Iceland national under-21 football team

Iceland Under-21

Nickname(s)	Strákarnir okkar
Association	Knattspyrnusamband Íslands
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Davíð Snorri Jónasson
FIFA code	ISL
First colours Second colours
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	2 (first in 2011 )
Best result	Round 1 (2011, 2021)

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 Championship in 1978, the team has reached the Euro Championship finals on two occasions, most recently in 2021. In the 2011 and 2021 tournaments they were knocked out in the group stages. ^[1]

The team is for Icelandic players aged under 21 at the start of the calendar year in which a two-year UEFA European Under-21 Championship campaign begins, so some players can remain with the squad until the age of 23. Players can represent Iceland at any level as long as they are eligible, giving them the option to compete for the U21s, senior team, and then U21s once more. This has been the case for several senior team players like Eiður Guðjohnsen, Heiðar Helguson, Jón Daði Böðvarsson and Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson.

History

From 1978 to 2009 the team never qualified for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 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 victory 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]

Iceland qualified to the tournament for the second time in 2021. ^[7]

Competition records

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1978 to 2009	did not qualify
2011	Group Stage	5th	3	1	0	2	3	5	–2
2013 to 2019	did not qualify
2021	Group Stage	15th	3	0	0	3	1	8	–7
Total	0 Titles	0/2	6	1	0	5	4	13	–9

UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	10	9	1	0	41	3	+38	28	Final tournament		—	1–1	2–1	1–0	6–0	11–0
2	Iceland	10	5	3	2	25	7	+18	18	Play-offs		0–1	—	1–1	3–1	5–0	9–0
3	Greece	10	5	2	3	16	10	+6	17			0–4	1–0	—	2–0	0–0	4–0
4	Belarus	10	4	0	6	16	15	+1	12			1–5	1–2	0–2	—	2–0	6–0
5	Cyprus	10	3	2	5	16	16	0	11			0–1	1–1	3–0	0–1	—	6–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	0	10	0	63	−63	0			0–9	0–3	0–5	0–4	0–6	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs

The four play-off winners qualify for the final tournament.

All times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Croatia	3–3 (5–4 p)	Denmark	2–1	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Slovakia	3–5	Ukraine	3–2	0–3
Republic of Ireland	1–1 (1–3 p)	Israel	1–1	0–0 (a.e.t.)
Iceland	1–2	Czech Republic	1–2	0–0

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
2 September 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	OSK Brestsky, Brest, Belarus	Belarus	2–1	Hákon Arnar Haraldsson (x2)
7 September 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Greece	1–1	Kolbeinn Þórðarson
12 October 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Portugal	0–1
12 November 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, Eschen, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	3–0	Kristian Hlynsson Ágúst Hlynsson Brynjólfur Willumsson
16 November 2021	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium, Tripoli, Greece	Greece	0–1
25 March 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Estádio Municipal de Portimão, Portimão, Portugal	Portugal	1–1	Brynjólfur Willumsson
29 March 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Dasaki Stadium, Achna, Cyprus	Cyprus	1–1	Kristian Hlynsson
3 June 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Liechtenstein	9–0	Kristian Hlynsson (x2) Atli Barkarson (x2) Ísak Snær Þorvaldsson (x2) Brynjólfur Willumsson (x2) Kristall Máni Ingason
8 June 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Belarus	3–1	Kristian Hlynsson Kristall Máni Ingason Viktor Örlygur Andrason
11 June 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification	Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Cyprus	5–0	Kristall Máni Ingason (x2) Andreas Karamanolis (own goal) Sævar Atli Magnússon Kristian Hlynsson
23 September 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification play-offs	Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Czech Republic	1–2	Sævar Atli Magnússon
27 September 2022	2023 UEFA U-21 qualification play-offs	Stadion Střelecký ostrov, České Budějovice, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	0–0

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group C matches against Faroe Islands and Estonia on 4 and 8 September; respecitvely. ^[8]

Caps and goals updated as of 8 September 2025, after the match against Estonia . Names in bold denote players who have been capped for the senior team.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1 GK	Lúkas Petersson	(2004-02-09) 9 February 2004 (age 21)	12	0	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
12	1 GK	Halldór Snær Georgsson	(2004-01-05) 5 January 2004 (age 21)	4	0	KR
2	2 DF	Ásgeir Helgi Orrason	(2005-05-19) 19 May 2005 (age 20)	2	0	Breiðablik
3	2 DF	Júlíus Mar Júlíusson	(2004-06-07) 7 June 2004 (age 21)	3	0	KR
5	2 DF	Hlynur Freyr Karlsson	(2004-04-06) 6 April 2004 (age 21)	15	0	Brommapojkarna
23	2 DF	Nóel Atli Arnórsson	(2006-09-30) 30 September 2006 (age 18)	2	0	AaB
4	3 MF	Logi Hrafn Róbertsson	(2004-07-22) 22 July 2004 (age 21)	19	0	Istra
6	3 MF	Baldur Kári Helgason	(2005-02-08) 8 February 2005 (age 20)	5	0	FH
7	3 MF	Ágúst Orri Þorsteinsson	(2005-01-14) 14 January 2005 (age 20)	7	0	Breiðablik
8	3 MF	Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason	(2004-04-27) 27 April 2004 (age 21)	7	0	Stjarnan
10	3 MF	Eggert Aron Guðmundsson	(2004-02-08) 8 February 2004 (age 21)	13	1	Brann
14	3 MF	Helgi Fróði Ingason	(2005-12-06) 6 December 2005 (age 19)	7	0	Helmond Sport
17	3 MF	Jóhannes Kristinn Bjarnason	(2005-02-24) 24 February 2005 (age 20)	7	1	Kolding IF
18	3 MF	Kjartan Már Kjartansson	(2006-07-14) 14 July 2006 (age 19)	3	0	Aberdeen
19	3 MF	Róbert Frosti Þorkelsson	(2005-08-18) 18 August 2005 (age 20)	7	0	GAIS
21	3 MF	Tómas Orri Róbertsson	(2004-04-21) 21 April 2004 (age 21)	3	0	FH
9	4 FW	Benoný Breki Andrésson	(2005-08-03) 3 August 2005 (age 20)	12	4	Stockport County
11	4 FW	Hilmir Rafn Mikaelsson	(2004-02-02) 2 February 2004 (age 21)	15	4	Viking
20	4 FW	Hinrik Harðarson	(2004-06-19) 19 June 2004 (age 21)	6	1	Odd
22	4 FW	Galdur Guðmundsson	(2006-04-14) 14 April 2006 (age 19)	2	0	KR

