Iceland face Fifa World Cup 2018 exit, but their hardcore Hong Kong following still believe
Group of friends, many of whom studied in the European country, swap memories and share the experience of watching Iceland play in their first World Cup
Iceland are the smallest country at the World Cup with a population not quite tipping the scales at 350,000, but they are one of the best-supported nations in Hong Kong this summer.
That much is clear in Champs bar on Wan Chai Road, where 16 Hongkongers have gathered to watch their adopted home, a link that was forged as high school exchange students on the AFS Intercultural Exchange Programme.
Brian is the leader of the group, and he has booked a table for the 16 there, choosing Champs after another member of the group had searched the internet for a suitable venue.
Of the 16 people there, most spent a year in Iceland, 11 of them in fact with “a boyfriend, a mother and three friends” making up the numbers according to Kate, who was in the European country a decade ago.
The “boyfriend” in question, Francois, has his own connection to Iceland, where he has holidayed. That is what brought him and Kate together – they had mutual friends and bonded over his impending trip when he and Kate spent a night talking as she recommended what to eat and where to go for the unmissable sights of the country. They will travel to Iceland for the first time together next month.