With a population of 330,000, Iceland may be the smallest nation to ever qualify to the FIFA World Cup, but its fans stand taller than almost any other team. It's always exciting to see teams make an inaugural World Cup appearance, but there's an exciting mystique about Iceland because of the traditional chants that will be unveiled. We're specifically referring to the viking clap -- the epic chant after matches where the players connect with the fans by clapping their hands over their heads. We've seen the intimidating thunderclap United States before. The Minnesota Vikings are the most notable American team to have adopted it. But seeing an entire (albeit small) country do it is a sight to see.

Where did the Icelandic viking chant come from?

According to The Telegraph, there's a misconception that the chant is the adoption of a pre-battle war chant. In reality, the chant comes from much more humble roots and only date back to four years ago. Icelandic soccer club Stjarnan played a match against Motherwell in Scotland back in 2014, where the team was introduced to the chant via Motherwell's fans. The song evolved morphed into Motherwell's song, "Since I Was Young." Eventually, fans of Stjarnan adopted the chant as their own. It looked like this:

So, what does the thunderclap chant look like?

Now, it looks like this:

This was the homecoming party for Iceland's improbable run in the Euro 2016 championship. The key to the chant is staying on beat. The steps for the chant are otherwise straightforward.

  • Drummer pounds twice, crowd responds with "HUH" and a clap.
  • Drummers waits several beats, pounds twice again before same response.
  • Drummer continually pounds twice, progressively speeding up when he goes again. Crowd always replies after the second beat.
  • Drummer shortens up the space between drum-beats until eventually it's constant clapping, culminating in one loud "HUH."

Simple? If you can stay on rhythm, sure. Terrifying? Rhythm be damned, absolutely. In a crowd like this it's a sight to see.

Have other teams adopted the chant?

The most notable team to have their own spin on the chant are the Minnesota Vikings, who have a "SKOL" chant that follows a similar pattern.

It's one of the few chants that can successfully enrapture an entire stadium. American fans aren't really known for staying in sync, but Vikings fans pull it off. And if you mock it, you're cursed to lose on a miracle play in the NFC playoffs, because the football gods are cruel.

Unless, of course, you're the Eagles (it took me several videos to find one without cursing, shout-out to Philly).

The chant even made it into the World Cup update for EA Sports' "FIFA 18," and in my humble opinion, they mostly did it justice.

It's a small thing to look forward to for this World Cup. Iceland's fans are hungry, as first-time teams' supporters always are, so this is going to be a dramatic showing. They'll definitely want to show the rest of the world how to do it on an international stage.