Iceland made history this evening by qualifying for the first time ever to the FIFA World Cup in football (soccer), which will be held next summer in Russia. Iceland beat Kosovo 2-0 to top Group I of the qualifying round. The group included Iceland, Croatia, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland, and Kosovo. The teams finished in that order.
By reaching the 2018 World Cup Iceland, a country of 334,252 people, is by far the smallest nation to ever reach the competition, beating the previous record held by Trinidad and Tobago (a nation of 1.365 million people).
This is the second time Iceland reaches a major international tournament. The eyes of the footballing world were fixated on Iceland in the summer of 2016 when the country reached the semi-finals of the European Championships, incredibly knocking out England in a 2-1 game along the way.
The Icelandic team and fans became competition favorites that summer, especially for the now famous Viking Clap the fans used to cheer their players on with.
Here’s the team performing the famous ‘Viking Clap’ chant with Icelandic fans last summer:
