The Denmark national football team is controlled by the Danish Football Association and has represented the country of Denmark in international football competitions since 1908. The team has been a solidly competitive side in international football since the mid-1980s, with the triumph in the 1992 European Championships (Euro 1992) tournament as its most prominent victory, beating the European champions in the semi-final, and the world champions in the final. They also won the Confederations Cup in 1995 defeating Argentina 2–0 in the final match. Their best performance in the FIFA World Cup was in 1998, when they reached the quarter-finals before losing narrowly to Brazil.
Contents [hide]
1 Teams
2 History
2.1 Amateur years
2.2 Danish Dynamite (1980-1990)
2.3 European Champions (1990-2000)
2.4 The Olsen Gang (2000-2012)
3 Supporters
4 Stadium
5 Competitive record
5.1 World Cup
5.2 Summer Olympics (unofficial)
5.3 Summer Olympics (official)
5.4 European Championship
5.5 FIFA Confederations Cup
6 Results and schedule
6.1 Standings in Group H of the Euro 2012 qualification
7 Players
7.1 Payment
7.2 Player names and numbers
7.3 Current squad
7.4 Recent callups
7.5 Best players of all time
7.6 Hall of Fame
8 Coaching staff
8.1 Former managers
9 See also
9.1 Squads and campaigns
10 References
11 Literature
12 External links
[edit] Teams
Apart from the men's senior A-level team, Denmark competes with a women's national team, and has teams at various youth levels for both men and women, most prominently the U21 national team. Historically, the A-level team competed in the Summer Olympics until and including the 1988 tournament, whereafter Olympic games count as U21 national games. In addition to the A-level team and youth teams, Denmark also have a special league national team named Ligalandsholdet, with the best Danish footballers from the Nordic leagues. Ligalandsholdet was created in 1983, and except for the two years 1989 and 2005, it has each year been playing some unofficial games for the national team, in the winter break of the Nordic leagues. Sometimes the media also refer to Ligalandsholdet as Denmark's B-team, as the best Danish footballers selected for the A-team often play in leagues outside of the Nordic countries. As such, the purpose of Ligalandsholdet's games has also often been described by the national team coach, to be a test of the new potential upcoming Danish players for the A-team.
[edit] History
[edit] Amateur years
The first three editions of the Olympic football event in 1900-1906 had an unofficial status, as the event was not yet open for national football teams to compete, and only had limited participation of three or four club teams from a few nations. Denmark had no club team invited in the 1900 Olympics and the 1904 Olympics, but then received a special invitation for the 1906 Olympics, to compete against 1 Greek club team (Athens) and 2 club teams from the Ottoman Empire (Smyrna and Thessaloniki). The team to represent Denmark was compiled of players from the Copenhagen Football Association (KBU), and they managed to win the event, and thereby an unofficial gold medal. Two years later, in the first official football tournament at the 1908 Olympics, Denmark won a silver medal. At the next 1912 Olympics the team again managed to win a silver medal, which was followed by a golden era from April 1914 until April 1920, with Denmark ranked most of the time as nr.1 in the world by the elo ranking.
Danish team at the 1912 Olympics.Although Denmark figured fairly prominently in the pre-World Cup era, international success would elude them for years from the first World Cup in 1930 and forward. Despite the country's ability to produce outstanding football talents, a bronze medal in the 1948 Olympics was the only result of note in 50 years. As football remained an amateur pastime, most of the best Danish footballers moved abroad to make a living,[2] and foreign-based professionals were barred from the national team. In the 1960s, Denmark had a revival with a third set of Olympic silver at the 1960 Olympics, though the most notable performance was fourth place in the Euro 1964. Denmark took advantage of a comparatively easy draw, as they beat Malta and Luxembourg before losing to the USSR in the semi-final and Hungary in the bronze match.
The national team rule of amateurism was abolished in 1971, which led to a vast improvement in the Danish team's performances. In 1978, professional football was introduced to the Danish leagues, which prompted the first sponsorship of the national team by Danish brewery Carlsberg, enabling the team to hire full-time coach Sepp Piontek from Germany in 1979.[2]
[edit] Danish Dynamite (1980-1990)
In the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Denmark finished with 8 points from as many games, including a 3–1 win against eventual World Cup champions Italy, but Denmark failed to qualify for the final tournament despite the impressive result. Qualification for the Euro 1984 saw the team beat England at Wembley Stadium when Allan Simonsen converted a penalty kick for a 1–0 win. Denmark qualified for their first international tournament since 1964, and the team was dubbed "Danish Dynamite" in a competition for the official Danish Euro 1984 song.[2] Denmark's participation ended in the semi-final when the team lost on penalties to Spain, most remembered for Preben Elkjær's penalty miss, his shorts torn apart. Following the strong performance at the finals, the name of "Danish Dynamite" became a mainstay for the following decade of Danish national team football under coach Piontek.
