The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Iceland made its debut at the FIFA World Cup in 2018 after having failed 12 consecutive qualification campaigns from 1974 to 2014. The nation first attempted to qualify for the tournament back in 1958.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was Iceland's second major international tournament, having also qualified for UEFA Euro 2016.
Iceland was the smallest nation to have reached the World Cup Group Stage until Curaçao's qualification during the 2026 World Cup, and is still the smallest independent nation.
Record at the FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup recordYearRoundPosition* 1930Did not enter 1934 1938 1950 1954Entry not accepted by FIFA 1958Did not qualify 1962Did not enter 1966 1970 1974Did not qualify 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Group stage 28th 3 0 1 2 2 5 2022Did not qualify 2026 2030To be determined 2034TotalGroup stage1/23301225 *Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total
Russia 2018
Following a 2–0 home win over Kosovo in the final round of the qualifiers, Iceland secured their spot in Russia 2018, finishing top of Group I by two points over Croatia, who had defeated Iceland in the World Cup play-offs four years earlier. Despite finishing bottom of the group, Iceland drew against Argentina 1–1 in the opening match of the group.
Group stage
Player records Most appearances Nine players were fielded in all three of Iceland's 2018 FIFA World Cup matches.
RankPlayerMatches1Birkir Bjarnason3Alfreð Finnbogason3Aron Gunnarsson3Hannes Halldórsson3Hörður Magnússon3Birkir Sævarsson3Björn Sigurðarson3Gylfi Sigurðsson3Ragnar Sigurðsson3
Goalscorers On 16 June 2018, Alfreð Finnbogason scored Iceland's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal during their 1–1 draw against Argentina in Moscow.
Player Goals 2018 Alfreð Finnbogason 11 Gylfi Sigurðsson 11 Total 2 2
See also
Iceland at the UEFA European Championship
References
Reports
External links Iceland at FIFA.com