Alex Cope, Mirror, June 8, 2018

An official video promoting Iceland’s historic bid to win this year’s World Cup has been blasted for its white power imagery and for portraying the players as ‘inhuman’.

The video depicts Iceland’s squad as viking-type warriors in an animated illustration.

Players such as Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson can be seen holding shields with blood on their shirts whilst others are wearing chain-mail armour.

The video ends with the words FyrirIsland (‘ForIceland’ in English) across the screen.

Music critic Arnar Egert Thoroddssen has slammed the video for its Aryan imagery.

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“Here they are (depicted) as inhuman, blood-thirsty barbarians. They are manslayers, paired with some kind of Aryan undertones. Only a quarter away from ‘white power’ imagery.”

Other critics have reportedly criticised the video for being “chauvinistic” and “distasteful.”

However some Icelanders cannot see any problem with the video.

One commenter wrote: “The Icelandic National Team consists of great guys that are hard as steel, and it’s just fine to label them as Vikings that are eager to fight.”

And another commented: “The nation can be proud of this team and national pride is completely different from chauvinism.”

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[Editor’s Note: The original story includes the video.]