European Football Championship 2016 / Iceland

This article covers the Icelandic national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France . It was the first time that the Icelandic men's team had taken part in a major football tournament, while the Icelandic women had already taken part twice in the European Women's Football Championship .

qualification

Gylfi Sigurðsson , Icelanders' top scorer in qualifying

Iceland qualified for the European Championship in Group A and had to cope with the longest journey of all participants to the game in Kazakhstan. The Icelanders topped the table with a 3-0 win against the more highly traded Turks on the first match day and did not give them up afterwards either, as they won their first win against the Dutch in their home game against the third-placed Netherlands. It was only on the fourth match day that they had to vacate their place at the top of the table due to the defeat by the tied Czechs, but only after an own goal by Jón Daði Böðvarsson , who had scored the first qualifying goal of the round for the Icelanders. With three subsequent wins, including in the second leg against the Czechs and in the Netherlands, they took over the championship lead again. Although they lost this again in a goalless draw in their home game against the Kazakhs, but with the 0-0 they were qualified for the European Championship finals for the first time. The following 2: 2 against Latvia in the euphoria of successful qualification and the 0: 1 defeat in Turkey in the final minutes had no serious consequences for the Icelanders, but they brought the Turks direct qualification as the best third in the group, while the In fourth place in the group, the Dutch missed the finals for the first time since 1984. Overall, coach Lars Lagerbäck only used 20 players, including Ari Freyr Skúlason , Birkir Bjarnason , Gylfi Sigurðsson , Kári Árnason , Kolbeinn Sigþórsson and Ragnar Sigurðsson in all ten games. The top scorer was Gylfi Sigurðsson with six goals. The 36-year-old record goal scorer Eiður Guðjohnsen also contributed a goal in their first win in their first game against Kazakhstan, which marks the first time in five and a half years that he scored a goal and expanded his record to 25 goals.

In the course of qualifying, the Icelanders climbed from 46th place in the FIFA world rankings to 23rd place, but then fell back to 36th place.

Games

All results from an Icelandic perspective.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
09/09/2014	Laugardalsvöllur , Reykjavík	Turkey	3: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Jón Daði Böðvarsson (18th), 2-0 Gylfi Sigurðsson (76th), 3-0 Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (77th)
10/10/2014	Skonto Stadium , Riga ( Latvia )	Latvia	3: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Gylfi Sigurðsson (66th), 2-0 Aron Gunnarsson (77th), 3-0 Rúrik Gíslason (90th)
October 13, 2014	Laugardalsvöllur , Reykjavík	Netherlands	2: 0 (2: 0)	1-0, 2-0 Gylfi Sigurðsson (10th / penalty, 42nd)
11/16/2014	Doosan Arena , Pilsen ( CZE )	Czech Republic	1: 2 (1: 1)	1: 0 Ragnar Sigurðsson (9th), 1: 1 Pavel Kadeřábek (45th + 1 ′), 1: 2 Jón Daði Böðvarsson (61st / own goal)
03/28/2015	Astana Arena , Astana ( KAZ )	Kazakhstan	3: 0 (2: 0)	1-0 Eiður Guðjohnsen (20th), 2-0 Birkir Bjarnason (32nd, 90th + 1 ′)
06/12/2015	Laugardalsvöllur , Reykjavík	Czech Republic	2: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Bořek Dočkal (55th), 1: 1 Aron Gunnarsson (60th), 2: 1 Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (76th)
09/03/2015	Amsterdam Arena , Amsterdam ( NLD )	Netherlands	1: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Gylfi Sigurðsson (51th / penalty)
09/06/2015	Laugardalsvöllur , Reykjavík	Kazakhstan	0-0
10/10/2015	Laugardalsvöllur , Reykjavík	Latvia	2: 2 (2: 0)	1: 0 Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (5th), 2: 0 Gylfi Sigurðsson (27th), 2: 1 Aleksandrs Cauņa (49th), 2: 2 Valērijs Šabala (68th)
13/10/2015	Konya Büyükşehir Stadı , Konya ( TUR )	Turkey	0: 1 (0: 1)	0: 1 Selçuk Inan (89.)

