first time that a father and son played in the same international match. 21st century In qualification for Euro 2004, Iceland finished third in their group, one point behind Scotland. As a result, they failed to qualify for a playoff spot. However, the following qualifying campaigns will be much more difficult for Iceland which will flirt with the last places of its respective groups, in particular during the Euro 2008 qualifiers where despite two unexpected successes against Northern Ireland (3–0 in the opening away, 2–1 at home in the return) and a heroic resistance in the first and second leg against the Spanish future winners of the competition (a 1–1 draw at home after having led the score and a short 0–1 defeat away), Our boys suffered several other heavy defeats, including two against Latvia, who had qualified for Euro 2004 as a surprise (0–4 away, 2–4 home), and one against Liechtenstein (0–3 away, after a 1–1 home draw). The reasons for the lack of results of the selection were due to the absence of professionals on the island, the Icelanders played soccer for fun. Moreover, the hostile climate where winter lasts 8 months did not help the development of the sport, there were only two synthetic fields forcing the footballers to train on the gravel or in the snow. In the 2000s, Icelandic soccer will experience a real revolution. The economic boom will allow the authorities to create important structures with indoor pitches in synthetic turf, which results in the practice of soccer all year round without worrying about the weather conditions outside. These new structures encourage young people to turn to sports and even lead to a decrease in alcohol and tobacco consumption among teenagers. In 2014, Iceland almost secured qualification for their first World Cup. Finishing second in Group D, they played Croatia in a two-leg playoff for qualification. After holding them to a 0–0 draw in the home leg, they lost 2–0 away. Euro 2016 Iceland qualified for a major tournament for the first time in 2015 after finishing second in Group A of qualification for Euro 2016, losing only two games, and beating the Netherlands – which had finished third in the 2014 World Cup – twice. During the qualification, they reached their then highest ranking in the FIFA World Rankings, 23rd. Iceland were drawn into a group with Portugal, Hungary and Austria for the