The Icelandic way
Iceland
Thorlakur Arnason
• Head of player
development at the F.A.
and coach of U17s
national team for boys.
• Academy manager at IF
Brommapojkarna from
january 2015
Icelandic football - facts and figures
• Population of Iceland:
321.857
Registered players: 19.998
(6.2%)
– Males: 13.711 (68.6%)
– Females: 6.287 (31.4%)
• Number of clubs: 90
• Number of coaches: 575
Youth team set up
play 5-a-side
Under 12 year old play 7-a-side
• Under 10 year old
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• 13 – 19 year old play 11-a-side
• Football used to be a summersport in Iceland but now it is a all-year sport
Facilities 2014: Much better facilities for
playing football!
• 7 full size indoor football fields built since the
year 2002.
• 5 half size indoor football fields.
• The facilities are used by all age groups, men and
women.
Facilities: 111 mini-pitches built all around Iceland,
since 2004
Icelandic Football
•
Longest pre-season in the world (7
months)
•
One of the shortest football season in
the world (May 6th - September 30th).
•
League cup played from February-May.
A lot of young players get the chance to
play. Very important for their progress!
•
The older Icelandic professional players
playing today grew up in poor football
conditions/facilities.
•
A younger generation is a product of
the changes in Iceland in the last ten
years. Facilites and better coach
education.
Coach education – research done in 2010
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41.4% of the coaches had UEFA B
coaching license or more coach education
than that!
17% of the coaches had UEFA A coaching
license or more coach education than
that.
Because of this research we have the email and phone number for every coach
in Iceland
Every coach in Iceland is a paid, qualified
coach – no volunteers.
In total we have 406 coaches with UEFA B
license (not all active). 45 of them are
women.
In total we have 185 coaches with UEFA A
license (not all active). 10 of them are
women.
Typical Icelandic coach
• Has two jobs.
• Works from 8 - 4 and
coaches in the afternoon
• Coaches and is also a
student
• Really good leaders and
good at setting up a team
and structure
• Not good at individual
things, details like Eastern
Europe or Balkan
countries.
Sports in Iceland
• Players are good
athletes.
• Have played basketball,
team handball and
many other sports as
kids.
• Have had very good
teaching in swimming
and physical education.
Clubs set up - In general
• All the clubs are grassroot
clubs.
• Kids need to pay a fee every
month to play football (300 500 Euros a year)
• The parents get an amount of
200 Euros a year to spend on
sports for their children.
• Most of the coaches have
another job but some coaches
are full time.
• We have a lot of volunteers,
mostly parents. Parents do not
coach!
Clubs set up-In general
• Kids start at the age of 4 5 years old.
• Two age groups play
together. 99-00, 01-02,
03-04 expect U19 with
three.
• U - 6 2 x a week
• U-8 and U-10 3 x a week
• U-12, U-14 4 x a week
• U-16, U-19 5 x a week
• Games all year around
Clubs set up-12-19 years old
• Very easy to connect school
and football.
• From 16-20 years old you
have clubs with special
practices before school or
on school hours in the
morning.
• Biggest clubs have special
training through schools.
• Distances are very short.
Clubs set up-12-19 years old
• Best players almost
always get something
extra.
• Train with older players.
• Train a lot with the
national team.
• Inside the country the
transfer fee is very low
• Start early to play in the
first team
Clubs set up 12-19 years
• Clubs are very
independant!
• What they do is very
different.
• Some structure but
changes with people.
• Philosophy?
• The F.A. works with the
clubs but has no control
over things
Clubs set up 12-19 years
• No real style of play
• Some play really good
football and others kick
the ball long.
• Some clubs have strong
philosophy by playing
good football. Others
no style.
• Very independant and
not always organized
F.A.Player development 13-14 years
• Boys and girls
• Spotting talented players –
late developers
• Grassroots thinking on the
countryside
Height girls - PD Tournament
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Girls tallest = 178 cm
Girls lowest = 145 cm
Average = 164 cm
Average height for women
in Iceland = 167 cm
Height boys - PD Tournament
Highest = 193 cm
Lowest = 150 cm
Average = 169 cm
Average for men in Iceland=
181 cm
Weight boys - PD Tournament
• Heaviest = 78 kg
• Lightest = 38 kg
• Average = 55 kg
Birth effect - PD Tournament
Girls = average July 5th
Boys = average June 10th
Biggest question in football?
• Is he/she going to make it?
• It is sometimes not what
you see, but rather what
you are not seeing!
You need to know!
• Late developers
• Early developers
• Player n 1: 180 cm and
63 kilos
• Player n 2: 180 cm and
81 kilos
Talent Identification
Performance v Potential
Performance
HIGH
Performance
LOW
Potential
HIGH
Performance
AVERAGE
Potential
HIGH
Performance
HIGH
Potential
AVERAGE
Performance
LOW
Potential
AVERAGE
Performance
AVERAGE
Potential
AVERAGE
Performance
HIGH
Potential
LOW
Performance
LOW
Potential
LOW
Performance
AVERAGE
Potential
LOW
Performance
HIGH
Potential
Potential
National team set up 15-19 years old
 15-16 years preparation for
U17 national team.
Practises every other
weekend from Oct – April!
 10 games a year. UEFA,
Nordic cup and EC
 17-19 years many practises
but depending on elite
round. Practise games and
EC. Girls train every other
weekend!
Hotspot – Small club „Sindri“ = 2089 inhabitants
Players abroad 20 years and older
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Norway - 19
Sweden - 14
Denmark - 6
England - 5
Italy - 3
Holland - 3
Russia - 2
Spain,Belgium,Scotland
Players abroad 19 years and younger
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Denmark - 8
England - 6
Holland - 5
Sweden - 3
Norway - 2
Henning Berg coach at Legia Warsaw
„Icelandic players have
good basic training and
are willing to work hard to
succeed. The mental
attitude is what makes
them interesting.“
Gary Cotterill Sky Sports reporter about Icelandic
players in November 2014
„They always speak good
english. It is really nice to
interview players who are
humble and down to
earth. They are not carried
away by their big houses
and big wages and all the
publicity.“
Why? How? What?
DNA - Who are we?
• Fighters
• Hard workers
• We know each
other well- a lot of
information
• Ready to struggle
• Crazy vikings?
Living on an Island - The dream
• Ready to struggleplayers and coaches
• Dream of making it
abroad
• Role models - stories
How can we produce so many professionals?
 Football is the number 1 sport.
Football culture.
• Transfer fee is often less than
in other countries
• Qualified, paid coaches
• Level of coach education
• Mental attitude
• Facilities are good
• Really good grassroots clubs,
specially from 5 - 16 years
No secret formula
• Some players go early
abroad: Gylfi Sigurðsson,
Aron Einar Gunnarsson and
Kolbeinn Sigþórsson.
• Some later: Alfreð
Finnbogason, Emil
Hallfreðsson and Ragnar
Sigurðsson
Some stats for the Icelandic national teams
• Women‘s A-national team
– In the EURO final in 2009 and 2013
– 20th place on the FIFA ranking (11th in Europe)
• WU19 - Spain, Croatia, Lithuania
– Second in the group, qualified to the Elite round
• Men‘s A-national team
– Made it to the World Cup play-offs but lost to Croatia
– Are now 28th in the FIFA ranking (17th in Europe)
– With 9 points after three matches in EURO qualification (Turkey, Latvia and
Holland)
• U21 - France, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan
– Second in the group, went to the play-offs but lost to Denmark on away goal
• U17 - Italy, Moldova, Armenia
– Second in the group, qualified for the Elite round
– In 2013 all youth national teams went into the elite round! Best year ever.