Iceland national football team
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 a UEFA member since 1957. The team's nickname is Strákarnir okkar, which means Our Boys in Icelandic.
| Nickname(s) | Strákarnir okkar (Our Boys) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Knattspyrnusamband Íslands (KSÍ) | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Åge Hareide | ||
| Captain | Aron Gunnarsson | ||
| Most caps | Birkir Bjarnason (113) | ||
| Top scorer | Gylfi Sigurðsson (27) | ||
| Home stadium | Laugardalsvöllur | ||
| FIFA code | ISL | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current | 72 1 (4 April 2024) | ||
| Highest | 18 (February–March 2018) | ||
| Lowest | 131 (April–June 2012) | ||
| First international | |||
| Unofficial Faroe Islands 0–1 Iceland (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands; 29 July 1930) Official Iceland 0–3 Denmark (Reykjavík, Iceland; 17 July 1946) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| Unofficial Iceland 9–0 Faroe Islands (Keflavík, Iceland; 10 July 1985) Official Liechtenstein 0–7 Iceland (Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 26 March 2023) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
| 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 team 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 reaching 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 ever to clinch a FIFA World Cup berth when they qualified for the 2018 tournament on 9 October 2017. They drew with Argentina in their opening match, but went out in the group stage.