Russia, not a popular country in the current era amidst all the happenings with Ukraine and the threats to other nations. Thankfully, this is a football article, so we don’t have to get into the weeds with all that. Instead, let’s focus on the Russian Premier League, which has just kicked off.

The league consists of the usual names, such as Zenit Saint Petersburg, Rubin Kazan and the Moscow clubs CSKA, Spartak and Lokomotiv. All clubs that have represented the country on the European stage.

By now, we are used to seeing British footballers play abroad. Harry Kane scoring goals for fun in Munich, Bellingham lighting it up in Madrid, and more recently, a gold rush of players to the Saudi Pro League.

But beyond the headlines, there’s a wave of British footballers making names for themselves in unexpected corners of the world, away from the bright lights of Europe or the money from America or Saudi Arabia.

How can it be that the world’s largest island has a footballing history and culture that next to nobody knows anything about? Greenland, unlike the name suggests, is not very green, in fact, the island is snow-covered and consistently exists with extremely cold weather conditions.

The Shetland Islands, an archipelago belonging to Scotland and north of the mainland, is a place with a rich historical past more associated with the Nords than the Scots and populated with people who would much rather identify themselves as Shetlanders over Scottish.

A group of islands with an estimated population of 23,000, long cold winters and short warm summers, but what is the story behind the football on the islands?

We’ve all heard of David against Goliath, well this story focuses on David’s younger brother and how he accepted a challenge to compete with the rest of the European Continent. This is the story of Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag (KÍ). A small Faroese fishing town with a passion for football and a desire to mix it with the best Europe has to offer.

Norway, is famous for the Northern Lights, the beautiful coastlines, or perhaps the cold weather. Whatever the case you will know something about this Scandinavian country.

What might become of interest to some people, though, is the football league and how two teams playing out from within the Arctic Circle are leading a charge to the top of the Eliteserien and setting their eyes on European football and glory.