"Our support is extreme.

"You don’t have many people saying, ‘no I think we spend too much’."

Hestoy acknowledges that the final comment was an exaggeration as one person among the estimated 55,000 population in the Faroe Islands is bound to disagree on his view.

However, the point was to demonstrate the passion the Faroe Islands has for sport and the scale of investment the industry receives.

Hestoy, who is due to step down as FCSOC vice-president, understands this to a great length after spending almost 40 years serving in various sporting roles, including three separate terms as President of the Faroe Islands Swimming Association.

Around a third of the Faroese population are members of sports clubs which total over 100 while the Kingdom of Denmark territory has 23 sport associations.

The federations to be internationally recognised are archery, badminton, darts, football, handball, judo, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and volleyball.

The Faroese sport community is continuously growing across the collection of 17 populated islands thanks to the rise in sporting facilities.

The North Atlantic archipelago poses 22 full scale football pitches, over 20 swimming pools and a new Olympic-standard shooting range for trap and skeet.

The Klaksvíkar Svimjihøll sports complex is equipped with the facilities to stage handball, badminton, volleyball, swimming, football and basketball.

Just beside the centre, a new athletics venue is currently being built which is expected to also house a new football pitch.

In the Faroes capital of Tórshavn, the now-completed Tórsvøllur is the commanding focus with its stature as the football national stadium.

Surrounding it is a training pitch and the home of football clubs B36 and Havnar Bóltfelag.

A new Olympic-standard 50 metre swimming pool is also under construction with it expected to be two metres deep and 25m wide when it opens next year.

A five-metre diving tower and children's pool are also anticipated to be included.

"From 2002 to 2025, we have spent approximately €125 million (£106 million/$134 million) on sporting facilities on the Faroe Islands," Hestoy told insidethegames.

Plans to build a new 4,600-seater indoor multisport arena for handball, volleyball and tennis is also underway.

Hestoy commented that this will cost another €40 million (£34 million/$43 million).

Svangaskarð in Toftir, an athletics stadium, has the largest legacy of all as the venues after it became the first facility of its kind to be built in the Faroe Islands in the lead up to the 1989 Island Games.

The multi-sport competition turned out to be an enormous success for the Faroese thanks to their athletes claiming 13 golds, five silvers and 10 bronzes to finish third in the overall medal table.

Svangaskarð has undergone updates over the years, which includes a football pitch.

The long list of rising facilities acts as exhibitions of how serious the Faroese are regarding sport and their push to be fully integrated within the sporting ecosystem.

Hosting this year’s European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation General Assembly and potentially staging the 2029 Island Games further affirms the Faroese’s ambition.

Faroe Islands Prime Minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen, who has a background in rowing and handball, unsurprisingly shares this passion.

"We now have a fully updated football stadium," Nielsen commented to insidethegames.

"We are using a lot of resources to invest in the right circumstances for sport.

"We are trying to maintain and make the facilities even better all the time.

"That is the most important thing we can show."

He added the large investment is “also to show the sport people we want them” to be competing.

Yet, the Faroe Islands feel they cannot fulfil their true potential until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognises the FCSOC who have been campaigning for almost 50 years.

A rule was inserted into the Olympic Charter in 1996 which insisted that National Olympic Committee (NOC) recognition can "only be granted after recognition as an independent state by the international community."

The Faroe Islands operate as a self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark who decide all their policies, except on defence and foreign policy, and covers every cost sport requires, including anti-doping.

Among the international bodies to recognise the Faroe Islands independently are the World Health Organization, International Maritime Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The Danish NOC is one of the Nordic NOCs to support the FCSOC’s bid to enter the Olympics.

The Faroe Islands also point out that other regions, such as the British Virgin Islands which is a British overseas territory, has Olympic status.

Their argument is furthered by the fact that they are one of the founding members of the International Paralympic Committee.

The push to gain recognition is wholeheartedly supported by Prime Minister Nielsen, who told insidethegames that "we should of course use that [the Faroese flag] when the Faroese sports people are participating in the Olympic Games." 

Nevertheless, Hestoy was keen to clarify that every politician from the Faroe Islands supports the recognition, even if they are pro-unionist with Denmark - which is the case with Nielsen.

"The only thing every politician in the Faroe Islands is 100 per cent sure of is that we should have international recognition," Hestoy said.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we have a right in the world to get this recognition."

Faroese rower Sverri Sandberg Nielsen claimed silver at the 2019 World Championships and gold at the European Championships the following year.

However, due to the FCSOC’s unrecognised Olympic status, Nielsen was forced to compete under the Danish flag at Tokyo 2020 where he finished fourth.

Swimmer Pál Joensen experienced the same fate when he competed at London 2012.

This both contrasted to marathon Paralympian Hávard Vatnhamar who was able to participate at Tokyo 2020 under the Faroese flag.

"Imagine what we could do if we had the full membership and the full potential of possibilities," Hestoy reflects.

"It is like you want to shake something.

"It is so obvious that our sporting community, our athletes, are on a level where we would have someone in the highest level of sport at any point in time."