Denmark made their first World Cup appearance in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and with the attacking duo of Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjær the team surprised the world, sweeping the group, including a 6–1 thrashing of Uruguay. In the second round Denmark once again faced Spain, and once more Denmark lost out. The team received a trashing of their own, losing 5–1, including four goals by Emilio Butragueño. The first Spanish goal was caused by a miss-timed backpass by Jesper Olsen to Butragueño, an unfortunate action subsequently coined as "a real Jesper Olsen" (en rigtig Jesper Olsen). The phrase would live on for 13 years when an identical backpass was carried out by Jesper Grønkjær to Filippo Inzaghi in Grønkjær's 1999 debut game.[3]
After the glory days of 1986, the success of the team continued, as it first qualified for the Euro 1988 tournament, and then had a nearby qualification for the 1988 Olympics. In the qualification group for the Olympics, the job to coach Denmark in these particular games, had for the first time been given to Richard Møller Nielsen, and he proofed his skills, as Denmark initially managed to secure a spot for the final tournament -ahead of West Germany. But following the discovery that Dane Per Frimann was not eligible for the teams 2–0 win over Poland, Denmark was penalised the points of the win, and subsequently did not have enough points to qualify. After this disappointing news had arrived, Denmark had to pin all its hope and faith, for a successful performance at the Euro 1988, instead. The straight opposite however happened, as Denmarks participation ended in early defeat, after Denmark lost all the group games to Spain, Germany, and Italy. A period of transition with faltering results, had now started, and as Denmark subsequently also failed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Sepp Piontek decided to stop as coach for the national team in April 1990, where he was replaced by his assistant coach Richard Møller Nielsen.
[edit] European Champions (1990-2000)
Denmark's finest hour in the international competitions came in the Euro 1992. The Danes initially failed to qualify, as they trailed Yugoslavia in their qualifying group. Michael Laudrup, the star of the team, decided to quit the national team during the qualification matches, following tactical differences with Coach Nielsen. However, due to international sanctions resulting from the Yugoslav wars, Yugoslavia was barred from the tournament, and Denmark entered as the second-placed team in its group. Contrary to popular belief,[2] the team did not rally home from seaside vacations to compete in the championships. The majority of players were already assembled to play a friendly match with the CIS when Denmark officially got the spot at the tournament.[4]
Relying heavily on goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and his defense, as well as creative spark Brian Laudrup, the Danish team created one of the biggest surprises in the event's history, as they went on to win the European Championship trophy under coach Richard Møller Nielsen's defensive playing style. Advancing from the group stage ahead of England and France, Denmark beat the Dutch defending Euro 1988 champions on penalties in the semi-final, and with the 2–0 win against reigning 1990 FIFA World Cup champions Germany in the final, Denmark had won its first trophy.
After the Euro 1992 win, Michael Laudrup revived his national team career in 1993. The following years Denmark saw mixed results as they failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, before securing a King Fahd Cup win, beating Copa América champions Argentina in 1995. As defending champions at the Euro 1996, Denmark disappointed with a lacklustre performance and got eliminated in the group stage. As controversy had occurred over the prolonging of Richard Møller Nielsen's contract in fall 1995, including a strained relationship with the press, he was let go. The new coach was the sympathetic Swede Bo "Bosse" Johansson, who gave the team a more offensive strategy, and the 1998 FIFA World Cup saw the revival of the Danish team, starring both Laudrup brothers in their last international campaign. After beating Saudi Arabia 1–0, drawing with South Africa and losing 2–1 to later champions France in mediocre games the Danish team qualified to the knockout stages as second in the group. In the next game however Denmark played some of the best football of the tournament beating Nigeria 4–1 and thus qualified to the quarterfinals against Brazil. The Danes went out with a beautiful 2–3 defeat to the later silver medalists in a very close and emotional game. Next challenge then was, to qualify the team for the Euro 2000, for the first time without the Laudrup brothers. When this goal was indeed achieved by "Bosse", he received a lot of praise. But when the team showed up for the final tournament and disappointed big time with 3 lost games in the group stage, "Bosse" was heavily criticized for having selected too many players for the squad, with injury problems and poor form. Facing the strong criticism after the teams disappointing performance in the Euro 2000 tournament, "Bosse" decided not to prolong his contract.
[edit] The Olsen Gang (2000-2012)
FIFA World Rankings evolution for Denmark national team (August 1993 – July 2009).The new coach, starting for Denmark in July 2000, turned out to be the former national team captain from the successful team of the 1980s, Morten Olsen, and the team was quickly dubbed the "Olsen Gang", a reference to the series of Danish movies based around the main character Egon Olsen and his genius (criminal) plans. The nickname was also sometimes used for the Danish team -as an alternative to the more commonly used "Danish Dynamite"-, already back in those days when Olsen played as a captain. In the era with Olsen as a coach, his great experience from among others Ajax Amsterdam was transferred to the national team, as Denmark's tactics shifted from the preferred 4-4-2 formation practised by Bo Johansson, to an even more attacking style, with an emphasis on the speedy wingers available to him at the time, namely Jesper Grønkjær and Dennis Rommedahl.[5] Based on that, the preferred starting formation with Olsen as coach, has always been either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.[6][7] He even poses an outspoken opposition to the 4-4-2 system, as he announced the desire to leave his position as national coach, in case he was asked to play with this system as a standard.[8] To support the development of players for the new tactical 4-3-3 system used by Olsen, all the national youth teams also changed their formation into the same 4-3-3 system.[9] Another change Olsen brought to the national team, was to stress the importance of only using fit players, who were granted regular playing time at their club team. A principle that he however later has been forced to compromise with at several times, as the player material available in such a relatively small nation, doesn't always provide many realistic substitute options.
