Iceland W

20th century

Although Úrvalsdeild, the Icelandic Football League, was founded in 1912, the country's first international match was played on 29 July 1930, against the Faroe Islands. Although Iceland won 1–0 away, both teams were at the time unaffiliated with FIFA. The first match officially recognised by FIFA took place in Reykjavík on 17 July 1946, a 0–3 loss to their future rivals Denmark. The first international victory was against Finland in 1947. For the first 20 years of the Football Association of Iceland (KSÍ)'s existence, the team mostly did not participate in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship. In 1954, Iceland applied to take part in qualification for the 1954 World Cup, but the application was rejected. In qualification for the 1958 World Cup, Iceland finished last in their group with zero wins, conceding 26 goals.

In 1980, Iceland won the first edition of the friendly tournament known as the Greenland Cup.

Since 1974, the team has taken part in qualifying for every World Cup and European Championship. In 1994, the team reached their then best ever position in the FIFA World Rankings, 37th. This record stood until 2016 when they managed to reach 21st. In a friendly against Estonia on 24 April 1996 in Tallinn, Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen entered as a substitute for his father Arnór. This marked the first time that a father and son played in the same international match.

21st century

In qualification for Euro 2004, Iceland finished third in their group, one point behind Scotland. As a result, they failed to qualify for a playoff spot.

However, the following qualifying campaigns were much more difficult for Iceland, which finished near the last places of their respective groups. During the Euro 2008 qualifiers, Iceland scored two unexpected successes against Northern Ireland (3–0 in the opening away, 2–1 at home in the return), then heroically resisted in the first and second leg against Spain, winners of the competition (a 1–1 draw at home after having led the score and a short 0–1 defeat away). But Iceland suffered several other heavy defeats, surprisingly losing twice to Latvia (0–4 away, 2–4 home), which had qualified for Euro 2004. Iceland also lost to Liechtenstein (0–3 away, after a 1–1 home draw).

Iceland's poor results were due to the absence of professionals on the island and the country's hostile climate, where winter lasts for 8 months. The development of the sport was stifled by the dearth of soccer pitches: There were only two synthetic fields, so players trained on gravel or in snow. In the 2000s, Icelandic soccer experienced a real revolution. The economic boom allowed the authorities to create important structures with indoor pitches in synthetic turf, allowing training year-round regardless of weather conditions. These new structures encouraged young people to turn to sports and even led to a decrease in alcohol and tobacco consumption among teenagers.

In 2014, Iceland almost secured qualification for their first World Cup. Finishing second in Group D, they played Croatia in a two-leg playoff for qualification. After holding them to a 0–0 draw in the home leg, they lost 2–0 away.

Euro 2016

Iceland qualified for a major tournament for the first time in 2015 after finishing second in Group A of qualification for Euro 2016, losing only two games, and beating the Netherlands – which had finished third in the 2014 World Cup – twice. During the qualification, they reached their then highest ranking in the FIFA World Rankings, 23rd. Iceland were drawn into a group with Portugal, Hungary and Austria for the final tournament.

At the tournament finals, Iceland recorded 1–1 draws in their first two group stage matches against Portugal and Hungary. They then advanced from their group with a 2–1 victory against Austria. Iceland qualified for the tournament's quarter-finals after a 2–1 upset win over England in the Round of 16, which led to England manager Roy Hodgson resigning in disgrace immediately after the final whistle. However, they were eliminated by host nation France in the quarter-finals, 5–2.

2018 World Cup

Iceland qualified for the 2018 World Cup, their first ever appearance in the world championship and second major tournament overall, securing qualification on 9 October 2017 after a 2–0 win against Kosovo. In doing so, they became the lowest-populated country ever to reach the finals until Curaçao broke both records in 2026. Iceland were drawn to play Croatia, Argentina and Nigeria in a group that was considered by many as the "group of death". Despite a challenging group, Iceland were tipped to advance from the group by several journalist websites, based on their impressive performance in Euro 2016. Their maiden match at the World Cup was against 2014 runners-up Argentina, with Iceland holding Argentina to a 1–1 draw. However, their chances of advancing from the group were hurt following a 2–0 loss to Nigeria, with several missed opportunities in the first half and a penalty kick in the second half missed by Gylfi Sigurðsson, putting Iceland in position to play a decisive match against already qualified Croatia. Iceland lost to Croatia in their final group game and were eliminated; and because Argentina won against Nigeria, Iceland finished bottom of the group with a single point.

2018–19 UEFA Nations League

After Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, Iceland participated in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, in which they were in Group 2 of League A with Switzerland and Belgium. Many of Iceland's international matches in this competition were undermined by the repeated absence of some of their key players, often due to injury. Iceland lost all four games and faced relegation to League B, but due to a rule change by UEFA, Iceland was not relegated to League B for the 2020–2021 edition.