By qualifying for their first ever World Cup, Iceland wrote history. Never before had such a small nation reached the final stage of this competition. The population of Iceland is approximately 350,000 people, which is 35 times less than the 12,2-million Russian capital Moscow, where they are scheduled to play their opening World Cup match, on 16 June against Argentina. Even Volgograd and Rostov-on-Don, where the team will play two remaining group games, are each three times more populated than the whole country of Iceland.

Impressing at EURO

The previous smallest country to reach the World Cup finals was Trinidad and Tobago in 2006 (1,3 million), followed by Northern Ireland (1,85 million), Slovenia (2 million) and Jamaica (2,9 million). As we can see, Iceland is the first country with less than one million people to make it to the World Cup, so this is a remarkable achievement for the small Nordic nation.

Two years ago, Iceland made their debut at the EURO in France, and sensationally reached the quarter-final after impressively eliminating England 2:1 in the Last 16. The national team was then coached by the duo of Heimir Hallgrimsson and Lars Lagerback, but the latter stepped down following the tournament, leaving Hallgrimsson the sole manager. Under him, the Icelanders had another impressive qualifying campaign, as they topped the competitive Group I ahead of much more populated Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey.

Now they hope to be successful in Russia, and they have a reason as Iceland boast a talented generation of players. Kolbeinn Sigthorsson from Nantes, who was the first-choice striker at the EURO, has been hit hard with injuries during the last two years and has to miss the World Cup, yet other Icelanders still have their impact.

Tattoos, wine and Eurovision

Many of them have unusual and fun pages in their biographies. For example, the first-choice goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson, now playing for Randers in Denmark, used to work as a film director and was behind the Icelandic music video for his nation’s 2012 Eurovision song contest entry.

For the defender Ragnar Sigurdsson, the World Cup in Russia will be special, in particular the match against Croatia in Rostov as he plays for the local club. Now he earns good money, but when Sigurdsson was young, he had to do extra jobs, where his salary was so small that he could spend the whole of it for five days. Ragnar is also known for his numerous tattoos, which - as he claims - mean nothing, and for his passion for rock music and playing the guitar.

The bearded captain Aron Gunnarsson from Cardiff City is also tattooed all over, which only adds to his terrifying appearances. Last year, he got his most impressive tattoo, with the huge Icelandic flag on his back. Gunnarsson’s elder brother Arnor Thor is also an Iceland international - however, not in football but in handball, another popular team sport in the country.

Another midfielder Emil Hallfredsson, who now plays for Udinese, is also a businessman. During his long career in Italy, he developed a taste for wine and set up a company that imports red wine from the Valpolicella valley - which is not far from Verona - to Icelan

Coach works as a dentist

The Icelandic players are not big international stars, but they are very hard-working and have gained a lot of experience after playing together for many years. Besides, the role of coaches in creating a good team should not be underestimated - Lagerback in the past, and Hallgrimsson now. Hallgrimsson is not a typical coach in the present-day professional football as he combines managing the national team with running a small dental surgery clinic in Iceland. He also has special relationships with the fans - before every home game, he meets with a group of them in a Reykjavik bar and discloses the team’s line-up and tactics. By the way, Hallgrimsson himself does not live in the capital - he resides in the small islands of Vestmannaeyjar, so he needs to take a plane or a boat to get to Reykjavik.

As for the passionate Iceland fans, they impressed the world during the EURO two years ago showing their typical “thunderclap” chant. It was estimated that ten per cent of the whole nation went to France in the summer of 2016. While Russia is farther away from Iceland and harder to reach, there is no doubt that the Nordic team will enjoy great support once again - even from some neutral spectators, as Icelanders definitely know how to win hearts.