Under-21 Group D: Denmark vs Finland facts

Neighbours Denmark and Finland renew acquaintances on the final day of action in UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group D as they meet at the Košice Football Arena.

Denmark are already through to the quarter-finals having beaten Ukraine 3-2 and Netherlands 2-1; Finland are on one point, level with the Dutch and two behind Ukraine, letting slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Netherlands on Matchday 1 before losing 0-2 to Ukraine.

Previous European U21 Championship meetings

Matches 8
Denmark wins 6
Finland wins 2
Draws 0
Denmark goals 16
Finland goals 5

Denmark beat Finland 1-0 away and 2-1 at home in the 2021 qualifying competition, making it four successive competitive victories in the fixture with ten goals scored and only one conceded. They had also won 5-0 in Helsinki and 2-0 in Aalborg in the 2019 preliminaries.

Finland reached the 2009 finals having won both their qualifiers against the Danes, 1-0 in Aalborg on 6 June 2007 with Tim Sparv scoring the only goal and 2-1 in Turku on 5 September 2008.

Denmark won 1-0 in Finland and 4-1 at home in the 1988 qualifying competition.

The teams have not played a U21 friendly since Finland came from behind to win 2-1 in Kotka on 1 June 2005.

Form guide

Denmark

Denmark have qualified for the final tournament for the seventh time – and the fifth in the last six editions.

The Danes missed out on the 2023 finals, finishing second behind Belgium in their qualifying section before losing 5-4 on penalties to Croatia after a 3-3 aggregate draw in the play-offs.

Semi-finalists in 1992 and 2015, Denmark reached the quarter-finals on their last appearance in 2021, losing 6-5 on penalties to eventual champions Germany after a 2-2 draw.

In charge since January 2023, Steffen Højer guided Denmark to first place in Group I in qualifying for these finals (W5 D2 L1), three points clear of both Czechia and Wales.

Mathias Kvistgaarden and Oliver Sørensen were Denmark's top scorers in qualifying on three goals.

Denmark have won their last seven group matches, the 2-1 win against Netherlands last time out ending a run of four successive clean sheets.

Finland

Finland's sole previous finals appearance came in 2009, when they lost all three games in a group also including England (1-2), Germany (0-2) and Spain (0-2).

The Finns were third in their qualifying section behind Norway and Croatia as they missed out on the 2023 finals.

This time round, a team coached by Mika Lehkosuo – appointed in January 2023 – claimed 20 points, Finland's record tally, to finish second in Group E behind Romania (W6 D2 L2). They then beat Norway 6-3 on aggregate in the play-offs (5-1 h, 1-2 a).

Otso Liimatta was Finland's top scorer in qualifying with seven goals.

Finland are without a win in their last five final tournament matches (D1 L4), conceding two goals in all of them.

Links and trivia

Has played in Denmark:
Leo Walta (Nordsjælland 2019–24, HB Køge 2023 loan)