Icelandic national soccer team / world championships

Iceland

World Cup record goalscorer:	Alfreð Finnbogason and Gylfi Sigurðsson (1 goal each)
World Cup record players:	9 players (3 games each)
Rank :	66
Balance sheet
3 World Cup games 0 wins 1 draw 2 defeats 2: 5 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Argentina 1-1 Iceland 16 June 2018 ( Moscow , RUS )
Biggest World Cup defeat Nigeria - Iceland 2-0 June 22, 2018 ( Volgograd , RUS )
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 2018 )
Best results	Preliminary round 2018
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 26, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Icelandic national soccer team at world championships and the qualifications for them. Iceland was able to qualify for the first time in October 2017 for the World Cup finals that took place the following year, but was eliminated in the preliminary round.

overview

Iceland took part in the soccer world championships for the first time in 2018.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1934	Italy	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1938	France	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not allowed				Application submitted too late
1958	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification of France failed
1962	Chile	not participated				Before the start of qualifying withdrawn
1966	England	not participated
1970	Mexico	not participated
1974	Germany	not qualified				In qualifying on eventual runners Netherlands failed
1978	Argentina	not qualified				Failed in the qualification again at the later vice world champion Netherlands
1982	Spain	not qualified				Failed in the qualification at the USSR and Czechoslovakia
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain and Scotland failed
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of the USSR and Austria failed
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification of Greece and Russia failed
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Romania failed
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark failed
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of Croatia and Sweden failed.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualifying failed to eventual runner-up Netherlands.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				Failed in the playoffs of the qualification to Croatia .
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Argentina , Nigeria , Croatia	28.	Heimir Hallgrímsson	In the qualification the Icelanders prevailed against Croatia , Ukraine , Finland , Turkey and Kosovo .

World Cup tournaments

World Championships 1930 to 1954

The Knattspyrnusamband Íslands had only joined FIFA in 1947 and was therefore unable to take part in the first three World Cup tournaments. No application was submitted for 1950 and a late application for 1954, so that FIFA did not allow Iceland to qualify for the 1954 World Cup.

World Championship 1958

Iceland registered in time to qualify for the World Cup in Sweden and had to play against France and Belgium , against whom Iceland had never played before. Iceland played their first World Cup qualifier on June 2, 1957 in Nantes and lost 8-0 to France. Three days later they conceded eight goals against Belgium in Brussels , but were always able to score three goals themselves. Here Þórður Þórðarson scored the first and second qualifying goal for Iceland to the 1-6 and 2-8 intermediate results. Captain Ríkharður Jónsson ensured the end result . Even in the two home games, which were lost 5-1 to France and 5-2 to Belgium, the Icelanders never missed a goal. But with the four defeats they were eliminated as the bottom of the group.

World Championship 1962

In qualifying for the World Cup in Chile , the Icelanders were supposed to face Yugoslavia and Poland , but withdrew before the start. The Yugoslavs qualified for the finals, where they finished fourth after defeating Germany in the quarter-finals on their third attempt.

World Championships 1966 and 1970

The Icelandic Federation had not registered its team for 1966 and 1970.

1974 World Cup

The Icelanders wanted to participate in the qualification for the first World Cup in Germany, opponents for the first time were the Netherlands , Belgium and Norway . The Icelanders lost all six games and were last in the group, waiving their home rights twice and playing twice within four and seven days. Group winners Netherlands then lost the World Cup final against hosts Germany.

World Championship 1978

Four years later, the opponents in qualifying for the World Cup in Argentina were the Netherlands and Belgium, and for the first time the Northern Irish . Against the Northern Irish then succeeded on June 11, 1977 - twenty years after the first qualifying game - in Reykjavík, the first victory in a qualifying game. The other two home games were only lost 1-0. After a total of five lost games, only the last place remained. Group winners were again the Dutch, who then again lost the World Cup final against the hosts.

