Iceland top Nordics in Fifa rankings

The football world has been turned on its head in the Nordic countries. When the Fifa World Ranking was published Thursday morning Iceland, often described with the word “minnows“ by sports writers, was in place 28 at its highest ranking ever, and for the first time ranked higher than all the other Nordics.

Iceland‘s national team has had a fantastic run of late. While giants have faltered, they have had a perfect start in the qualifiers for the European Cup in 2016 and are now top of their group with three victories out of three matches, scoring eight goals without conceding a single one. This shows in the rankings. Iceland's 28th place in the world means it is four places ahead of Denmark, and 11 places ahead of Sweden. Finland, Norway, and the Faroes are ranked 63, 68 og 187, respectively.

This is a drastic reversal of fortune for the Icelandic team. Only two years ago Iceland was at its nadir, ranked 131st in the world, behind all the other Nordics. Even the Faroe Islands were higher on the list than Iceland.  Now Iceland is in the top 30 in the world, and top twenty in Europe where it is ranked 17th. Two years ago Iceland was five places from the bottom in Europe. Iceland's best previous world ranking was place 38 in 1994.

Ahead of Usual Big Brothers

“Iceland Overtakes Denmark - Best Nordic Team,“ said a headline on the website of Danish daily BT, adding that the Icelandic team was now “ahead of their usual big brothers from Norway, Sweden - and Denmark.“ The website of daily Politiken lamented Ronaldo's injury time winner for Portugal against Denmark last week, which sent the Danes down the rankings as Iceland went up.

Norway's Aftenposten tries to find a positive sign in the Norwegian team climbing from place 76 to 68, while adding that “Iceland is flying high these days.“ Swedish tabloid Expressen finds little solace in Fifa's list: „It's Official: Sweden is Worse Than Cape Verde,“ stated a headline. The story noted that “at least one Swede has reason to celebrate,“ Lars Lagerbäck.  

Drastically Improved Conditions to Play Football in Iceland

Morgunblaðið‘s Sindri Sverrisson says there are many reasons for this change. “The obvious answer is today we have better players,“ the sports journalist writes in Morgunblaðið. “Lars Lagerbäck and Heimir Hallgrímsson seem to have been exactly the right people to take over as national coaches. But why do we have better players today, and what is so good about Lars and Heimir? The biggest difference lies in drastically improved conditions to play football in Iceland, and the high educational standard coaches  working with younger age groups have achieved. The torch bearers of the A-team today, men like Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson, and Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, are the result of this, guys who have grown used to success with their football clubs and national youth teams.“

The Icelandic Football Association has put emphasis on coaching. There are 700 active coaches in all age groups in Iceland. 70% of them have UEFA-B rights, and 20% UEFA-A rights, a much higher percentage than in other countries. Simultaneously indoor halls have been built around the country as well as artificial pitches which makes it possible to practice football all year round. This has added technical prowess to Iceland's players. Thus, Lagerbäck, who managed the Swedish national team from 1998 to 2910, had a promising group of talented players to work with. The team seems to have absorbed his programme completely, and the players have repeatedly pointed at the he brought a new level of professionalism to the team.

Iceland is now trying to qualify for a major tournament for the first time, having come closer than ever before this summer's World Cup in Brazil. It is in a tough group with the Czech Republic, Holland, Turkey, and Kazakhstan, and Latvia. Right now Iceland is top of its group, level with the Czechs on points, but ahead on goal difference, but there are seven games to go. 

Swedish coach Lars Lagerbäck has worked miracles with the Icelandic team. Ómar Óskarsson