While we still have to wait for British “minnows” Wales and Northern Ireland to officially clinch their places in Euro 2016, another unheralded team was able to pop the Champagne corks with unabandoned joy — Iceland.
Their historic qualification is a truly enormous achievement. With a total population of less than 330,000, Iceland became the smallest-ever nation to qualify for a Euro tournament.
It is not as if they just managed to squeeze through in an easy group — far from it. Among the teams they were up against were the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Turkey. Not only that, they did it with two games to spare.
A 3-0 win for Iceland against Turkey in their opening match gave them the belief that they were capable of going all the way. But Iceland’s most memorable achievement was undoubtedly beating the Netherlands, quarter-finalists in last year’s World Cup, both home and away.
They are games Swansea City’s Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson will always remember. He scored both goals in their home triumph over the Dutch. Then it was his 51st-minute penalty which gave Iceland an astonishing double over the Netherlands last week.
Following that result, Iceland, nicknamed “Our Boys”, knew a draw in Reykjavik against Kazakhstan was enough to qualify.
And so they managed a goalless draw in heavy rain — it wasn’t pretty, but nobody cared. For Icelanders it was the most important 0-0 draw in world history. No wonder the team danced on the pitch in pouring rain in front of the 10,000 capacity crowd.
Joining them on the pitch was their Swedish coach, Lars Lagerback who has so cleverly organised this team of few star players into an extremely competent outfit. The headline on the local newspaper Frettabladid read: “Takk Lars” (Thank you Lars), acknowledging his huge role in the team’s success.
Lagerback, who took over the Iceland team in 2010 when they were even ranked below Lichtenstein, was quick to play down his efforts. “I am not a hero,” he said. “Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela are heroes.”
The Swedish gaffer also praised the Iceland supporters, 3,000 of whom travelled for the crucial away game against the Dutch.
“Their support has been fantastic,” he said. “Even I got goose bumps when I heard them singing the national anthem.’’
In fact Iceland’s triumph should come as no surprise. Under Lagerback they reached the play-offs for the 2014 World Cup but went down over two legs to a strong Croatian side.
Lagerback has the pedigree too. He guided Sweden to five successive appearances in the Euro Championship from 2000-08, again not with a star-studded team.
Apart from Sigurdsson, there are few well-known players in the Iceland team, most of whom play in Norway or Sweden.
Captain Aron Gunnarsson has experienced the Premier League, but is currently in the Championship with Cardiff City, while Johann Gudmundsson is with Charlton Athletic.
Gunnarsson said it was “unbelievable” his team had made it to the finals. “I never dreamed this could happen,” he said.
Of the other players, the towering goalkeeper Hannes Halldorssen is with Dutch side NEC, while up front Kolbeinn Sigthorsson has been performing well for Nantes in the French league.
We must not forget the most outstanding footballer Iceland has produced, Eidur Gudjohnsen who played for many clubs but enjoyed particularly successful spells with Chelsea and Barcelona. The 37-year-old, now based in China, also played in a couple of the current qualifiers, but in very much a supporting role.
Back in 1996, Gudjohnsen made footballing history in a match against Estonia when he came on as a sub for his father, Amor. It was the first time a father and son had played in the same international match.
One English club that has a particular affiliation with Icelandic players is Championship side Reading. Sigurdsson began his career at Reading and was named player of the year in the 2009-2010. Much to the horror of the fans, the Royals sold him to Hoffenheim, albeit a record fee for Reading.
Midfielder Brynjer Gunnarsson spent eight seasons at Reading, helping them win promotion to the Premier League in 2005-06.
Another Icelandic stalwart for Reading was Ivar Ingimarsson who was with them from 2003-11. He was Steve Coppell’s first signing as Reading manager and it turned out to be a good piece of business as he went on to appear for the club on 281 occasions and named player of the year 2006-7.
My dad would have been delighted at Iceland’s success. Nobby Sr was stationed at Reykjavik during World War II and played a number of games for the RAF against Icelandic opposition. He spoke highly of the Icelandic people and loved talking about playing football under the midnight sun. It sounded incredibly exotic. However, I think he stayed in the barracks during the winter.