David vs. Goliath: Iceland-Turkey matches

David vs. Goliath: Iceland-Turkey matches 1980-2024

Among the UEFA member countries, few are further apart than Iceland and Turkey. Among the many contrasts between the two, few are more striking than the disparity in population: that of Turkey is more than two hundred times larger.
It is therefore somewhat surprising that the overall record in football is clearly in Iceland's favour: the Nordic islanders won eight of the first dozen matches between the two, outscoring the Anatolians by more than two goals to one (23 to 11), before the introduction of the Nations League provided the team from Asia Minor with its first series of successive wins in 2024.

All matches are friendlies unless stated otherwise.

Game Date        Venue      Result                      Remark

  1. 24- 9-1980  İzmir      Turkey      1-3 Iceland     [World Cup Qualifier]
  2.  9- 9-1981  Reykjavík  Iceland     2-0 Turkey      [World Cup Qualifier]
  3. 12-10-1988  İstanbul   Turkey      1-1 Iceland     [World Cup Qualifier]
  4. 20- 9-1989  Reykjavík  Iceland     2-1 Turkey      [World Cup Qualifier]
  5. 17- 7-1991  Reykjavík  Iceland     5-1 Turkey      
  6. 12-10-1994  İstanbul   Turkey      5-0 Iceland     [European Champ. Qual.]
  7. 11-10-1995  Reykjavík  Iceland     0-0 Turkey      [European Champ. Qual.]
  8.  9- 9-2014  Reykjavík  Iceland     3-0 Turkey      [European Champ. Qual.]
  9. 13-10-2015  Konya      Turkey      1-0 Iceland     [European Champ. Qual.]
 10.  9-10-2016  Reykjavík  Iceland     2-0 Turkey      [World Cup Qualifier]
 11.  6-10-2017  Eskişehir  Turkey      0-3 Iceland     [World Cup Qualifier]
 12. 11- 6-2019  Reykjavík  Iceland     2-1 Turkey      [European Champ. Qual.]
 13. 14-11-2019  İstanbul   Turkey      0-0 Iceland     [European Champ. Qual.]
 14.  9- 9-2024  İzmir      Turkey      3-1 Iceland     [European Nations League]
 15. 14-10-2024  Reykjavík  Iceland     2-4 Turkey      [European Nations League]

Total record:

Iceland              15  8  3  4  26- 18  19
Turkey               15  4  3  8  18- 26  11

Some more stats:

                     Pd  I  D  T  IG- TG

In Iceland:           8  6  1  1  18-  7
In Turkey:            7  2  2  3   8- 11

Iceland - List of International Matches
Turkey - List of International Matches

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 12 Oct 2025