If you’ve been following soccer, you can’t have avoided hearing about the Icelandic national team these past few weeks. They have been all over the media, and with good reason. It’s not every day that a country about the size of Indiana with barely 1/3 of Montana’s population dethrones the country that literally invented soccer. It’s not every day that a country with 1/9 the population of the next smallest country in the 2016 Euros (Albania, if you were wondering) makes it further than all but 4 out of the 24 teams that progressed to the main event from the year-long qualifying process that saw Iceland surpass such soccer powerhouses as the Netherlands, who took third place at the 2014 World Cup, to reach the Euros for the first time ever. However, let’s take a step back and look at how they got to that point.

For the vast majority of their history as a soccer-playing nation, Iceland have not merely flirted with, but wholeheartedly embraced irrelevancy. Since its founding in 1912, the Icelandic Football Association had spent a century as a minnow in the pond of European soccer. The Icelandic national team suffered a 14-2 defeat against Denmark in 1967, and until the 1970s rarely even bothered attempting to qualify for major tournaments, such as the World Cup or the European Championships (hereafter referred to as the Euros). When they did attempt to do so, the results ranged from the ignominious to the disastrous. Since 1974, Iceland attempted to qualify for every tournament, with literally no success (although they came one match away from qualifying to the 2014 World Cup). They have failed to qualify for eleven straight World Cups, and this year snapped a streak of not qualifying for ten straight Euros. This might not sound as bad as it might sound to the average American observer (after all, the NFL’s Detroit Lions haven’t won a playoff game since 1991), but the thing is that these tournaments are every 4 years. Iceland had spent 44 consecutive years trying and failing to make tournaments, and had spent 104 years without any form of tournament appearance, instead crashing out of qualifier after qualifier.

However, Iceland managed to overhaul their soccer infrastructure greatly since the early 2000s. The country invested heavily in soccer, building indoor soccer centers heated by clean energy that allowed people to play during the long winters. Which last about six months. At best. Also, many native Icelanders have obtained coaching badges, turning the country into a de facto factory of (association) footballers. Iceland has always had a few professional soccer players in various leagues, but that number has expanded to roughly 100 professionals playing overseas, mostly in Europe. These investments have paid off.

Iceland’s soccer renaissance has gradually continued since 2000. The Icelandic FA hired the Swede Lars Lagerback, former manager of Sweden and Nigeria’s national teams, in 2011. Iceland has had two managers for the past three years, as Lagerback shared time with his eventual successor, Heimir Hallgrimsson, a part-time dentist who will take full command of the Icelandic national team once Lagerback retires after the tournament. Lagerback raised their percent of unbeaten matches over the course of the past five years from 55 to 62 percent, as they first almost qualified for the 2014 World Cup and then successfully qualified for this year’s Euros. That in itself was a massive accomplishment. Nobody expected Iceland to qualify in the first place, let alone what came next. I was spending a morning off at work, sitting in a room, and wanted to watch the Euros. I knew Iceland had qualified for the first time ever, but for that matter, so had four other nations (Slovakia, Albania, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

Neither I or anyone else in the world foresaw what was about to happen. Iceland was playing their first ever match at a major tournament, against Portugal, a side featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the two best players in the world, alongside two dozen other major players from huge clubs across Europe. I turned on the match in the 15^th minute, and 15 minutes of Portugal relentlessly attacking the Icelandic defense, Luis Nani scored. Portugal continued to press for the rest of the half. But, five minutes into the second half, it happened. Birkir Bjarnason volleyed home a Johann Gudmundsson cross, to score Iceland’s first goal in any tournament, and to cancel out Portugal’s lead. And, like that, it was on. One of the smallest soccer-playing nations against one of the biggest. Iceland fought back, desperately holding off attack after attack, as Ronaldo, Nani, and Joao Mario constantly probed the Icelandic defense. Halldorsson, the Icelandic keeper, stymied shot after shot. With a little less than five minutes left, an Icelandic substitute, Alfred Finnbogasson, almost stole the victory, but Iceland could still celebrate. They had shut down an attacking powerhouse. They had held Cristiano Ronaldo scoreless. They had drawn Portugal.

Now, I can imagine readers saying that Iceland didn’t win, that they didn’t quite get the Hollywood ending in that first match, but that’s where we need to turn to the rest of the group stage. In soccer tournaments, there is a group stage prior to the single-elimination playoffs. Usually groups of four will be formed, and each team plays each other team once. The top two (or occasionally three) teams will advance to the knockout. Iceland proceeded to draw against Hungary, the eventual winner of their group, and proceeded to advance to the elimination stage in stunning fashion, with a last-minute goal by Arnor Traustason against Austria sending them onwards.

Iceland had a phenomenal following throughout this tournament. 8 percent of Iceland bought tickets to one game or another, and they became an international phenomenon as the series progressed. This was definitely amped up by their first knockout game, against England. The founding nation of soccer, as per usual, had scraped their way into the knockout rounds, taking 2^nd in their round. They had hundreds of millions of dollars worth of players, as Wayne Rooney, Jordan Henderson, and Raheem Sterling featured for the Three Lions. They had to win this. England shouldn’t lose to teams outside the top 15 or 20. Right?

Change of plan. Iceland demolished England, 2-1. England looked complacent and listless, while Iceland’s impenetrable organization tore apart their opponents. Well, maybe not impenetrable, since England were up 1-0 early in the match after Wayne Rooney converted a penalty kick, but solid enough to come back and score two goals to win the match. And, just like that, mighty England fell to a country better known for its bizarre pop artists and gigantic, apocalyptic volcanoes than for its soccer players.

Iceland’s Cinderella run in Euro 2016 was arrested by France in a 5-2 defeat, but even in defeat, they managed to maintain their honor. They scored twice against a French team that could not quite withstand their counterattacks. Even in defeat, they showed the world why they deserved to be where they were.

In short, Iceland’s team have made something out of nothing. They have gone on a historic run. And they will reign as legends in their country. I, for one, look forward to seeing what they can accomplish in the future.