Denmark qualified both for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the Euro 2004, but despite impressive results in the group stage in both tournaments, especially the 2–0 win against reigning World Cup winners France in 2002, Denmark didn't manage to advance any further, and in both tournaments got clearly defeated with a score of 0-3 in the first round after the group stage. At the World Cup 2002 Denmark were defeated by England at round 16, and at Euro 2004 the defeat took place in the quarterfinal against the Czech Republic. The Euro 2004 will also be remembered for an incident in the game with Italy, where Italian star Francesco Totti was caught on camera spitting on Danish player Christian Poulsen; and then subsequently the joint elimination of Italy by Denmark and Sweden in the last group stage match, when the two teams drew 2–2 following a Swedish goal in the 89th minute, making for the exact and famous result that would see the Italians eliminated.
For the 2006 World Cup qualification, Denmark was paired with, among others, 2002 World Cup bronze winners Turkey and Euro 2004 champions Greece competing for only one guaranteed spot at the final tournament. Following a poor start of the qualification, Denmark were trailing both Turkey and surprise leaders Ukraine. Denmark needed Turkey to lose points in the final games in order for Denmark to clinch the 2nd place of the group and one last chance to qualify via two play-off games. Indeed, had Turkey lost points to Albania in their last game, Denmark would have gone through, but instead they had to settle for 3rd place in the group and a longer summer break. After failing to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, coach Olsen considered leaving the job, having received several offers from club teams, but decided to stay and extended his contract until after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, spurred on by his and the team's popularity among the Danish population.[10]
When the next attempt to qualify for the Euro 2008 also failed -after among other things to have received an administrative defeat against Sweden at home turf, due to a spectator's intrusion on the field-, the team got heavily criticized, with many Danes asking for the departure of Morten Olsen as a coach. This suggestion was however refused by DBU and the majority of coaches in the Danish Superliga, who still had trust in Olsen being the best coach for Denmark.[11] In the qualification group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the trust in Olsen was immediately paid back. Despite a difficult group with both Portugal and Sweden as higher ranked opponents, Denmark managed to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by winning the group, after among other things, getting two victories against Sweden and one victory plus a draw against Portugal. After having celebrated the successful World Cup 2010 qualification, the contract with Morten Olsen as coach was extended for two more years, until the Euro 2012.[12]
At the 2010 World Cup, Denmark was grouped with Japan, Cameroon and the Netherlands. Denmark lost the first match 2-0 to Netherlands, but then had a vital 2-1 victory against Cameroon, which enabled further advancement in case of victory over Japan, in the last third match. The game against Japan however ended with a 3-1 defeat, and thereby Denmark didn't reach their declared goal of advancement to round 16. Apparently the biggest reason for the lack of success, was however this time, that Denmark in both the preface -and during the 3 games at the tournament- had struggled with a lot of injuries hitting their best players.
When measuring the performance of the national team by winning share and earned points, Olsen's reign of the Danish national team from July 2000 until October 2010, has so far been the second most successful in the era of full time professional coaches, which began in 1979. As of October 2010, Morten Olsen has a winning share of 51.8%, and with three points for a victory and one for a draw, Olsen has an average of 1.82 points per game.[13] In comparison, Richard Møller Nielsen still have the best record among the professional coaches of the Denmark national football team, with a 54.8% winning share and an average of 1.89 points per game.[14] This kind of statistic of course only provide an overall indication of the performance, as it doesn't take the difficulty of the opponents into account -and/or the number of "difficult games". For a more accurate evaluation of the performance of the national team under the guidance of various coaches, one should also compare the development in the teams position at the official FIFA ranking or Elo ranking, where the merits of qualification and results in the final EURO and World Cup championships tournament get the highest weight. Beside of the success of Olsen to qualify Denmark for the World Cup in 2002 and 2010, and the European Championship in 2004, he also gained several great results in the friendly games. In example, a friendly 4–1 win over England in 2005; being the worst loss for the English team since 1980, and a repetition of the friendly 3–2 win achieved by Denmark on English ground at Old Trafford in 2003.
[edit] Supporters
Main article: Roligan
Apart from the national team, Denmark is equally famous for its traveling fans, known as roligans. The movement emerged during the 1980s as the declared opposition to hooliganism. The goal of the roligan movement is calm, yet cheerful, support during the matches, as rolig means calm in the Danish language. The roligans have since developed an image of easy-going nature and rabid support, and are often considered amongst the world's best national team fans, along with the Tartan Army of Scotland. They were collectively given the FIFA FairPlay Award at the 1984 European Championships.[15] Just before the 1986 World Cup, the roligan movement was organized in order to support the national team at the tournament.
The good reputation of the Danish supporters was however sullied by the 2008 UEFA qualifier fan attack, happening in June 2007 at the Euro 2008 qualifying game against Sweden, when an enraged Danish supporter invaded the pitch and tried to attack the referee, following his decision to hand out a red card for Christian Poulsen and a penalty kick to Sweden at the last minute of the game. The attacking fan was stopped by some of the Danish football players on the field, before he reached the referee, but due to the episode the game was immediately canceled by the referee, and UEFA subsequently decided to award a 0-3 defeat for Denmark, as a punishment.
[edit] Stadium
For stadium history, see Parken Stadium.
