Iceland national under-21 football team
The Iceland men's national under-21 football team is a national under-21 football team of Iceland and is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland. The team is considered to be the feeder team for the senior Icelandic men's national football team. Since the establishment of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in 1978, the team has reached the Euro Championship finals on one occasion in 2011 where they were knocked out in the group stages.[1]
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| Nickname(s) | Strákarnir okkar | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Knattspyrnusamband Íslands | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Arnar Viðarsson | ||
| FIFA code | ISL | ||
| |||
| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||
| Appearances | 1 (first in 2011) | ||
| Best result | Round 1 (2011) | ||
The team is for Icelandic players aged under 21 at the start of the calendar year in which a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign begins, so some players can remain with the squad until the age of 23. As long as they are eligible, players can play for Iceland at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side, and again for the U21s. This has been the case for several senior team players like Aron Gunnarsson, Eiður Guðjohnsen, Heiðar Helguson and Kolbeinn Sigþórsson.
History
From 1978 to 2009 the team never qualified for tournament finals. In late 2010, the team sealed qualification to the championships for the very first team in their history. During the qualification stage they finished second in their group behind the Czech Republic and qualified for the playoffs as a result of being one of the best runners-up in the whole qualification process. Their most notable win came in a 4–1 home win over Germany.[2] In the next stage they played against Scotland in a two-legged affair in which they won 4–2 on aggregate over the two games.[3]
Their remarkable qualification campaign saw them qualify for the finals where they were drawn against Belarus, Denmark and Switzerland in Group A. In their first two group games they were comfortably beaten by Belarus and Switzerland. In their final group game they defeated Denmark who were the hosts of the tournament 3–1.[4] Iceland would finish third in the group, level on points with the second placed and fourth placed teams.[5] Following the end of the tournament, UEFA announced its Team of the Tournament with striker Kolbeinn Sigþórsson named on the list.[6]
Competition records
UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 to 2009 | Did Not Qualify | ||||||||
 |
Group Stage | 5th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - 2 |
| 2013 to 2019 | Did Not Qualify | ||||||||
| Total | 0 Titles | 0/1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 |
2021 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 16 | Final tournament | — | 0–0 | 12 Nov | 4–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | |
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | +15 | 13 | Final tournament if among five best runners-up | 13 Oct | — | 3–0 | 17 Nov | 6–0 | 5–0 | |
| 3 | |
5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 9 | 1–0 | 9 Oct | — | 4 Sep | 6–1 | 3–0 | ||
| 4 | |
4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 6 | 1–3 | 8 Sep | 5–0 | — | 13 Oct | 9 Oct | ||
| 5 | |
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 17 Nov | 13 Nov | — | 2–0 | ||
| 6 | |
5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 16 | −16 | 0 | 17 Nov | 12 Nov | 13 Oct | 0–3 | 8 Sep | — |
Recent results and forthcoming fixtures
Current squad
The following players were named in the squad for the friendly match against England U20, played on 19 November 2019. All caps and goals are correct as of 19 November 2019.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Patrik Gunnarsson | 15 November 2000 | 7 | 0 |  | |||
| GK | Elías Rafn Ólafsson | 11 March 2000 | 3 | 0 | | |||
| DF | Torfi Tímoteus Gunnarsson | 31 January 1999 | 9 | 0 | | |||
| DF | Ísak Óli Ólafsson | 30 June 2000 | 6 | 1 | | |||
| DF | Hjalti Sigurðsson | 19 September 2000 | 4 | 0 | | |||
| DF | Þórir Helgason | 28 September 2000 | 3 | 0 | | |||
| DF | Finnur Tómas Pálmason | 12 February 2001 | 3 | 0 | | |||
| DF | Stefán Árni Geirsson | 6 November 2000 | 1 | 0 | | |||
| DF | Davíð Ingvarsson | 25 April 1999 | 1 | 0 | | |||
| MF | Alex Þór Hauksson | 26 November 1999 | 15 | 1 | | |||
| MF | Kolbeinn Finnsson | 25 August 1999 | 12 | 0 |  | |||
| MF | Daníel Hafsteinsson | 12 November 1999 | 11 | 0 | | |||
| MF | Jónatan Ingi Jónsson | 15 March 1999 | 10 | 2 | | |||
| MF | Kolbeinn Þórðarson | 12 March 2000 | 4 | 0 | .svg.png){kind=small} | |||
| MF | Ágúst Eðvald Hlynsson | 28 March 2000 | 2 | 0 | | |||
| MF | Viktor Örlygur Andrason | 5 February 2000 | 1 | 0 | | |||
| MF | Bjarki Steinn Bjarkason | 11 May 2000 | 1 | 0 | | |||
| FW | Brynjólfur Darri Willumsson | 12 August 2000 | 9 | 1 | | |||
| FW | Guðmundur Andri Tryggvason | 4 November 1999 | 8 | 0 |  | |||
| FW | Valdimar Þór Ingimundarson | 28 April 1999 | 4 | 0 | | |||
Recent call-ups
The following players are still eligible for and have previously been called up to the under-21 squad.
Previous squads
- 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squad
See also
References
- "2011: Spain's boys of summer dazzle". UEFA.com. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- "Euro U21 2011 (Qual.)". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- "Euro U21 2011 (Qual.)". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- "Iceland 3-1 Denmark". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- "Euro U21 2011". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- "U21 all-star squad named by UEFA technical team". UEFA.com. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
External links
- Official Site (in Icelandic)
- Official Site under-21 results (in Icelandic)
- Profile & squad at UEFA.com
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