| Women's Football in Iceland | |
|---|---|
 Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir scoring against Serbia in 2009. | |
| Country | Iceland |
| Governing body | Iceland Football Association |
| National team(s) | Women's national team |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
International competitions | |
Women's football in Iceland is growing in popularity.[1][2][3][4]
History
The first women's football team in Iceland was Fótboltafélagið Hvöt that was founded in 1914 in Ísafjörður after the girls had been denied to practice with Fótboltafélag Ísafjarðar, an all-boys team.[5][6] A year later, future actress Anna Borg founded a short lived football team in Reykjavík.[7]
It took several decades for a women's national league to form, first with an indoors league in 1971. A year later the transition to the modern day outdoor league came with 8 teams participating in the inaugural season. Few of Iceland's traditional footballing heavyweights participated at first, but came in with the main expansion in 1982.[citation needed]
Club Football
Besta deild kvenna is the highest tier of women's football in Iceland.[citation needed]
International Team
Since the 21st Century Iceland has seen an upsurge of success with the national team qualifying for the UEFA Women's Championship four times and their greatest achievement was reaching the quarter finals of UEFA Women's Euro 2013.[8][9][10]
References
- ^ Halldorsson, Vidar (3 April 2023). "The rise of women's football: a case study of Iceland". Soccer & Society. 24 (3): 410–424. doi:10.1080/14660970.2023.2179191. S2CID 257019259 – via CrossRef.
- ^ Braneck, Dave (14 July 2022). "Italy and Iceland take different paths to Euro 2022". DW. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ Gunnarsdóttir, Sara Björk (19 March 2019). "I'm a professional footballer and I've seen first hand the impact of making women visible in sport". inews.co.uk. Associated Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ "Women's football in a changed world". University of Iceland. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ "Upphaf kvennaknattspyrnu?". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 11 January 1983. p. 44. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via Tímarit.is.
- ^ Steinþór Guðbjartsson (1 June 2017). "Konurnar fyrstar á Ísafirði". Morgunblaðið. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ^ Skapti Hallgrímsson (9 July 2017). "Stúlkur á Ísafirði brutu ísinn 1914". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). p. 4. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via Tímarit.is.
- ^ O'Connor, Philip (21 July 2013). "Sweden thump Iceland to book semi-final with Germany". Reuters. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ Crompton, Sam (6 June 2017) [First published 21 July 2013]. "Scintillating Sweden leave Iceland spellbound". UEFA.com. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ "Women's Euro 2022 team guide No 15: Iceland". The Guardian. 3 July 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2023.