World Championship 1982

In qualifying for the World Cup in Spain, the Icelanders then faced opponents Iceland had never played before: the USSR , Czechoslovakia , Wales and Turkey . The Icelanders won both games against the Turks, who also lost all other games, drew against Czechoslovakia at home and in Wales, but lost the other four games. So they finished next to last. The group winners were the USSR, which did not lose a game, ahead of Czechoslovakia, which had the better goal difference than the Welsh tied for points. Both Eastern Bloc countries could use it to go to the World Cup, but they did not play a major role there.

1986 World Championship

Wales were also one of the opponents in qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico, as well as Spain and, for the first time, Scotland . The Icelanders started with a 1-0 win against Wales, but then lost all other games. Thus, the Icelanders were eliminated as fourth in the group. Group winners were Spain, which failed in Mexico in the quarter-finals. The Scots were able to fight for another starting place in intercontinental playoffs against Australia, but were eliminated in Mexico in the group stage.

World Cup 1990

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Italy, the Icelanders met the USSR and Turkey, as they did eight years earlier, and for the first time Austria and the GDR , which participated for the last time. The Icelanders could only win the last game, at home against Turkey. They also managed four draws, but lost both games against the GDR and the game in Austria. They only finished last, but each had only one point less than the team from the GDR and Turkey placed in front of them. Group winners were the USSR ahead of Austria, but both of them were eliminated in the group stage at the World Cup.

World Championship 1994

In a six-man qualifying group , which later became a group of five, the Icelanders met for the first time on Greece and Russia as well as Hungary and Luxembourg . The Yugoslavs who were also drawn were suspended due to the Yugoslav wars. Iceland only won both games against Hungary and the home game against Luxembourg. In Luxembourg and against Russia there were still two draws, with the Luxembourgers scoring their only goal against Iceland. The three defeats in the other games were 0: 1 but all narrowly. This made them third in the group behind Greece and Russia, who both qualified for the finals for the first time and were eliminated in the preliminary round. The Icelanders had left two opponents behind them for the first time, Hungary and Luxembourg.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France, the Icelanders could not improve, instead they went backwards. Opponents were Ireland and, for the first time, Romania , Lithuania , Macedonia and Liechtenstein , against whom the only two victories come. In addition, three points were taken in a draw, which meant it was only enough for the penultimate place in front of the Liechtensteiners, who had lost all games. Group winners were Romania, which failed in the finals in the round of 16, ahead of Ireland, which failed to Belgium in the relegation games of the group runners-up.

World Championship 2002

Four years later there was a slight improvement in qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia. In a group of six, the Icelanders were able to leave Northern Ireland and Malta behind. But they had to give way to Denmark, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, of which Denmark qualified directly and then failed in the World Cup in the round of 16. The Czechs failed in the group runners-up playoffs against Belgium.

World Championship 2006

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Germany, there was another step backwards. Only the home game against Malta was won and a goalless draw was achieved in Malta. The games against Bulgaria, Croatia , which was played for the first time, Sweden and Hungary were all lost. Group winners were the Croatians, who failed in the final round in the group stage. The Swedes also reached the finals as the best runner-up in the group, where they failed in the finals in the round of 16 against the hosts.

World Championship 2010

Qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa was even worse for the Icelanders . After the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Macedonia, only the last place was taken. Only the home game against Macedonia was won. Against Norway there was a draw in the first and last game. Although no game was lost with more than two goals conceded, there was no discernible improvement over previous years. After the qualification for the EM 2012 failed, the Swede Lars Lagerbäck took over the post of national coach. From this group only the group winners Netherlands qualified for the World Cup finals in South Africa, the group runner-up Norway, as the worst group runner-up, missed the playoff games for the World Cup finals and was eliminated.

World Championship 2014

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil, the Icelanders were able to improve significantly. At the end of the day, they had to give way to Switzerland. As second group they were able to leave Slovenia , Norway , Albania and Cyprus behind. This was the first time they were in the playoff games of the group runners-up and met Croatia. After a goalless home game, they lost the second leg in Croatia 2-0. They had missed the World Cup, but were then able to qualify for a European Championship finals for the first time, where they eliminated England in the round of 16 and only failed to host France in the quarter-finals.

