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

• Under 10 year old play 5-a-side

• Under 12 year old play 7-a-side• 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

• 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 e-mail 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

• 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 PotentialHIGH Performance

LOW Potential

HIGH Performance

AVERAGEPotential

HIGH Performance

HIGHPotential

AVERAGE Performance

LOW Potential

AVERAGE Performance

AVERAGEPotential

AVERAGE Performance

HIGH Potential

LOW Performance

LOW Potential

LOW Performance

AVERAGEPotential

LOW Performance

HIGHPotential

Potential

Performance

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

• Norway - 19• Sweden - 14• Denmark - 6• England - 5• Italy - 3• Holland - 3• Russia - 2• Spain,Belgium,Scotland

Players abroad 19 years and younger

• 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 struggle-players 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.