00:05UEFA has the strongest teams in international football and the greatest depth of any confederation.
00:14Five European countries have won the World Cup and a further four have finished runners-up.
00:21Only the finals of 1930 and 50 have not featured a European nation.
00:28Only ones in history have consecutive World Cups not featured a UEFA victory.
00:34Before Argentina's success in 2022, the World Cup trophy had been on European soil since 2006.
00:45The big hitters of Germany, Italy and France lead the way.
00:49But what sets Europe apart is the less heralded football nations that bob up with golden generations or tactical innovations
00:58that leave their marks on history.
01:03In the 1930s, it was Austria, the 1950s Hungary, followed by Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
01:13At the 1994 World Cup, Bulgaria reached the semifinals.
01:17Two World Cups later, it was Turkey.
01:20Then more recently, Croatia have raised the bar for quality per capita.
01:26Ten different countries have won the Continental Championship, including Denmark and Greece.
01:34The world's famous.
01:36Practically everywhere you look, there is a story to tell of football at the very highest level.
01:45The youngest player to compete at the World Cup is Northern Ireland's Norman Whiteside.
01:52The fastest goal in tournament history was scored by Turkey's Hakan Şükür.
02:00Switzerland's Pascal Zubabula is the only goalkeeper to exit the World Cup
02:06during the knockout stages without conceding a goal.
02:12Time and again there are reasons to celebrate European football culture
02:16outside the familiar leading nations.
02:22Like in 2016, when Iceland became the smallest country by population
02:27to qualify for the European Championship.
02:31I think people are showing us respect that we are here.
02:34I think people are slowly realizing how big of an achievement it is
02:40to reach a final tournament with only 325,000 people.
02:45Tiny Iceland left a major mark in France,
02:48establishing the Viking Club as a ubiquitous part of supporter culture the world over.
02:54Let's go.
02:56Let's go.
02:58Let's go.
03:19Let's go.
03:22Let's go.
03:23Let's go.
03:27Two years later, Iceland defied expectation again to become the smallest country ever to appear at the World Cup.
03:38Iceland qualified for Russia after topping a group containing eventual World Cup finalists, Croatia.
03:46No one is too big to play for this team.
03:50Like we've said many times, our biggest star, he's the guy who works the hardest and we need everyone pulling
04:00in the right direction.
04:01And that's what we've done for the last six years.
04:06There's no shortage of individuals outside the prize-winning European nations to cast a long shadow in the sport.
04:15Men like Serbian, Bora Milutinovic.
04:20Milutinovic coached at the World Cup finals with five different countries.
04:24In the process, becoming the only manager to sit in the dugout at five consecutive tournaments.
04:32He began by guiding hosts Mexico to the quarter-finals in 1986, held trees highest ever finish.
04:43He followed that up by steering debutants Costa Rica into the round of 16, beating Scotland and Sweden along the
04:51way.
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