Recent call-ups

The following players are still eligible for and have previously been called up to the under-21 squad.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Ásgeir Orri Magnússon	(2004-03-03) 3 March 2004 (age 21)	1	0	Keflavík	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025
GK	Arnar Daði Jóhannesson	(2005-07-27) 27 July 2005 (age 20)	0	0	Afturelding	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025
DF	Daníel Freyr Kristjánsson	(2005-08-30) 30 August 2005 (age 20)	6	0	Fredericia	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025
DF	Baldvin Þór Berndsen	(2004-01-23) 23 January 2004 (age 21)	0	0	ÍA	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025
DF	Birgir Steinn Styrmisson	(2004-06-07) 7 June 2004 (age 21)	0	0	KR	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025
MF	Haukur Andri Haraldsson	(2005-08-24) 24 August 2005 (age 20)	0	0	ÍA	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025
FW	Adolf Daði Birgisson	(2004-06-03) 3 June 2004 (age 21)	1	0	Stjarnan	v.   Scotland, 25 March 2025

Previous squads

• 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squad
• 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squad

Records

Most caps

As of 17 November 2022, the 10 players with the most U-21 caps for Iceland are: ^[9]

Rank	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Alfons Sampsted	2017–2020	30	1
2	Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson	2007–2012	27	2
3	Bjarni Viðarsson	2005–2011	26	6
4	Birkir Bjarnason	2006–2011	25	3
5	Brynjólfur Andersen Willumsson	2019–2022	25	5
6	Jón Dagur Þorsteinsson	2017–2021	23	5
7	Orri Sigurður Ómarsson	2013–2016	21	0
	Alex Þór Hauksson	2017–2021	21	1
9	Ari Leifsson	2017–2021	20	1
10	Pétur Marteinsson	1992–1995	19	0
	Bjarni Guðjónsson	1996–2001	19	4
	Ómar Jóhannsson	2000–2003	19	0
	Rúrik Gíslason	2005–2011	19	6
	Haraldur Björnsson	2007–2011	19	0
	Willum Þór Willumsson	2018–2021	19	3
	Kolbeinn Þórðarson	2019–2022	19	1

In bold players still playing or available for selection.

Top goalscorers

As of 17 November 2022, the 10 players with the most U-21 goals for Iceland are:

Rank	Name	Career	Goals	Caps	GPG
1	Emil Atlason	2012–2014	8	12	0.67
2	Hannes Sigurðsson	2002–2005	7	14	0.5
	Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen	2018–2021	7	17	0.41
4	Kristian Hlynsson	2021–	6	10	0.6
	Kristall Máni Ingason	2021–	6	10	0.6
	Gylfi Sigurðsson	2007–2011	6	14	0.43
	Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson	2008–2011	6	14	0.43
	Albert Guðmundsson	2015–2018	6	15	0.4
	Rúrik Gíslason	2005–2011	6	19	0.32
	Bjarni Viðarsson	2005–2011	6	26	0.23

In bold players still playing or available for selection.

See also

• Iceland national football team
• Iceland national under-19 football team
• Iceland national under-17 football team

References

1. "2011: Spain's boys of summer dazzle". UEFA.com. 12 June 2012. Archived from the original on October 28, 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
2. "Euro U21 2011 (Qual.)". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
3. "Euro U21 2011 (Qual.)". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
4. "Iceland 3-1 Denmark". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
5. "Euro U21 2011". ZeroZero. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
6. "U21 all-star squad named by UEFA technical team". UEFA.com. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
7. "2021 Under-21 EURO: Meet the finalists". UEFA . 10 January 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
8. "Hópur U21 karla fyrir leiki í undankeppni EM 2027" (in Icelandic). Knattspyrnusamband Íslands. 27 August 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
9. Sigurðsson, Víðir (2019). Íslensk knattspyrna 2019[Icelandic football 2019] (in Icelandic) (1st ed.).

External links

• Official Site Archived 2012-09-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Icelandic)
• Official Site under-21 results (in Icelandic)
• Profile & squad at UEFA.com