"I know international football", says Lars Lagerback and it is hard to disagree with such an assessment from a man who is about to lead Iceland into a major tournament for the first time.

The 67-year-old took his native Sweden to five major finals and coached Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup before achieving the unthinkable in securing qualification for Euro 2016 for Iceland, the island nation with a population of 330,000.

Officially he is the joint coach, sharing the duties with his former assistant Heimir Hallgrímsson since 2014.

Hallgrímsson currently combines his role with his job as a dentist in his native Westman Islands off Iceland's southern coast.

Hallgrimsson will take sole charge after the European Championship finals in France, when he will hope to reap the benefits of the job done by the veteran Lagerback since 2011.

Leaning on a group of players who took Iceland to the European under-21 Championship for the very first time in 2011, Lagerback took the country to the brink of a place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

After missing out only in a play-off against Croatia, Iceland went one better to qualify automatically for the Euros, beating the Netherlands home and away in the process.

Little wonder Lagerback has hero status in the country and was described by Visir newspaper as "a liberator of the volcanic island".

"I wouldn't say that I am a hero. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and people like that are real heroes," retorted Lagerback.

A former lower league player in his homeland, Lagerback has always been understated and never wanted a high profile.

He had spells coaching Sweden's under-21 and B teams and then worked as assistant to Tommy Soederberg for two years before stepping up to become joint coach.

The pair took Sweden to Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 before Soederberg stepped aside.

On his own, Lagerback coached his country to the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, but stepped down after they missed out on the 2010 World Cup.

He still went to the finals in South Africa as coach of Nigeria, but left after they collected just one point from three group games.

After speaking to the Welsh FA about becoming their first non-British coach, he took what seemed a surprising decision to move to Iceland.

"I would like to think I proved myself a competent coach during a decade in charge of Sweden," he once told World Soccer in an interview.

"I led them to five consecutive World Cups and European Championships and I've a name for team building, for making the most of the personnel at my disposal. I know international football."

Lagerback says he learnt a lot from England manager Roy Hodgson and Bobby Houghton -- the Englishman who coached Malmo to the 1979 European Cup final -- when they were working in Sweden in the 1970s.

When he took over at Iceland, they were ranked lower than Liechtenstein. They are now 34th in the world, one place above his native Sweden, and his success has not gone unnoticed at home.

After Iceland secured their Euro place, a poll in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet showed that 93.8 percent of readers would rather have him in charge than Erik Hamren.

Lagerback, who talks to his team in English, has been blessed with an unusually talented group of players including Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City, Alfred Finnbogason of Augsburg and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson of Nantes.

But he also knows exactly what he is doing after starting out in coaching back in 1977.

"If you look at all the good teams, from Spain to Barcelona and other teams who have won tournaments, whether it is international or club football, there is always a very clear idea of how to play football," he told The Guardian in 2013.

"And if you can't adhere to that, then it is very difficult to achieve anything."