Iceland is already showing signs of excitement for the nation‘s first ever World Cup participation next year in Russia. FIFA has begun selling tickets and Icelanders have already applied for a number of them. Mbl reports.
24 hours after sales began, 3.550 Icelanders applied for tickets, according to FIFA officials. Another 1.365 tickets have been allocated to Icelanders, which means that about 5.000 tickets have been purchased.
By qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, Iceland became the smallest nation ever to reach the tournament. Trinidad and Tobago were the previous holders of the record as the nation of 1.365 million people qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Icelanders numbered 338.349 people on the 1st of January 2017, so qualifying for the World Cup is a tremendous achievement.
Iceland currently stands in 21st place in the official FIFA rankings as the team has moved up the ranks in the last couple of year. A low point was reached when the men’s national team was ranked 131st in October 2012.