Parken, with a capacity of 38,009 spectators, located in Copenhagen, and used as official home stadium by the Denmark national football team.First home game of the Denmark national football team, was a 2–1 friendly win over England at 25 May 1910, taking place with 12,000 spectators at the stadium "KBs baner" (located in the area "Granen", where Forum Copenhagen later was build).[16] As the facilities were considered too small, a new stadium in Copenhagen was built with the name Idrætsparken, that since its opening 25 May 1911 hosted all the home games of the football club KB and most of the home games of the national team. During the first 82 years of the national team, from October 1908 until November 1990, Denmark played a total number of 254 A-level home games, of which 232 were played in Idrætsparken. According to the official statistics, the home games at Idrætsparken result wise ended with 125 victories, 41 draws and 66 lost games; and the stadium reached a record of 51,600 spectators for the 1-2 game against Sweden in June 1957.[17] In regards of the first era from 1908–1990, only 22 home games were played at other stadiums than Idrætsparken; of which 11 took place at NRGi Park (then known as Atletion) in Århus, followed by Aalborg Stadion in Aalborg with 6 games, and the remaining 5 games hosted by four other stadiums. Whenever another stadium than Idrætsparken was used for a home game, it was however only for some of the less important friendly games or Olympic qualifiers. While only Idrætsparken was used to host the games related to big important tournaments, like the Nordic championship, European Championship and World Cup. When a major rebuilt of Idrætsparken began in December 1990, the subsequent two official Euro 1992 qualification games, were however moved to Odense Stadium in Odense.
On September 9 in 1992, the rebuilt Idrætsparken, now called Parken, became the biggest venue in Denmark with 42,358 seats, and was opened with a friendly 1-2 defeat against Germany. This first game in Parken had a visit of 40,500 spectators;[18] while the current stadium record at 42,099 spectators was reached the 8 October 2005, for a World Cup qualifying game against Greece.[19]
The capacity of the stadium was later reduced to 38,009 seats, after the upper part of the D-side was converted from 4,000 extra seats into office and VIP areas, in June 2009.[20][21] Despite this decrease in capacity, the stadium is today still the biggest venue in Denmark by far; as the next biggest venue Brøndby Stadium only has a capacity of 26,000 seats. During the time from September 1992 until May 2006, Parken was the sole stadium of all the men's senior national team matches. However, meagre spectator support at some of the friendly matches at Parken, which for the years in 2000-2005 attracted an acceptable average of 23,862 per game, but down to 9,598 for the friendly 3–1 win over Israel in April 2002;[22] caused the decision by DBU, to start moving many of the friendly matches to other stadiums around the country. These other stadiums had less spectator capacity than Parken, but just about enough, to cover the Danes somewhat lower interest for the friendly games.
At 27 May 2006, Parken's 13-year monopoly on national team matches got broken for the first time, when Denmark played a friendly game at the NRGi Park stadium in Århus, against the World Cup 2006 participants Paraguay. This particular game got outsold within a short while, with almost 19,000 of the 20,227 tickets being sold within the first hour of sale,[23] and was support-wise a big success with a total audience of 20,047 spectators.[24] When the two next friendly games were played at some other new venues, August 16 at Fionia Park in Odense with Poland as opponent, and September 1 at Brøndby Stadium with Portugal as opponent, the number of spectators however droped to a disappointing level. The match against Poland only attracted 11,088 spectators,[25] while the match against Portugal only attracted 13,186 spectators;[26] and the match against Portugal was in particular deemed as a support-wise failure, as it featured a higher ranked opponent, which spectators normally would have a high interest to watch. The main reasons why Brøndby Stadium failed to attract a high number of spectators, were generally thought to be a combination of the poor rainy weather, and the fact that this stadium is located on the outskirts of Copenhagen; and as such does not attract a new demographic audience compared to Parken, due to the travel distances being more or less the same for the majority of the population.
Currently, while most of the friendly games continue to be played at some of the smaller stadiums in Denmark, it has been decided to continue playing all of the qualifying games for the European Championships and World Cup, only at Parken Stadium.[27] Those friendly games, which are believed to create a high interest from spectators, will also continue to be played at Parken. In example, the friendly game against Germany in August 2010, took place at Parken Stadium, due to the general expectation of many spectators having a desire to watch the game. After the weak performance of Denmark at the World Cup 2010, the friendly game however only managed to draw a total number of 19,071 spectators.[28] During the last 18 years, from September 1992 until October 2010, Denmark played a total of 73 A-level games at Parken Stadium; of which 46 were won, 16 got drawed, and only 11 were lost.[29]
[edit] Competitive record
[edit] World Cup
Location and Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
1930 Did not enter - - - - - - -
1934 Did not enter - - - - - - -
1938 Did not enter - - - - - - -
1950 Did not enter - - - - - - -
1954 Did not enter - - - - - - -
1958 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1962 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1966 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1970 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1974 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1978 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1982 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1986 Round of 16 9 4 3 0 1 10 6
1990 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1994 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1998 Quarter-finals 8 5 2 1 2 9 7
2002 Round of 16 10 4 2 1 1 5 5
2006 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
2010 Round 1 24 3 1 0 2 3 6
2014
Total 4/19 16 8 2 6 27 24
[show]List of FIFA World Cup matches
Year Round Score Result
1986 Round 1 Denmark 1 – 0 Scotland Win
Round 1 Denmark 6 – 1 Uruguay Win
Round 1 Denmark 2 – 0 Germany Win
Round 2 Denmark 1 – 5 Spain Loss
1998 Round 1 Denmark 1 – 0 Saudi Arabia Win
Round 1 Denmark 1 – 1 South Africa Draw
Round 1 Denmark 1 – 2 France Loss
Round 2 Denmark 4 – 1 Nigeria Win
Round 3 Denmark 2 – 3 Brazil Loss
2002 Round 1 Denmark 2 – 1 Uruguay Win
Round 1 Denmark 1 – 1 Senegal Draw
Round 1 Denmark 2 – 0 France Win
Round 2 Denmark 0 – 3 England Loss
2010 Round 1 Denmark 0 – 2 Netherlands Loss
Round 1 Denmark 2 – 1 Cameroon Win
Round 1 Denmark 1 – 3 Japan Loss
[edit] Summer Olympics (unofficial)
Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
1900 Was not invited - - - - - -
1904 Was not invited - - - - - -
1906 Gold 2 2 0 0 14 1
Total 1/3 2 2 0 0 14 1
The first 3 Olympic football events were only unofficial tournaments, with a few nations represented by a club team. Starting from 1908, the Olympic football tournament became an official event, with represenation of the official national football teams.
