16-year-old debutants, a forward with a 20-year career in the team and conceded 14 goals in one match. 20 facts about the Icelandic team

Iceland enters the match against Ukraine on a streak of three victories

March 26 at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw national teams of Ukraine and Iceland will compete for a ticket to Euro 2024. Before the final match of the European Championship qualifying playoffs Ukraine – Iceland we tell 20 facts about the Icelandic national team.

Over its 78-year history, the Icelandic national team has played 541 matches. 156 matches – won, 106 – ended in a draw, 279 – lost. Goal difference 637:916.

Iceland played the first match in its history against Denmark. A friendly home match in July 1946 ended in the defeat of the Icelanders – 0:3.

In the next match, a year later – in July 1947, Iceland scored the first goal in its history: Albert Gudmunsson scored in a match against Norway. However, this did not help Iceland – they lost 2:4.

Iceland achieved its first victory in its history in its third match, beating the Finnish national team at home in July 1948 – 2:0.

14 goals – the maximum number of goals conceded in one match in the history of the Icelandic team. In 1967, Denmark defeated Iceland 14:2.

The largest number of goals scored by the Icelandic team in one match is nine. In July 1985, Iceland beat the Faroe Islands 9:0.

Iceland has participated in the final stage of the European and World Championships once – in 2016 and 2018, respectively. At the same time, Iceland, with a population of about 370 thousand people, remains the smallest country to ever play at the World Cup.

Currently, Iceland ranks 73rd in the FIFA rankings; at the end of 2016, the team was 21st.

All 23 Icelandic national team players called up for the Euro 2024 qualifying play-off matches represent foreign clubs.

The Transfermarkt portal estimates the current composition of the Icelandic national team at 69.5 million euros. Only one player from the application – Genoa forward Albert Gudmundsson – is valued at more than 10 million euros (22 million).

Iceland lost five of its last 10 matches. In four they won, in one they ended in a draw. Iceland is approaching the match against Ukraine on a streak of three victories.

For the 70-year-old Norwegian coach of the Icelandic national team, Aage Hayrede, this is his third job with the national team. Previously, he led the Norwegian national team for five years and the Danish national team for four years.

The career in the national team of one of the most famous Icelandic football players – ex-forward of Chelsea, Barcelona, ​​Tottenham and a number of other clubs, Eidur Gudjohnsen, lasted 20 years, two months and nine days. He made his debut with the national team in April 1996, and played his last match in July 2016.

At 16 years, eight months and nine days, Sigurdur Jonsson made his first debut in the Icelandic national team, and remains the youngest debutant in the team’s history. The former midfielder, who played at Barcelona and Sheffield Wednesday, was shortlisted for the title of the country’s best player of all time.

Goalkeeper Birkir Kristinsson, who played 74 matches for the national team, played his last match for the national team at the age of 40 years and three days.

The Icelandic team played four matches against Ukraine. So far the confrontation is equal: Iceland and Ukraine won one match each, two ended in a draw.

The best scorer in the history of the Iceland national team is the 34-year-old ex-midfielder of Tottenham, Soncy, Everton and Hoffenheim Gylfi Sigurdsson, who now plays in his homeland for Valur. The midfielder has 27 goals in 80 matches for the national team. He scored his last goal for the national team on October 16 last year in the Euro 2024 group stage match against Liechtenstein.

Sigurdsson scored one of his 27 goals against the Ukrainian national team in the teams’ last head-to-head match, in September 2017. Sigurdsson was not included in Iceland’s squad for today’s match with the blue-yellows.

The best sniper among the players called up for the match with Ukraine in Wroclaw is Genoa forward Albert Gudmundsson. Teammate Ruslan Malinovsky has nine goals in 36 matches for the national team. Three of them were in the semi-final match of the Euro 2024 qualification against Israel. This hat-trick is Gudmundsson’s second in matches with the national team: the forward scored three times against Indonesia. He also has a double against Liechtenstein and a goal against Poland.

The greatest number of matches for the Iceland national team – 113 (15 goals) – was played by ex-midfielder of Sampdoria, Brescia and Aston Villa Birkir Bjadnason. He is also the author of Iceland’s first goal at major international tournaments (he scored in the Euro 2016 group stage match against Portugal).

Source: Sportarena

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