Today, on October 10 in Reykjavik, the Ukraine national team within the World Cup 2026 qualification will play a match against Iceland. We present our opponent. 

Iceland

General Information

As of September 2025, Iceland held the 74th place in the FIFA ranking. The team played its first official match on July 17, 1946 against Denmark (0:3). Their biggest victory came on March 26, 2023 over Liechtenstein (7:0), and their worst defeat was on August 23, 1967 to Denmark (2:14). The team is nicknamed the "Vikings."

The Iceland national team has once in its history, in 2018, qualified for the World Cup finals where they placed fourth in their group stage. They also played in the final stages of the European Championship once — in 2016 in France, reaching the quarter-finals.

Squad 

Ahead of the World Cup 2026 qualifier against Ukraine, Iceland's coaching staff can rely on 24 players.

Goalkeepers: Elias-Raun Olafsson ("Midtjylland", Denmark), Hakon Valdimarsson ("Brentford", England), Anton Einarsson ("Breidablik").

Defenders: Logi Tomasson ("Samsunspor", Turkey), Daniel Gretarsson ("Sennebjerged", Denmark), Sverrir Ingason ("Panathinaikos", Greece), Viktor Palsson ("Gorsens", Denmark).

Halfbacks: Ari Gunnarsson ("Al-Gharafa", Qatar), Bjarki Bjarkason ("Venezia", Italy), Gisli Thorardsson ("Lech Poznan", Poland), Isak Johannesson ("Cologne", Germany), Andri Baldursson ("Kasimpasa", Turkey), Stefan Jurdansson ("Preston North End", England), Kristian Gylfason ("Fiorentina", Italy), Tori Helgason ("Lecce", Italy), Hakon Haraldsson ("Lille", France), Jon Torsteinsson ("Hertha BSC", Germany), Mikael Ellertsson ("Genoa", Italy), Mikael Anderson ("Jurgarden", Sweden).

Forwards: Bjornioulfur Villumsson ("Groningen", Netherlands), Sevar Magnusson ("Bran", Norway), Andri Gudjohnsen ("Blackburn Rovers", England), Daniel Gudjohnsen ("Malmo FF", Sweden), Albert Gudmundsson ("Fiorentina", Italy).

Head Coach

52-year-old Icelandic specialist Arnar Gunnleifsson has been coaching the national team of Iceland since January 2025. He replaced Norwegian Oe Hareide on this position. 

Prior to this, Gunnleifsson worked with "Akranaes" and "Vikingur". With the latter club, he won two league titles (2021, 2023), four times — the Icelandic Cup (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) and twice — the Icelandic Super Cup (2022, 2024). In 2021 and 2023 he was named the best coach in the Icelandic league. 

Under his current leadership, the national team has played six matches. The "Vikings" won two games and lost four.

Leader

The leader of today's Iceland squad is forward Albert Gudmundsson of Italian Fiorentina. The 28-year-old Gudmundsson has played 42 matches for the national team, scoring 11 goals.

Previously, he played for Dutch Jong PSV, PSV, Jong AZ, AZ and Italian Genoa. He won the title of champion of the Netherlands with PSV (2017/2018).

Gudmundsson most often plays as a withdrawn forward, but can also play in an attacking halfback role or even as a left winger. Among his strengths are ball control and powerful long-range shooting. The Icelander prefers short passes and is extremely useful in counterattacks. On the other hand, he struggles on second balls and defensively.