[edit] Summer Olympics (official)
Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
1908 Silver 3 2 0 1 26 3
1912 Silver 3 2 0 1 13 5
1920 First round 1 0 0 1 0 1
1924 Did not enter - - - - - -
1928 Did not enter - - - - - -
1936 Did not enter - - - - - -
1948 Bronze 4 3 0 1 15 11
1952 Quarter-final 3 2 0 1 7 6
1956 Did not enter - - - - - -
1960 Silver 5 4 0 1 11 7
1964 Did not qualify - - - - - -
1968 Did not enter - - - - - -
1972 Second round 6 3 1 2 11 7
1976 Did not qualify - - - - - -
1980 Did not enter - - - - - -
1984 Did not qualify - - - - - -
1988 Did not qualify - - - - - -
Total 7/17 25 16 1 8 83 40
After the Olympics 1988, the football event was changed into a tournament, with participation only for the U21 national teams.
[edit] European Championship
Location and Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
1960 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1964 Fourth place 4 2 0 0 2 1 6
1968 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1972 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1976 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1980 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
1984 Semi-finals 3 4 2 1 1 9 4
1988 Round 1 7 3 0 0 3 2 7
1992 Champions 1 5 2 2 1 6 4
1996 Round 1 9 3 1 1 1 4 4
2000 Round 1 16 3 0 0 3 0 8
2004 Quarter-finals 8 4 1 2 1 4 5
2008 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
2012
2016
Total 7/13 1 title 24 6 6 12 26 38
[edit] FIFA Confederations Cup
Location and Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
1992 Did not qualify - - - - - -
1995 Champions 3 2 1 0 5 1
1997 Did not qualify - - - - - -
1999 Did not qualify - - - - - -
2001 Did not qualify - - - - - -
2003 Did not qualify - - - - - -
2005 Did not qualify - - - - - -
2009 Did not qualify - - - - - -
2013
Total 1/8 3 2 1 0 5 1
[edit] Results and schedule
See also: List of Denmark national football team results
List of all previous games within the last 12 months, and the scheduled games for the nearest future.
Date Opponent Result Score* Venue Competition
14 Nov 2009 Korea Republic D 0–0 Blue Water Arena, Esbjerg, Denmark International Friendly
18 Nov 2009 United States W 3–1 NRGi Park, Århus, Denmark International Friendly
03 Mar 2010 Austria L 1–2 Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria International Friendly
27 May 2010 Senegal W 2–0 Aalborg Stadion, Aalborg, Denmark International Friendly
01 Jun 2010 Australia L 0–1 Ruimsig Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa International Friendly
05 Jun 2010 South Africa L 0–1 Atteridgeville Super Stadium, Atteridgeville, South Africa International Friendly
14 Jun 2010 Netherlands L 0–2 Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup
19 Jun 2010 Cameroon W 2–1 Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup
24 Jun 2010 Japan L 1–3 Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup
11 Aug 2010 Germany D 2–2 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark International Friendly
7 Sep 2010 Iceland W 1–0 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
8 Oct 2010 Portugal L 1–3 Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
12 Oct 2010 Cyprus W 2–0 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
17 Nov 2010 Czech Republic NRGi Park, Århus, Denmark International Friendly
* Denmark score always listed first
In the last year, since 15 October 2009, Denmark has never been defeated when playing at home turf.
[edit] Standings in Group H of the Euro 2012 qualification
Legend
Group winners and best runner-up among all groups directly qualify for the finals
Remaining group runners-up advance to the play-offs
Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Norway 3 3 0 0 5 2 +3 9
Portugal 4 2 1 1 10 7 +3 7
Denmark 3 2 0 1 4 3 +1 6
Cyprus 3 0 1 2 5 8 −3 1
Iceland 3 0 0 3 2 6 −4 0
Cyprus — 7 Oct '11 26 Mar '11 1–2 2 Sep '11
Denmark 2–0 — 1–0 6 Sep '11 11 Oct '11
Iceland 6 Sep '11 4 Jun '11 — 1–2 1–3
Norway 11 Oct '11 26 Mar '11 2 Sep '11 — 1–0
Portugal 4–4 3–1 7 Oct '11 4 Jun '11 —
[edit] Players
See also: List of Denmark international footballers and 2009–10 in Danish football
The players are freely chosen by the national team manager. They are normally assembled, from their respective club teams, at Hotel Marienlyst in Elsinore for a week-long training camp preluding the upcoming game. Friendly games are typically played on a Wednesday evening. World Cup qualifiers are played on both Saturday and Wednesday evenings; while Euro qualifiers now take place on both a Friday and Tuesday evening when playing two games in a row, or on a Friday/Saturday/Tuesday at rounds with only one game scheduled.[30][31]
[edit] Payment
Each player in the national team receives a set amount of money per game, including bonuses for games won and qualification for the European Championship and World Cup tournaments. Through the years, these money prizes have gone from around €1,340 for a game win in 1987 and around €26,800 for the Euro 1988 participation alone, to around €67,000 for the 1998 World Cup and up to €107,000 for the 2002 World Cup participations, per player.[32] Currently, the win bonus for friendly games are €1,340 per player, with start money for an away game at €670 per player, while a home win before a sellout crowd of 42,000, can possibly wield €7,600 per player, including the win bonus, due to spectator-dependent bonuses. In the qualification matches for the international tournaments, the bonuses are increased for both home and away wins, with a bonus also being paid for away draws.[33]
[edit] Player names and numbers
Shirt numbers became quickly associated with a certain position. So to describe someone as 'Denmark's number 9' would be to describe a player as the best choice for centre forward. This terminology continues today, and the team has kept to the tradition of numbering players in the starting squad from 1 to 11 (with 12 upwards for substitutes), at all games played outside the major tournaments. For games at major tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Football Championship, the team is required to play with permanent squad numbers throughout the tournament.
