http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30012357

Iceland

Population329,000
Fifa world ranking now31
Fifa world ranking (May 2012)131
professional clubs 0

Uefa B licence coaches 639

Uefa A licence coaches 196

Uefa Pro licence coaches 13


The seven years Gudjohnsen Sr spent at Belgian side Anderlecht allowed the young Eidur to develop away from the harsh winter climate and mountainous terrain of his homeland, where football outside the four- or five-month summer period [size=8]meant small-sided games on hard indoor floors[/size].
Iceland's 3G dome pitches

3G pitches inside heated indoor domes ensure football can be played all year round in Iceland

But much like the prospective plans put forward by an English Football Association commission in October 2014, Iceland's football association (KSI) has overseen massive investment in changing that in the past 15 years.

There are now 30 full-size all-weather pitches, seven of which are indoors, and almost 150 smaller artificial arenas that ensure youngsters at grassroots can continue to play football in winter, often inside indoor dome structures.

It is why the current crop of players, many of whom made history by qualifying for the European Under-21 Championship in 2011 - Iceland's first foray into any major international tournament - have been labelled "the indoor kids".
The Icelanders playing in Britain

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea), Johann Berg Gudmundsson (Charlton), Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff)

"For this nation, the dome pitches were a revelation," Heimir Hallgrimsson, the national team's joint head coach, told BBC Sport. "Every village wanted an artificial pitch, and there is now one close to almost every school in Iceland.

"These guys now with us in the national team were brought up on artificial pitches. Many would have had youth coaching in an indoor dome. They could go out if the weather was good, but they always had good facilities to train."
Qualified coaches at every level

Despite Iceland having no professional club sides, there is an extraordinarily high number of qualified coaches in the country, with 639 people holding a Uefa B licence, according to recent KSI statistics.
Heimir Hallgrimsson (right) and Lars Lagerback (left)

Icelandic coach Heimir Hallgrimsson (right) works alongside Swede Lars Lagerback (left) as joint head coach of the Iceland national team

It means even youngsters living in the tiniest provincial fishing village in Iceland can benefit from a state-of-the-art, all-weather pitch and a trained coach.

Hallgrimsson, 48, spent his entire playing career in Iceland and balances his coaching commitments with part-time work as a dentist, but he recognises the appeal of the coaching profession for Icelanders.

"Every town or village in Iceland wants to have a good football team for the parents and for the kids, and it is easy to train as a Uefa A or B licence coach here," he noted.

"I took my Pro Licence in England and I looked around. Of course it is a professional set-up for the big clubs there, but it's mostly parents or some guy who takes over and works with the kids who play on Sunday.

"I think that's the difference. We teach our kids from a young age and we give them good sessions with trained coaches, so that's why we get a lot of young players going abroad early, at 17, 18, 19, which they have to do to continue their development professionally."
From Reykjavik to Reading and Germany - via Crewe
Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City celebrates his team's second goal by Andre Ayew (obscured) during the Barclays Premier League match between Aston Villa and Swansea City at Villa Park on October 24, 2015 in Birmingham, England

Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson is one of the key players in the Iceland team

At 26, Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson is now the focal point of the Iceland team and a typical example of his country's youth development policy.

Sigurdsson was signed by Reading as an under-17 international in 2005. He had loan spells with Crewe and Shrewsbury before moving to Hoffenheim in the German Bundesliga and impressing sufficiently to make a high-profile return to the Premier League with Tottenham.

"If you look at Gylfi for instance, he was in a lot of clubs and he still didn't miss out. Even if he didn't succeed from the beginning, now he's a really good player," says Iceland's other joint head coach, Lars Lagerback.

"I think it's in the country's culture - they're used to working hard and taking care of themselves, so it's a really nice group in that way to work with."
Coach Lars Lagerback of Iceland's national soccer team is pictured during a training session in the Amsterdam Arena, on September 2 2015, in preparation of the Euro 2016 qualifying football match against the Netherlands.