World Championship 2018

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Iceland

After the quarter-finals at the 2016 European Championship, Heimir Hallgrímsson , who had previously shared the task with Lars Lagerbäck, took over the position of national coach . In qualifying for the World Cup in Russia , which began in September 2016, the Icelanders faced Croatia, Turkey, Ukraine , Finland and, for the first time, Kosovo , which was subsequently assigned to the group after joining FIFA. The group started with three 1-1 draws, so that after the first game day the six teams were tied on points and goals. Then Iceland and Croatia took the lead with two wins each before they both met on matchday four. The Croatians won their home game 2-0 and took the sole lead. They both won the next game before the return leg in Iceland, which the Icelanders won 1-0, which meant that both were tied again. After both won and lost a game after that, they were still tied before the penultimate game. But Turks and Ukrainians also had a chance of winning the group due to the loss of points by the two teams in the previous two games. But since the Icelanders then won 3-0 in Turkey, while the Croatians only scored 1-1 in the home game against Finland, at least the Turks were out of the race and the Icelanders only had it in the last game against Kosovo scored a point in the first game to perfect their first World Cup qualification in their own hands. With 2-0 they prevailed against the team from the Balkans, so that their victory in Ukraine only brought the Croatians second place, which the Ukrainians lost.

In Russia they reached a 1-1 draw against vice world champions Argentina in their first game. Alfreð Finnbogason scored the first World Cup goal for Iceland, four minutes after the Argentines opening goal. Hannes Þór Halldórsson secured the point when he saved a penalty shot by Lionel Messi in the 64th minute . In the second game the Icelanders lost 2-0 against Nigeria and in the last group game 2-1 against the later new vice world champions Croatia with 2-1, with Gylfi Sigurðsson scoring the second World Cup goal for Iceland to equalize and the Croatians the winning goal only succeeded in the 90th minute. After the World Cup Heimir Hallgrimsson resigned as national coach for Iceland.

player

Player with the highest number of World Cup goals for Iceland

1. Alfreð Finnbogason and Gylfi Sigurðsson (1 each)

World Cup captains

• 2018: Aron Gunnarsson (replaced twice)

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

With Birkir Már Sævarsson , there was only one player under contract in Iceland in the squad at the only ever World Cup participation.

2018 (3)

22 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Bulgaria, 3 in Denmark, 2 in Germany, 6 in England, 1 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Norway, 2 in Russia, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Sweden, 1 in Turkey , 1 in the USA)

Ari Freyr Skúlason (2); Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson ; Frederik Schram , Hannes Þór Halldórsson (3), Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson ; Alfreð Finnbogason (3), Rúrik Gíslason (2); Aron Gunnarsson (3), Birkir Bjarnason (3), Gylfi Sigurðsson (3), Hörður Björgvin Magnússon (3), Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson (2), Jón Daði Böðvarsson (1); Emil Hallfreðsson (2); Albert Guðmundsson ; Samúel Kári Friðjónsson ; Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson (3), Ragnar Sigurðsson (3), Sverrir Ingi Ingason (2); Kári Árnason (2); Arnór Ingvi Traustason (1); Ólafur Ingi Skúlason

Games

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1.	June 16, 2018	Argentina	1: 1	*	Moscow ( RUS )	Group game	First game against Argentina
2.	June 22, 2018	Nigeria	0: 2	*	Volgograd ( RUS )	Group game
3.	June 26, 2018	Croatia	1: 2	*	Rostov-on-Don ( RUS )	Group game

See also

• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"
• Icelandic national football team / European championships

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
2. ^ Belgium - Iceland 8-3
3. ↑ fifa.com: Hallgrimsson and Gomez resign
4. ↑ One of them in the 2nd division
5. ↑ One of them in the 2nd Bundesliga
6. ↑ 4 of them in the 2nd division, one of which played for a Welsh club