Answering the latest questions:
Yes, 200 years takes between 20 and 30 hours on my machine. It is a small database. My computer is new with i7 930s and plenty of other muscle to get it through this with minimal fuss.
Iceland was chosen because it already exists in the game. Using an edited file could have caused all sorts of other problems and prevented me from going as far. Also I wanted to see what else was happening in Europe.
Yes, the team posted is the all-time world team. The ratings are problematic obviously, but you do not need to go that many years to see that. Should I pick the Mountaineers to beat Kentucky in my bracket? It worked out for me last year.
Yeah the game is quite laugh-worthy at times. Seeing the 99,000 seat stadium was something else.
No editor changes whatsoever. I will show the game status screen in a future update for proof.
This is one of the fastest setups possible due to the low number of teams, players, and as important as anything else, fewer games. The other good candidates are India and Hong Kong (the one I used in FM07).
I am as surprised as anyone at how far they progressed. I knew they would get a bit better, but 4th is shockingly high.
It took Iceland about 150 years to get to their heights. 70 years in, they were still basically in the middle of all the European leagues.