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National soccer team’s victory draws huge TV viewership in Iceland

Icelandic soccer fans celebrated Monday as their national team came home to a hero’s welcome from the European Championship. (Brynjar Gunnarsson / Associated Press)
Associated Press
Icelandic soccer fans celebrated Monday as their national team came home to a hero’s welcome from the European Championship. (Brynjar Gunnarsson / Associated Press)

If TV audiences are anything to go by, the 330,000 people who live in tiny Iceland are clearly soccer-mad.

The national team’s victory over England in the European Championship field of 16 on June 27 was watched by no fewer than 99.8 per cent of the country’s TV audience.

It meant that only 298 viewers were watching another program, while the soccer team registered the north Atlantic country’s biggest sporting achievement.

The championship match takes place Sunday with Portugal facing tournament host France. (TV: 11:30 a.m., ESPN).