Denmark National Football Team

The Denmark national football team is entirely controlled by the Danish Football Association. This team has represented Denmark country in many international football competitions since 1908. The team nickname includes Danish Dynamite, Olsen-Banden (The Olsen Gang) and even Olsens Elleve (Olsen’s Eleven). The head coach of this team is Morten Olsen, with Peter Bonde and Torben Storm being the assistant coaches. Other than that, the captain of this team is Jon Dahl Tomasson. The most caps achieved by this team player is Peter Schmeichel with 129 caps, the top scorer of 52, being Poul “Tist” Nielsen. Other than the national team, Denmark is famous for its traveling fans known by the name, roligans.

Since mid 1980s, the team has been in a solidly competitive side in international football. Their most successful accomplishment was beating the European champions in the semi-finals and the world champions in the finals in 1992 European Championships. Moreover, the team even won the Confederations Cup in the year 1995 by defeating the opponent team Argentina by 2-0 in the finals. On 10th October, 2009, Denmark got qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup as they won the qualification group defeating Sweden. The players of the team are chosen by the national team manager. These players are assembled generally from their respective club teams in Elsinore for a week long training camp prior to any game. The games are played typically on a Wednesday or Saturday evening.

Though the country was weak in producing some outstanding football talent, they succeeded in achieving a bronze medal in the 1948 Olympics. During this period, most of the players moved abroad to make a living while some foreign based professionals were barred from the national team, which was common with other Scandinavian countries. In 1971, the national team rule of conviction got abolished leading to many other improvements in the performance of the team. By 1978, professional football got introduced to the leagues, prompting the first sponsorship of the team by Carlsberg, the Danish brewery, helping the team hire full time coach from Germany, Sepp Piontek in 1979.

In 1982, FIFA World Cup, this team finished with eight points from most of the games which includes a 3-1 victory against the World Cup champions, Italy. However, the Denmark team failed to qualify for the final match irrespective of their impressive results. With the Euro 1984, the team defeated England at the Wembley Stadium, with Allan Simonsen converting a penalty kick of 1-0 victory.

Since 1964, this team was known as Danish Dynamite in a competition for the official Danish Euro song in 1984. In 1986 FIFA World Cup, the team made their first World cup appearance. The second round saw this team playing against Spain, with the latter winning the game. In 1988 Euro tournament, the team lost to Italy, Germany and Spain and failed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

The team failed to qualify in 1994 FIFA World Cup. In 1995, they beat Argentina in the King Fahd Cup. In 1996 Euro, the team gave a disappointing act and was eliminated in the group stage. 1998 FIFA World cup saw the revival of this team, and got qualified to the knockout stages in the second place. Later on, Denmark team played some of the best football beating Nigeria 4-1 and getting qualified to the quarter final matches against Brazil. Gaining silver medals, this was an emotional game for them.

Major achievements

Denmark won their unofficial victory in 1906 Intercalated Olympics, finishing second in the first official tournament in 1908 Olympics. This was indeed an achievement for the team four years later in 1912 Olympics.

By 1960s, the team achieved their third set of Olympic silver at the 1960 Olympics, with their notable performance being noticed when they got placed in the fourth place in the Euro 1964. This team easily took advantage of an easy draw, beating Luxembourg and Malta prior to losing to the USSR in the semi finals and Hungary in the bronze game.

The team’s finest time came in the Euro 1992, having been placed in the second place in its group. Relying on their goal keeper, Peter Schmeichel and his defense, Brain Laudrup, the team created history and won the European Championship trophy under their coach Richard Moller Nielsen’s defensive playing style. In 1988 Euro champion, the team defeated the Dutch and won the 1990 FIFA World Cup champions, Germany, in the finals, the team won their first trophy.