(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) IN today''s football driven with obscene amounts of wages for managers and players, Iceland''s siesmic showing in the ongoing European Championship in France is priceless and something money cannot buy.
The tiny Nordic nation, North of the Atlantic, has ripped the form book to shreds in the current edition and their taming of the ''Three Lions'' England in Nice on Monday night has created a ripple of epic proportions.
Lars Lagerbck''s ''Vikings'' have scripted a Nordic tale even Russell ''Gladiator'' Crowe would be so proud of. Comparisons have been made ever since they took on Portugal which had one of the richest footballer in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo. And now, those comparisons are more glaring and starker after Iceland sent shivers down Roy Hodgson star-studded line-up on the night.
A country of 300,000 people, the size of Leicester City, the English Premier League champions, now has its own version of the Northern Lights which has illuminated the galaxy. England, with all their glamour and the bling that comes with them, have fallen short on a big stage yet again. It has been a massive embarrassment for England, while for Iceland, whom we could now stop calling ''minnows,'' going by what they have unleashed so far, this has been their most memorable victory till date.
To put things in perspective, Lagerbck earns a pittance compared to Hodgson. The Swede, who will step down after the Euros, earns ? 430k as compared to Hodgson, who is the top earner among the Euro 2016 coaches with a whopping ? 5 million. And some of England''s stars probably earn 170 million per week.
Eight of the 24 managers at the Euros earn 1m or more per year, while Italy''s Antonio Conte, who is set to take over Chelsea after the championships, makes 3.15 million. Turkey''s Fatih Terim earns 2.7m.
The Republic or Ireland''s Martin O''Neill is the best best-paid national coach from the British Isles after Hodgson, earning 1m a year, while Northern Ireland''s Michael O''Neill makes 250,000 a year. Wales'' Chris Coleman earns 200,000.
Hodgson was the second-best-paid manager at the last World Cup in Brazil, when the only man earning more than him was a former England boss, Fabio Capello, then with Russia, with earnings of 7m a year.
In club football, former FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola''s Manchester City deal is reportedly worth 15m a year.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos earns 962,000 a year, or 18,500 a week, while his star player Cristiano Ronaldo makes almost an astonishing 320,000 per week at Real Madrid. In other words, Santos earns in a week what Ronaldo earns every 90 minutes (19,800).
Such mind-boggling figures have been thrown out of the window by an Iceland team, who have dared to dream. It isn''t the finished article just yet with a date to come against France in Paris.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.