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Czech Republic	10	7th	1	2	019:140	+5	22nd
2.	Iceland	10	6th	2	2	017: 600	+11	20th
3.	Turkey	10	5	3	2	014: 900	+5	18th
4th	Netherlands	10	4th	1	5	017:140	+3	13
5.	Kazakhstan	10	1	2	7th	007:180	−11	05
6th	Latvia	10	0	5	5	006:190	−13	05
As of October 13, 2015

preparation

After the end of the qualification the Icelanders lost two friendlies against the European Championship participants Poland (2-4 on November 13th in Warsaw ) and Slovakia (1-3 on November 17th in Žilina ). Further test matches were played in January 2016 on the Arabian Peninsula, where Iceland won 1-0 against Finland in Abu Dhabi on the 13th , but lost 2-1 to the United Arab Emirates three days later in Dubai . At the end of January, they lost 3-2 to the USA in Carson, California . In the further preparation, the Icelanders played against teams that had not qualified for the finals. On March 24th and 29th there were games against Denmark (1: 2) in Herning and Greece in Piraeus (3: 2, after 0: 2 deficit). In the immediate preparations for the European Championship, the Icelanders lost to Norway (2: 3) in Oslo on June 1 and won against Liechtenstein 4: 0 five days later in Laugardalsvöllur . The realized Birkir Már Sævarsson his first international goal and the 37-year-old scorer Eiður Guðjohnsen the 4: 0 final score.

Squad

The roster was announced on May 9th. The players came from 22 clubs from 11 countries or 14 leagues, with only Hammarby IF providing two players. Five players were currently playing second-rate and none in Icelandic leagues, making Iceland one of the four teams at EURO 2016, alongside Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, that competed without players from domestic leagues.

Jersey no.	Surname	society	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut	Last use
goalkeeper
01	Hannes Þór Halldórsson	FK Bodø / Glimt	Apr 27, 1984	37	0	2011	June 27, 2016	5		1
12	Ögmundur Kristinsson	Hammarby IF	June 19, 1989	11	0	2014	0June 1, 2016
13	Ingvar Jónsson	Sandefjord Fotball	Oct 18, 1989	5	0	2014	0June 1, 2016
Defense
02	Birkir Már Sævarsson	Hammarby IF	Nov 11, 1984	61	1	2007	June 27, 2016	5		1
03	Haukur Heiðar Hauksson	AIK Solna	0Sep 1 1991	7th	0	2015	0June 1, 2016
04th	Hjörtur Hermannsson	IFK Gothenburg	0Feb 8, 1995	3	0	2016	0June 6, 2016
05	Sverrir Ingi Ingason	Sporting Lokeren	0Aug 5, 1993	7th	2	2014	June 22, 2016	2
06th	Ragnar Sigurðsson	FK Krasnodar	June 19, 1986	60	2	2007	June 27, 2016	5	1
18th	Theódór Elmar Bjarnason	Aarhus GF	04th Mar 1987	30th	0	2007	June 27, 2016	3
19th	Hörður Björgvin Magnússon	AC Cesena	Feb 11, 1993	5	0	2014	0June 6, 2016
21st	Arnór Ingvi Traustason	IFK Norrköping	Apr 30, 1993	9	4th	2015	June 27, 2016	2	1
23	Ari Freyr Skúlason	Odense BK	May 14, 1987	42	0	2009	June 27, 2016	5		1
midfield
08th	Birkir Bjarnason	FC Basel	May 27, 1988	51	7th	2010	June 27, 2016	5	2	2
10	Gylfi Sigurðsson	Swansea City	08 Sep 1989	43	14th	2010	June 27, 2016	5	1	1
14th	Kári Árnason	Malmö FF	Oct 13, 1982	51	2	2005	June 27, 2016	5		1
16	Rúnar Már Sigurjónsson	GIF Sundsvall	June 18, 1990	11	1	2012	0June 6, 2016
17th	Aron Gunnarsson	Cardiff City	Apr 22, 1989	63	2	2008	June 27, 2016	5		1
20th	Emil Hallfreðsson	Udinese Calcio	June 29, 1984	55	1	2005	June 18, 2016	1
attack
07th	Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson	Charlton Athletic	Oct. 27, 1990	51	4th	2008	June 27, 2016	5		1
09	Kolbeinn Sigþórsson	FC Nantes	14 Mar 1990	43	21st	2010	June 27, 2016	5	2	1
11	Alfreð Finnbogason	FC Augsburg	0Feb. 1, 1989	36	8th	2010	June 18, 2016	3		2
15th	Jón Daði Böðvarsson	1. FC Kaiserslautern	May 25, 1992	25th	2	2012	June 27, 2016	5	1
22nd	Eiður Guðjohnsen	Molde FK	Sep 15 1978	87	26th	1996	June 18, 2016	2
Trainer
	Lars Lagerbäck Heimir Hallgrímsson		July 16, 1948 June 10, 1967			2011 2016		5

