TheFIFA World Cup, sometimes called theFootball World Cup or theSoccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as theWorld Cup, is an internationalassociation football competition contested by themen's national teams of the members ofFédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due toWorld War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, thequalification phase and the final phase (officially called theWorld 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 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the2006 tournament final.
Iceland made its debut at theFIFA World Cup in2018 after having failed 12 consecutive qualification campaigns from1974 to2014. The nation first attempted to qualify for the tournament back in1958.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was Iceland's second major international tournament, having also qualified forUEFA Euro 2016.
Iceland was the smallest nation to have reached the World Cup Group Stage untilCuraçao's qualification during the2026 World Cup, and is still the smallest independent nation.[1][2]
| FIFA World Cup record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA |
 1930 | Did not enter | |||||||
 1934 | ||||||||
 1938 | ||||||||
 1950 | ||||||||
 1954 | Entry not accepted by FIFA | |||||||
 1958 | Did not qualify | |||||||
 1962 | Did not enter | |||||||
 1966 | ||||||||
 1970 | ||||||||
 1974 | Did not qualify | |||||||
 1978 | ||||||||
 1982 | ||||||||
| 1986 | ||||||||
 1990 | ||||||||
 1994 | ||||||||
 1998 | ||||||||
  2002 | ||||||||
| 2006 | ||||||||
 2010 | ||||||||
 2014 | ||||||||
 2018 | Group stage | 28th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
 2022 | Did not qualify | |||||||
 2026 | ||||||||
  2030 | To be determined | |||||||
 2034 | ||||||||
| Total | Group stage | 1/23 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Opponent | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 000.00 |
 Croatia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 000.00 |
 Nigeria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 000.00 |
| Total | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 000.00 |
|  | |
Following a 2–0 home win overKosovo in the final round of thequalifiers, Iceland secured their spot in Russia 2018, finishing top ofGroup I by two points overCroatia, who had defeated Iceland in theWorld Cup play-offs four years earlier.[3] Despite finishing bottom of the group, Iceland drew againstArgentina 1–1 in the opening match of the group.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Croatia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Argentina | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 | |
| 3 | Nigeria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 |  Iceland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 |
Nine players were fielded in all three of Iceland's FIFA World Cup matches in 2018.
| Rank | Player | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birkir Bjarnason | 3 |
| Alfreð Finnbogason | 3 | |
| Aron Gunnarsson | 3 | |
| Hannes Halldórsson | 3 | |
| Hörður Magnússon | 3 | |
| Birkir Sævarsson | 3 | |
| Björn Sigurðarson | 3 | |
| Gylfi Sigurðsson | 3 | |
| Ragnar Sigurðsson | 3 |
In the match against Argentina on 16 June 2018,Alfreð Finnbogason scored the first goal for Iceland in FIFA World Cup history.
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfreð Finnbogason | 1 |
| Gylfi Sigurðsson | 1 |
