1–1 draw.[33][34] However, their chances of advancing from the group were hurt following a 2–0 loss to Nigeria, putting Iceland to play with full determination against already qualified Croatia.[35][36] Iceland lost to Croatia in their final group game; and because Argentina won against Nigeria, Iceland finished bottom of the group with just a point.[37][38]
In 2020, Iceland came agonisingly close to qualifying for Euro 2020. In their playoff game against Hungary, Iceland led 1–0 for nearly the entire match until Hungary scored two goals in under five minutes, the first coming in the 88th minute to stun Iceland and the second in the second minute of added time, proving to be the winner; Hungary had beaten Iceland 2–1.[39] Iceland had also suffered poor results in their UEFA Nations League campaign in League A, having lost all their group stage matches and failing to garner a single point, resulting in their relegation to League B the following season.[40] Manager Erik Hamrén ultimately resigned, following their poor performance that year.[41]
The national team uses a blue as the home colours and white as their second colours but their crest featuring stylized imagery of Iceland's four "guardian spirits" (Landvættir) in local folklore; a giant, a dragon, a bull, and an eagle. The team's crest was adopted in 2020 and was designed by Reykjavík-based firm Bradenburg. Previously the team used a team crest which features a shield-type symbol which consist the abbreviation of the Football Association of Iceland in Icelandic (KSI), strips which derives colors from the Flag of Iceland, and a football.[42][43]
Iceland's supporters became known for using Viking Clap chant in the mid-2010s, which involves fans clapping their hands above their heads and yelling "huh!" to the beat of a drum. Iceland's Viking Clap first received wider international attention during the Euro 2016.[44]
Kit providers[]
The official kit is produced by German sports manufacturing company Puma since 2020. Before that the kit providers were Umbro (1975), Adidas (1976–1992), ABM (1992-1996), Reusch (1996–2001) and Erreà (2002–2020)
The following players were called up for the matches against North Macedonia, Romania, and Germany, played on 2 September, 5 September and 8 September 2021 respectively.[47] All caps and goals are correct as of 8 September 2021 after the match against Germany.
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
EX Player expelled from the squad due to non-injury issue.
7 (16 September 2021)[1]
Faroe Islands 0–1 Iceland 
Iceland 0–3 Denmark 
Umbro
Adidas
ABM
90+1
Romania 
North Macedonia 
Viking
Norrköping
New York City
Adana Demirspor
AZ
Real Madrid Castilla
Olympiacos
Poland, 30 May 2021
Mexico, 30 May 2021
CSKA Moscow
Al-Arabi
BATE Borisov
1930
1934
1938
1950
1954
1962
1978
1998
2002
2010
2014
1964
1976
2004
2012
2020