Remarks:

1. ↑ ^{a b} as of June 27, 2016 ( source )

Finals

St-Denis (VR + VF) Marseille St-Etienne Annecy-le-Vieux Nice (AF)

Venues (green = won, yellow = balanced balance), district (blue)

When the six final groups were drawn on December 12, 2015, Iceland was allocated to Pot 4 and group F with Portugal was drawn. Other opponents were Austria and Hungary. Iceland had a negative record against all three. There were only two games against Portugal in qualifying for the last European Championship , both of which were lost. There was one defeat and two draws against Austria before the European Championship, most recently on May 30, 2014. Against the Hungarians there were already three wins before the European Championship - in the 1990s - but seven defeats, most recently in August 2011. The Icelanders started with a 1-1 draw against Portugal, they also scored 1-1 against Hungary and won against Austria 2-1 with a goal in stoppage time. They finished second in the group and met England in the round of 16. There have only been two international matches against the English: in 1982 they separated 1: 1 in a friendly match, and in 2004 the Icelanders lost 6 1: 6 in a small tournament in which Japan still took part. Only record goal scorers Eiður Guðjohnsen and Wayne Rooney are in the two squads from that game . Rooney gave the English the lead after a few minutes with a penalty after a careless action by the Icelandic goalkeeper in the penalty area, but Ragnar Sigurðsson was able to equalize immediately. 12 minutes later Kolbeinn Sigþórsson scored the opening goal for Iceland, which the Icelanders defended until the end. After beating England, hosts France were the next opponents in the quarter-finals. Against the French there was no win in 11 games, with three draws and eight defeats. In the last game in May 2012 they lost after a 2-0 lead with 2: 3 by goals in the final minutes. The Icelanders fell 0-1 in the 12th minute and conceded three more goals before half-time. In the second half, they did not give up and pushed for the next goal. Although they were rewarded for their efforts by Kolbeinn Sigþórsson's second tournament goal, they conceded the fifth goal a few minutes later. After that they attacked again and had good chances to score. In the 84th minute, Birkir Bjarnason managed to correct the result again with his second goal in the tournament. After the game, the Icelanders were celebrated by their numerous fans in the stadium despite being eliminated. They were also celebrated when they returned to Iceland.

Iceland won 120 points and twelve places in the FIFA world rankings through the European Championship games and achieved its best place to date with 22nd place.

The winnings of the Icelanders became known through the so-called Viking Clap , a rhythmic clapping in which "Hu" is called.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Hungary	3	1	2	0	006: 400	+2	05
2.	Iceland	3	1	2	0	004: 300	+1	05
3.	Portugal	3	0	3	0	004: 400	± 0	03
4th	Austria	3	0	1	2	001: 400	−3	01

Tue., June 14, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Saint-Étienne
Portugal	-	Iceland	1: 1 (1: 0)
Sat., June 18, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Marseille
Iceland	-	Hungary	1: 1 (1: 0)
Wed. June 22, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Saint-Denis
Iceland	-	Austria	2: 1 (1: 0)

Knockout round

Round of 16 Mon., June 27, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Nice
England	-	Iceland	1: 2 (1: 2)
Quarter-finals Sunday 3 July 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Saint-Denis
France	-	Iceland	5: 2 (4: 0)

See also

• Icelandic national football team / European championships
• fifa.com: Iceland's emotional farewell

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Iceland wins in Kazakhstan . uefa.com, March 28, 2015, accessed June 15, 2016.
2. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (August 14, 2014)
3. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (October 1, 2015)
4. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (December 3, 2015)
5. ↑ Greece football team lost to Iceland 2: 3, 29 March 2016 . eu-football.info, accessed on June 15, 2016.
6. ↑ Landslið: A karla - Lokahópur for EM 2016 . Icelandic Football Association website (ksi.is), May 9, 2016.
7. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Newcomers and long-running hits: Numbers - Numbers - Numbers: Albania is the biggest outsider among bookmakers , European Football Championship 2016, Paris, sid, June 10, 2016
8. ↑ “UEFA EURO 2016 final draw” , uefa.com
9. ↑ international football match results of England vs Iceland
10. ↑ Balance Iceland vs. France
11. ↑ France - Iceland 3: 2
12. ↑ Florian Lütticke, Jens Marx: Homecoming of the heroes. In: saechsische.de. July 5, 2016, accessed April 13, 2020 .