Euro 2016 saw the birth of a new football national; when avery ambitious Iceland made its way through the group stages, and later knocked England out of the European competition. An estimated 33,000 people 10 percent of the population, turned up to give the players a hero’s welcome on their return from France after the tournament in 2016.
But with a population of just 335,000 people, Iceland has done it again – this time at a bigger scale. After beating Kosovo 2-0, Iceland have just guaranteed automatic qualification to the FIFA world cup. With that, they surpass Trinidad and Tobago, which has a population of 1.3 million people, as the smallest nation at the sport’s biggest festivity.
Russia brace yourself … #WorldCup2018 #Euro2016 pic.twitter.com/8eFOfbfV8Q
— John Sinnott (@JohnSinnott) October 10, 2017
To Russia With Love #aframisland
— Bjarni Benediktsson (@Bjarni_Ben) October 9, 2017
Iceland’s Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, took it to twitter to express his happiness.
“I thought after Euro 2016 that the hardest thing would be to motivate ourselves again,” Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, who is a part-time dentist.
This team proves that ambition is all it takes to make it to the biggest of stages.
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