Last night on Off The Ball, we looked at why Netherlands have struggled badly in Euro 2016 qualification and look unlikely to even make it into a playoff spot.
Iceland is one of the countries that will be going to France at their expense, defeating the Dutch home and away to reach a major final for the very first time.
But how did Iceland, with their tiny population of just over 300,000 manage to overcome the odds and go to the European Championships?
Icelandic football journalist Eirikur Asgeirsson had a few answers for us and one of the key reasons is investment in facilities and coaching.
"It's been coming since we noted that this generation of footballers is very talented," he said, referring to Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson, Cardiff City's Aron Gunnarsson, Verona midfielder Emil Hallfreðsson, Olympiacos striker Alfreð Finnbogason and Nantes forward Kolbeinn Sigþórsson among others, some of whom were involved in the Iceland side which appeared at the European U21 championships in 2011.
But with the investment in indoor pitches, the aforementioned players were among the first generation Icelandic footballers to be able to play all year round as they developed.
"That was a major change for this generation of footballers because all those who came before them and had grown up in Iceland just played football during the summer. That's not hard to recognise that there's a major difference in how they were brought up as young footballers," said Asgeirsson, adding that most schools now have artificial pitches.
Listen to the full interview via the podcast:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
