Football in Iceland

There are 20,000 players (men and women) registered at clubs.[1][2][3] Football is the most popular sport in Iceland.[4][5][3] Iceland hosted the U-18 European Championship in 1997 but the only time the national team has ever qualified for the final competition of a major tournament was the women's national team for the UEFA Women's Euro in 2009 and 2013. They did so by placing second in their group during the group stage of the qualification round.

The Iceland Football Association have invested a lot of money on youth development.[6][7][8]

Iceland's most famous footballer is Eiður Guðjohnsen.[9][10][11] He has won two Premier League titles for Chelsea F.C. as well as the La Liga, Copa del rey and the Champions League title for FC Barcelona.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Iceland stars set up academy –". Uefa.com. 2003-10-07. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  2. ↑ "Scotland should look to Iceland as inspiration to arrest talent freeze | International | Sport | STV". Sport. 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  3. 1 2 "Vísir - Er fótbolti fyrir alla?". Visir.is. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  4. ↑ Marcus Christenson (2013-11-11). "How Lars Lagerback took Iceland to the brink of the World Cup finals | Marcus Christenson | Football". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  5. ↑ Jack Bell (2012-07-31). "Iceland Makes Its Mark on European Soccer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  6. ↑ Lynskey, Joe (2015-11-15). "BBC Sport - Iceland: How a country with 329,000 people reached Euro 2016". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  7. ↑ "Iceland's success is no laughing matter | Reuters". In.reuters.com. 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  8. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/26/iceland-football-team-euro-2016-bjarni-fel-felixson
  9. ↑ World Cup (2013-11-13). "Eidur Gudjohnsen ready to take final step to World Cup with Iceland". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  10. ↑ Nunns, Hector (1970-01-01). "BBC Sport - World Cup play-offs: How Iceland can set World Cup record". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  11. ↑ Jacob Steinberg. "Iceland's Eidur Gudjohnsen aims for a fairytale finish by beating Croatia | Football". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  12. ↑ Jack Pitt-Brooke (2013-10-14). "Eidur Gudjohnsen lifts Iceland ‘golden boys’ to the brink of World Cup play-offs - World Cup 2014 - Football". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-15.

External links


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