Numbers are traditionally associated with a certain position on the field, but there are no set rules. Furthermore, established players will tend to use the same number whenever they play. Christian Poulsen, for example, retains the Denmark number 2 no matter what position he plays in. However, when Poulsen does not play, another player will be number 2.
[edit] Current squad
The following players were selected by coach Morten Olsen for the latest friendly match, to be played November 17 against Czech Republic.[34] [35]
Caps and goals updated as October 12, 2010.
0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club
tbd GK Thomas Sørensen 12 June 1976 (1976-06-12) (age 34) 91 0 Stoke City
tbd GK Anders Lindegaard 13 April 1984 (1984-04-13) (age 26) 3 0 Aalesund
tbd DF Lars Jacobsen (right back) 20 September 1979 (1979-09-20) (age 31) 38 0 West Ham United
tbd DF Per Krøldrup (centre back) 31 July 1979 (1979-07-31) (age 31) 33 0 Fiorentina
tbd DF Simon Kjær (centre back) 26 March 1989 (1989-03-26) (age 21) 15 0 Wolfsburg
tbd DF Patrick Mtiliga (left back) 28 January 1981 (1981-01-28) (age 29) 4 0 Málaga
tbd DF Johnny Thomsen (right back) 26 February 1982 (1982-02-26) (age 28) 2 0 SønderjyskE
tbd DF Bo Svensson (centre back) 4 August 1979 (1979-08-04) (age 31) 1 0 Mainz 05
tbd MF Martin Jørgensen (central MF) 6 October 1975 (1975-10-06) (age 35) 99 12 AGF
tbd MF Christian Poulsen (defensive MF, ) 28 February 1980 (1980-02-28) (age 30) 80 6 Liverpool
tbd MF Daniel Jensen (offensive MF) 25 June 1979 (1979-06-25) (age 31) 51 3 Werder Bremen
tbd MF Thomas Kahlenberg (central MF) 20 March 1983 (1983-03-20) (age 27) 35 4 Wolfsburg
tbd MF Christian Eriksen (offensive MF) 14 February 1992 (1992-02-14) (age 18) 9 0 Ajax
tbd MF Kasper Lorentzen (central MF) 19 November 1985 (1985-11-19) (age 24) 2 1 Randers
tbd MF Niki Zimling (central MF) 19 April 1985 (1985-04-19) (age 25) 1 0 Nijmegen
tbd MF Hans Henrik Andreasen (offensive MF) 10 January 1979 (1979-01-10) (age 31) 0 0 OB
tbd FW Dennis Rommedahl (right wing) 22 July 1978 (1978-07-22) (age 32) 103 18 Olympiacos
tbd FW Nicklas Bendtner (striker) 16 January 1988 (1988-01-16) (age 22) 35 12 Arsenal
tbd FW Michael Krohn-Dehli (left wing) 6 June 1983 (1983-06-06) (age 27) 7 0 Brøndby
tbd FW Mads Junker (striker) 21 April 1981 (1981-04-21) (age 29) 4 1 Roda
tbd FW Lasse Schøne (right wing) 27 May 1986 (1986-05-27) (age 24) 2 1 Nijmegen
[edit] Recent callups
The following list of active players, were not called up for the latest match of the national team, but were called up for an A-level match within the last 12 months, and remained available on the noted match day for a potential selection to the final squad.
Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest Callup
GK Jesper Christiansen 20 April 1978 (1978-04-20) (age 32) 11 0 Elfsborg 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
GK Jonas Lössl 1 February 1989 (1989-02-01) (age 21) 0 0 FC Midtjylland 8 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
GK Kim Christensen 16 July 1979 (1979-07-16) (age 31) 1 0 FC København 7 Sep. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
GK Stephan Andersen 26 November 1981 (1981-11-26) (age 28) 7 0 Brøndby 11 Aug. 2010 (Friendly game)
DF Daniel Agger (centre back) 12 December 1984 (1984-12-12) (age 25) 38 0 Liverpool 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
DF Leon Jessen (left back) 11 June 1986 (1986-06-11) (age 24) 4 0 Kaiserslautern 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
DF Mathias Zanka Jørgensen (centre back) 23 April 1990 (1990-04-23) (age 20) 1 0 FC København 8 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
DF Simon Poulsen (left back) 7 October 1984 (1984-10-07) (age 26) 9 0 AZ Alkmaar 11 Aug. 2010 (Friendly game)
DF Michael Lumb (centre back) 9 January 1988 (1988-01-09) (age 22) 2 0 Zenit Saint Petersburg 3 Mar. 2010 (Friendly game)
DF Jim Larsen (centre back) 6 November 1985 (1985-11-06) (age 25) 0 0 Silkeborg 3 Mar. 2010 (Friendly game)
DF Anders Møller Christensen (centre back) 26 July 1977 (1977-07-26) (age 33) 6 0 OB 18 Nov. 2009 (Friendly game)
MF William Kvist (defensive MF) 24 February 1985 (1985-02-24) (age 25) 16 0 FC København 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
MF Michael Silberbauer (central MF) 7 July 1981 (1981-07-07) (age 29) 16 1 Utrecht 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
MF Martin Vingaard (central MF) 20 March 1985 (1985-03-20) (age 25) 8 1 FC København 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
MF Thomas Enevoldsen (offensive MF) 27 July 1987 (1987-07-27) (age 23) 8 1 Groningen 7 Sep. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
MF Mike Jensen (defensive MF) 19 February 1988 (1988-02-19) (age 22) 1 0 Brøndby 11 Aug. 2010 (Friendly game)
MF Jakob Poulsen (offensive MF) 7 July 1983 (1983-07-07) (age 27) 15 1 AGF World Cup 2010
MF Mikkel Beckmann (offensive MF) 24 October 1983 (1983-10-24) (age 27) 6 0 Randers World Cup 2010
MF Søren Rieks (offensive MF) 7 April 1987 (1987-04-07) (age 23) 3 1 Esbjerg 3 Mar. 2010 (Friendly game)
MF Peter Nymann (central MF) 22 August 1982 (1982-08-22) (age 28) 1 0 Esbjerg 3 Mar. 2010 (Friendly game)
MF Martin Ørnskov (defensive MF) 10 October 1985 (1985-10-10) (age 25) 0 0 Silkeborg 3 Mar. 2010 (Friendly game)
FW Nicklas Pedersen (striker) 10 October 1987 (1987-10-10) (age 23) 4 0 Groningen 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
FW Morten Duncan Rasmussen (striker) 31 January 1985 (1985-01-31) (age 25) 4 1 Mainz 05 12 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
FW Nicolai Jørgensen (right wing) 15 January 1991 (1991-01-15) (age 19) 0 0 Bayer Leverkusen 8 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
FW Peter Løvenkrands (left wing) 29 January 1980 (1980-01-29) (age 30) 22 1 Newcastle United 8 Oct. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
FW Morten Skoubo (striker) 30 June 1980 (1980-06-30) (age 30) 5 1 Roda 7 Sep. 2010 (Euro qualifier)
FW Johan Absalonsen (left wing) 16 September 1985 (1985-09-16) (age 25) 2 1 OB 11 Aug. 2010 (Friendly game)
FW Søren Larsen (striker) 6 September 1981 (1981-09-06) (age 29) 20 11 Toulouse World Cup 2010
FW Rajko Lekic (striker) 3 July 1981 (1981-07-03) (age 29) 1 0 Silkeborg 3 Mar. 2010 (Friendly game)
FW Martin Bernburg (striker) 26 December 1985 (1985-12-26) (age 24) 4 1 Brøndby 18 Nov. 2009 (Friendly game)
FW Jesper Bech (right wing) 25 May 1982 (1982-05-25) (age 28) 2 0 Silkeborg 18 Nov. 2009 (Friendly game)
[edit] Best players of all time
In November 2006, the Danish Football Association nominated eight Danish national team footballers for the "Best Danish Footballer of All Time" award. The nominated players were Morten Olsen, Henning Jensen, Allan Simonsen, Preben Elkjær, Michael Laudrup, Brian Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel, and Jon Dahl Tomasson. The winner of the award was decided by a public vote arranged by the broadcasting channel TV 2, which ended with Michael Laudrup as a clear winner, with 58% of the votes.[36]
[edit] Hall of Fame
Denmarks Hall of Fame was established in October 2008, as a special award to celebrate the best footballers, teams and coaches; throughout the history of the national team. A jury with 6 people (representing the newspapers, authors of football books, active players of the national team, TV2, DBU, and a Hall of Fame member), each year have the job to award one or two new members for the Hall of Fame. The award will be handed out at the official Danish Football Awards, which is an yearly DBU event, broadcasted by TV2 in November. Beside of receiving the award, all Hall of Fame members are also invited to leave a footprint in bronze, to decorate the entrance hall at "Fodboldens hus" -the DBU headquarters in Brøndby.[37]
Hall of Fame members:
Carl Aage Præst (1945–1949)[38]
Allan Simonsen (1972–1986)[38]
Danish Dynamite team (1980–1989): Represented with a footprint of Morten Olsen (c, 1970–1989) and Sepp Piontek (coach, 1979–1990).[39]
