Iceland is famous around the world for the views of the Aurora Borealis, the warming Blue Lagoon and more recently the Viking Thunderclap. An island so astray from the European mainland and with a tiny population when compared to many other European nations.

Can this island then produce top-quality footballers? Can the golden generation the nation had a few years back continue with an upward trajectory? There are certainly cases in the current era to suggest that this is the case.

The Early Beginnings

A quick look at the country’s early history, how did Iceland appear, lonely and wandering in the vast North Atlantic Ocean? History tells us that Norse Vikings first arrived on the island in 874 AD and settled in Reykjavik (now the capital city).

Although the first settlers were Irish Monks on the island, they left upon the arrival of the Norse. Credited with leading the first settlement of Norse people on the island is Ingolfur Arnarson, a Norse man from Sunnfjord, in the valley of Rivedal located in the western region of Norway.

Today you can go see a statue inscribed with Arnarson’s name in Reykjavik commemorating the man who settled on the land, a replica statue can also be found in Arnarson’s home valley of Rivedal.

Political Pioneers

Iceland has always been a progressive nation with recent history showing that the country leads the way. Iceland had the first female democratically elected president, the first openly gay female prime minister and in fact, Icelanders actually founded the world’s first parliament in 930.

Since the times of the Vikings and the Norse inhabitants of Iceland, the country has been collectively viewed as a very peaceful nation.

There’s a very low crime rate in the nation, unarmed police officers roam, equal rights for both sexes and there is no army to speak of. Although they have been in a war with the British before, albeit this war was fought over fishing territories, but that’s another story.

A Footballing Miracle Nation?

Football then, a tiny nation cast adrift in the middle of the North Atlantic, is there a footballing-crazed community here? The short answer is yes. Icelanders love their football.

Historically Iceland have never really been a team to bump shoulders with the big boys of Europe, but the tide has been turning for some time now in recent years. 2016 proved to be the biggest year in the nation’s footballing history as they appeared in their first-ever European Cup.

A nation so small, this may come as a surprise but looking back at the results it’s no shock at all. Iceland only lost three times in the whole of 2015, with these defeats coming against some respectable opponents in Turkey, Poland and Slovakia.

Appearing On The World Stages

Euros 2016 came to be seen as the pinnacle of the Icelandic national team with the country being the shock dark horses, reaching the quarter-final after progressing through a group.

A group which included Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, and then defeating England 2-1 in the round of 16. Iceland’s dream ended with France after a 5-2 defeat, but they were the story of the tournament.

The size of the nation was heavily advertised, and the Viking Clap became so popular it can be heard all around the world at countless football matches to this day. Further success was had with Iceland next qualifying for the next World Cup in 2018.

The fairy tale did not repeat itself however, and Iceland were knocked out in the group stage having only picked up a solitary point, even though this would be against Argentina who were led by Lionel Messi.

How Is All This Possible?

How can it be that this country of so few people and a country with such a difficult football landscape can be progressing at such a high rate? Iceland’s Football Association is a driving force behind this.

Long terms plans are in place to maximise the production of top-level players, as well as ensuring there are more than enough venues for people to play the sport they love. Since the year 2000, 13 indoor facilities have been built and are open for use, enabling all-year-round football availability.

In addition to this, a total of 332 outdoor facilities have been constructed, 148 of which are full-sized natural grassed pitches.

Coaching

Having facilities is all well and good but if Iceland want to improve and produce top-level players, they will also need coaches. The Iceland FA have also addressed this.

Prior to 2004, no Icelandic coach had completed a UEFA-B or UEFA-A level. Fast forward to today and around 700 coaches are UEFA-B License holders, over 240 hold UEFA-A licenses and roughly 20 have a UEFA Pro License.

So, the last 20 years have seen almost 350 football facilities constructed and nearly a thousand coaching qualifications at UEFA-B and above being completed.

The Effect On League Football

Is this progress having an effect on the clubs in Iceland? Aside from the Icelandic players plying their trade abroad, how are the hometown clubs faring amidst this project?

Iceland has recently started reaping the rewards of their labour with significant steps being made in club strengths. An indicator of this would be the UEFA league rankings.

As recently as the 2021/22 season Iceland sat 52nd out of the 55 UEFA Association club coefficients. Fast forward to today and the league has risen to as high as 33rd.

The First Club To Carry The Nation

With a little bit of research, it is clear to see why the jump has been made and why it has occurred so quickly. In the 2023/24 season Breidablik made Icelandic history by becoming the first club from the country to represent Iceland in a UEFA club competition.

Participating in the Europe Conference League after beating North Macedonian outfit Struga in the play-off round. However, Breidablik did find it a tough ask. The club were grouped with Belgian giants Gent, Israeli titans Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine. No miracle was to occur with Breidablik falling to defeat in all six games.

However, this may look like a failure, but what it has done for Icelandic football should not go unrecognised. Breidablik has opened the door to Icelandic clubs, showing it is possible to battle the rest of Europe toe-to-toe.

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Following in Breidablik’s Footsteps

Vikingur Reykjavik saw that challenge and approached it head-on the very next season. With a new format to play with in European competition, there was no better time for Vikingur to set records for Iceland.

After failing to defeat Shamrock Rovers in the first Champions League qualifying round it looked unlikely that Vikingur would reach any league phase of Europe this season, but three back-to-back two-legged qualifying game victories saw them enter the group stage for the Conference League.

Again, only the second time for an Icelandic club. Vikingur would fare much better than Breidablik this time around, but even to the more optimistic football fan what Vikingur accomplished was a huge shock.

The new league phase system in the Conference League had Vikingur play six games with 8 teams progressing to the round of 16 automatically, with the next 16 teams playing an extra knockout round before the round of 16.

Vikingur did the unthinkable, two wins, two draws and two defeats saw the club finish with eight points and a 19th-place finish in the League Phase of the competition. This progressed the club to the knockout phase play-off. The story of Vikingur’s European adventure, however, took another turn here.

Drawn to play Panathinaikos of Greece, a monumentally difficult task from the outset, it was decided by UEFA that, although acceptable in the League Phase, Víkingsvöllur, the club’s stadium was not deemed fit for purpose to host a game at this stage of UEFA competition.

UEFA also determined that no stadium in Iceland was acceptable. Vikingur had to find a new venue for their ‘home’ game. The Sonera Stadium was selected, a stadium over 2,000km away by plane in the capital of Finland, Helsinki. Almost exactly halfway between both clubs.

In the first leg, in the Sonera Stadium, with an attendance of 811 in the 10,770-capacity ground, Vikingur shocked the rest of Europe. A 2-1 victory over one of the big boys of the competition with Panathinaikos only scoring a stoppage time penalty to keep the tie alive.

A historic day for Icelandic football but the job was not finished in Finland. The reverse leg saw heartbreak, 1-0 down to the Greek side with extra time on the cards, a 94th-minute aggregate winner saw Panathinaikos go two up and win the tie 3-2.

Heartbreak for Vikingur but a journey they can be proud of. Who knows, if the club were permitted to play, not even in their own stadium but perhaps their own country, could it have been possible for this tie to fall on the side of the islanders?

Further Progressions?

With Icelandic great Gylfi Sigurdsson now on the books of Vikingur, will we see the club go a step further in the near future?

The league restarts in April and all eyes will be focused on the next iteration of European club qualifiers. Home of the Viking Clap, can this island nation thunder its way through Europe and continue to build on their ever-growing successes? Only time will tell. If we see the Viking spirit, nothing will stop them.

Researched and Written by BSc Cavan Campbell

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