For the diminutive island nation, which has never before played in a major championship, the money is more than welcome.
"Football-wise it is flush with our best performance with in the Swedish national team. But it is clear that it feels better because we were ranked as an underdog, which is why it means a lot for the nation. Even the [Icelandic] president said that this will have positive effects for the society at large. Having contributed to it makes you even happier," Iceland's Swedish coach Lars Lagerbäck told the Swedish national broadcaster SVT after the historic 2-1 victory against England.
As France and Iceland are about to clash in the quarterfinals, French swimmer Yannick Agnel, who won three Olympic golds in 2012 and holds the world record for the 400 meters freestyle has pledged to swim around Iceland in case of an Icelandic Euro victory, claiming that the islanders football saga has come to an end.
"If Icelanders win the European Championship, I will swim around Iceland," Agnel wrote on Twitter.
Si les islandais gagnent l'Euro, je fais le tour de l'Islande à la nage. #ANGISL
— Yannick Agnel (@YannickAgnel) 27 июня 2016 г.
Meanwhile, Twitter user epitomz has calculated that the whole swimming trip would take 28 days, provided that Agnel managed to keep up an average speed of 3 km/h.
@YannickAgnel 28 jours à 3km/h, désolé si j'ai pris un peu large pic.twitter.com/RuOKUSMvl0
— ninotna_so (@epitomz) 28 июня 2016 г.
Iceland's unexpected success has taken Europe by storm, the little island nation seems to have caught an acute football fever. All but 650 of the island's 330,000 inhabitants followed Iceland's achievement against England, Swedish Aftonbladet earlier reported.