Euro 1992 team (June 1992): Represented with a footprint of Lars Olsen (c, 1986–1996) and Richard Møller Nielsen (coach, 1990–1996).[37]
Michael Laudrup (1982–1998)[37]
Peter Schmeichel (1987–2001)[40]
[edit] Coaching staff
When the national team is assembled and train together ahead of a match, the team is coached by:
Coaching staff Name
National manager Morten Olsen
Assistent managers Peter Bonde & Torben Storm
Offense coach Ebbe Sand
Goalkeeper coach Lars Høgh
Physical coach Jens Bangsbo
[edit] Former managers
Main article: Denmark national football team statistics#Managers
The responsibility and job description for the manager of the Denmark national football team, has changed throughout the history. In the first years from 1908–1918, DBU preferred to assign a manager with the overall responsibility. But this was followed by a long era in 1919-1956, with either no manager or only a caretaker manager assigned. When DBU decided to assign Arne Sørensen (Nov.1956-Dec.1961) and Poul Petersen (Jan.1962-Dec.1966) as managers for a roling period of several years, they were granted the responsibility to coach the fysical training and decide the team tactics before and during the game, but had no influence upon the selection of players for the national team -which was a job for the special appointed selection committee: "UdtagelsesKomitéen".[41]
For the years in 1967-1969, the management of the team more or less became a sole responsibility for "UdtagelsesKomitéen", following a new approach. In this new approach, the job to select players continued to be the shared responsibility for "UdtagelsesKomitéen", but the chairman of the committee was now also appointed to be the "tactical manager" of the national team, as DBU realised the need of the tactical manager also to get some influence upon the selection of players. The appointed tactical manager, however didnt have the responsibility to train the team, as a special fysical coach was selected for that part of the job. In 1970, the approach with two managers assigned was however abandoned, when DBU realised the need to assign only one manager with the sole responsibility of the team.[41]
For the years in 1970-1979, the job to select players was however not yet a sole responsibility of the manager alone, but only a shared responsibility, as this continued to be a matter for "UdtagelsesKomitéen" to decide. When a selection of players had to be made, it was decided by a vote in the committee, with the appointed manager being granted an influnce of 3 votes, and the four members of the committee being granted 1 vote each. This special selection procedure continued until July 1979, where it was decided to hand out the sole responsibility of all manager related areas, to the manager himself, with the assignment of Sepp Piontek as the first full time professional manager of the national football team.[41]
The box below, list all assigned football managers for the national team, since the first official game in October 1908.
During the years from 1911 to 1961, a total of 169 games were played without an assigned manager.
Manager Period Games Win Draw Loss Win % Elo ranking
Charles Williams Oct.1908–Dec.1910 4 3 0 1 75.0% nr.2
no manager Jan.1911–Dec.1912 5 3 0 2 60.0% nr.2–nr.3
Axel Andersen Byrval Jan.1913–Dec.1915
Jan.1917–Dec.1918
16 14 1 1 87.5% nr.1–nr.2
nr.1–nr.2
no manager Jan.1916–Dec.1916
Jan.1919–Jul.1920
10 5 1 4 50.0% nr.1
nr.1–nr.3
caretaker manager Aug.1920 1 0 0 1 0.0% nr.4
no manager Sep.1920–Dec.1938 77 35 13 29 45.5% nr.3–nr.21
caretaker managers Jan.1939–Oct.1956 18 10 3 5 55.6% nr.16–nr.35
no manager Jul.1939–Sep.1956 74 29 11 34 39.2% nr.16–nr.35
Arne Sørensen Nov.1956–Dec.1961 41 20 8 13 48.8% nr.25–nr.46
no manager Jun.1957–Sep.1961 3 1 0 2 33.3% nr.25–nr.46
Poul Petersen Jan.1962–Dec.1966 47 17 8 22 36.2% nr.28–nr.63
Erik Hansen (tactical coach)
Ernst Netuka (training coach)
Jan.1967–Dec.1967 8 4 2 2 50.0% nr.47–nr.65
Erik Hansen (tactical coach)
Henry From (training coach)
Jan.1968–Jan.1969 11 4 1 6 36.4% nr.45–nr.56
John Hansen (tactical coach)
Henry From (training coach)
Feb.1969–Dec.1969 9 5 1 3 55.6% nr.36–nr.54
Rudi Strittich Jan.1970–Dec.1975 61 20 11 30 32.8% nr.40–nr.60
Kurt "Nikkelaj" Nielsen Jan.1976–Jun.1979 31 13 6 12 41.9% nr.40–nr.58
Sepp Piontek Jul.1979–Apr.1990 115 52 24 39 45.2% nr.2–nr.54
Richard Møller Nielsen May 1987–May 1988a
May 1990–Jun.1996 73 40 18 15 54.8% nr.6–nr.9
nr.4–nr.15
Bo Johansson Jul.1996–Jun.2000 40 17 9 14 42.5% nr.6–nr.25
Morten Olsen Jul.2000–Oct.2010b 114 59 30 25 51.8% nr.6–nr.34
Total for all games Oct.1908–Oct.2010b 758 351 147 260 46.3% nr.1–nr.65
a) Nielsen coached 8 games in the 1988 Olympics qualification, winning 6, drawing 1, and losing 1.
b) Accurate up to and including October 12, 2010.
[edit] See also
Copenhagen XI
Faroe Islands national football team
Greenland national football team
Roligan
Sports in Denmark
[edit] Squads and campaigns
Euro 1964 squad
Euro 1984 squad
World Cup 1986 squad
Euro 1988 squad
Euro 1992 winning squad
Euro 1996 squad
World Cup 1998 squad
Euro 2000 squad
World Cup 2002 squad
Euro 2004 squad
World Cup 2010 squad
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