They were the unlikely soccer stars of the European Championship, but now Icelanders are turning their attention to an even more unlikely sport — Aussie Rules football.

The chilly country is home to the world's northern-most Aussie Rules football league, having previously fielded a national team in the AFL Europe Championship when it finished sixth in 2010.

It all started when one of the founding members of the Icelandic Australian Football League (IceAFL), Friðgeir Ásgeirsson, acted on his frustration with the round-ball game.

He placed an advertisement in a newspaper more than five years ago, looking for others who wanted to take up the sport.

"I really despise all that whining and rolling around [in soccer], talking back to the umpire, that really takes away my enjoyment of the game," he said.

"I really like with both rugby and Aussie Rules that you have respect for each other, respect for the umpire, just get on with the game, not rolling around.

"It's a more proper sport, you're just there to play a game, get on with it."

The pre-game preparations in IceAFL involve taping poles onto the soccer goals at a local field in suburban Reykjavik, while afterwards there is an obligatory post-game barbecue.

League officials are also hoping to start a junior league. ( ABC News: Lauren Day )

The league currently consists of two teams playing nine-a-side matches.

It also runs on the smell of an oily rag and a box of balls and jumpers donated by reigning AFL premiers Hawthorn.

However Mr Ásgeirsson is hoping to once again field a national team in the European competition, and also wants to start a junior league.

"I think [Aussie Rules] suits our mentality. We have long, hard winters here and during the summer we can go and run each other to the ground," he said.

"It suits our nature and our stature. We have a tall, big population so I think it suits us very nicely."

Fellow player Jacob Robertson is half-Icelandic, half-Australian, but said he never played Aussie Rules until he moved to Reykjavik.

"It's not overly complicated. There's not too many rules. It's very scruffy, a bit like Icelandic culture," Mr Robertson said.

He said he was pretty shocked at the sport's popularity in Europe and in Iceland in particular.

"Some people don't even know where Iceland is, and if they do know where it is, to think that Aussie Rules is being played there it'd be quite a stretch."

The players' ultimate goal is to travel to Australia and play or at least watch a game in the sport's homeland.