At the end of 2024, the Icelandic national soccer team ranked 70th in the FIFA World Ranking of national soccer clubs, losing eight spots compared to the same month of the previous year. Iceland's squad – known locally as strákarnir okkar or ‘our boys’ in English – reached its highest position in the FIFA World Ranking in 2016. In this year, they participated as the smallest nation ever in the UEFA European Championship. The team made it to the quarter-finals but was defeated by France.
Prominent Icelandic soccer players
Iceland is home to some well-known soccer players who have featured in major leagues worldwide. Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen, Iceland’s all-time top goal scorer as of November 2022, won the English Premier League twice with Chelsea FC as well as the UEFA Champions League with FC Barcelona. Meanwhile, Aron Gunnarsson was the most valuable player of the Iceland men’s national team as of November 2022.
Iceland and the FIFA World Cup
Iceland qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2018. Although they drew against Argentina, who were positioned 11th in the FIFA World Ranking in that year, the squad dropped out of the competition in the group stages having lost all their subsequent games. The Icelandic team missed out on qualifying to the 2022 FIFA World Cup following a defeat to North Macedonia in November 2021, with the latter progressing to the play-offs.