Women's football in Iceland explained

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Women's Football in Iceland
Union:Iceland Football Association
Country:Iceland
Sport:association football
Nationalteam:Women's national team
Club List:League:
1. deild kvenna
2. deild kvenna
Kvinde 2. division
Cups:
Icelandic Women's Football Cup

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.

Club Football

Besta deild kvenna is the highest tier of women's football in Iceland.

International Team

See main article: article and Iceland women's national football 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]

Notes and References

  1. The rise of women's football: a case study of Iceland. Vidar. Halldorsson. 3 April 2023. Soccer & Society. 24. 3. 410–424. CrossRef. 10.1080/14660970.2023.2179191. 257019259 .
  2. Web site: Braneck . Dave . Italy and Iceland take different paths to Euro 2022. 14 July 2022. DW. 20 December 2023.
  3. Web site: Gunnarsdóttir . Sara Björk . I'm a professional footballer and I've seen first hand the impact of making women visible in sport. 19 March 2019 . inews.co.uk . Associated Newspapers Limited . 20 December 2023.
  4. Web site: Women's football in a changed world . University of Iceland. 20 December 2023.
  5. News: Upphaf kvennaknattspyrnu? . 21 December 2023 . . 11 January 1983 . 44 . Icelandic . Tímarit.is.
  6. News: Steinþór Guðbjartsson . Konurnar fyrstar á Ísafirði . 21 December 2023 . . 1 June 2017.
  7. News: Skapti Hallgrímsson . Stúlkur á Ísafirði brutu ísinn 1914 . 21 December 2023 . . 9 July 2017 . 4 . Icelandic . Tímarit.is.
  8. Web site: O'Connor . Philip . Sweden thump Iceland to book semi-final with Germany . Reuters . 21 July 2013 . 20 December 2023.
  9. Web site: Crompton. Sam. Scintillating Sweden leave Iceland spellbound. 6 June 2017. First published 21 July 2013. UEFA.com. 20 December 2023.
  10. News: Women's Euro 2022 team guide No 15: Iceland. 3 July 2022. The Guardian . 20 December 2023.