Under-21 quarter-final: Denmark vs France facts
Thursday, June 19, 2025
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Previous meetings, form guides and key facts ahead of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship match.
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The Tatran Arena in Presov is the venue as Denmark face France in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship quarter-finals.
Denmark finished top of Group D with seven points, three more than Netherlands, having concluded with a 2-2 draw against Finland in which they had led 2-0. They had beaten Ukraine (3-2) and Netherlands (2-1) in their first two fixtures.
France were second to Portugal in Group C after both teams had also finished on seven points, opening with a 0-0 draw against the eventual section winners before two late goals – including a 102nd-minute winner from Thierno Barry – earned a 3-2 victory against Georgia, Poland subsequently beaten 4-1.
The winners of this tie will play Germany or Italy in the semi-finals in Košice on 25 June.
Previous European U21 Championship meetings
Matches 1
Denmark wins 1
France wins 0
Draws 0
Denmark goals 1
France goals 0
The teams last met in a friendly in Nancy on 7 September 2023, France running out 4-1 winners with Elye Wahi scoring twice. Johann Lepenant and Rayan Cherki were also on target for the home side, substitute Christian Kjelder scoring a late consolation for Denmark.
The sides' sole previous competitive meeting came on Matchday 1 of the 2021 finals, Denmark substitute Anders Dreyer giving his side a 1-0 win – although both teams would progress to the quarter-finals, the Danes as Group C winners with maximum points and France as runners-up having won their other two games.
France and Denmark have been regular friendly opponents, meeting in four other matches since first crossing paths in 2007. An Oliver Abildgaard Nielsen goal gave Denmark a 1-0 win in Brest on 24 March 2019.
France were 3-1 victors in Tours on 21 March 2013, Lucas Digne's early opener cancelled out by Nicolai Brock-Madsen before Florian Thauvin (40) and Abdoulaye Doucouré (83) ensured the home side prevailed.
It was also 3-1 to France at the Aalborg Stadion on 12 October 2010 thanks to goals from David N'Gog and Morgan Schneiderlin either side of an Andreas Bjelland own goal two minutes after Nicki Bille Nielsen had levelled at 1-1 for the home side.
Two late Dimitri Payet goals (83, 90) had given France another 3-1 victory in that first game, in Le Mans on 23 March 2007. Michael Jakobsen gave visitors Denmark a lead that was cancelled out by Mamadou Samassa before half-time.
Jean-Mattéo Bahoya opened the scoring in France's 4-2 defeat of Denmark in the 2024 UEFA European Under-19 Championship group stage. Thomas Jørgensen was in the Denmark line-up.
Denmark had beaten France 2-1 in the U19 qualifying round in November 2023, Oscar Højlund getting the winning goal.
A Loum Tchaouna strike was not enough to prevent France suffering a 2-3 friendly defeat against Denmark in February 2020.
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.
The draw with Finland ended Denmark's run of seven successive group wins, the 2-1 win against Netherlands on Matchday 2 ending a run of four clean sheets in a row.
Denmark are in the quarter-finals for the fifth time (W1 L3). They were beaten by Bulgaria on away goals in 1978 (4-1 h, 0-3 a), England in 1986 (0-1 h, 1-1 a) and, most recently, Germany in 2021 (2-2 aet, 5-6 pens), their sole win against Poland in 1992 (5-0 h, 1-1 a).
France
France are in the knockout rounds for the sixth time since the final tournament was introduced in 1998. They have won only one of their five previous ties, beating hosts Switzerland 2-0 in the 2002 semi-final but losing the five most recent.
France's quarter-final record is W3 L5. They lost their first three ties, the last of them against Spain in 1986 (1-3 h, 1-3 a), but had won three in a row before losing 2-1 to Netherlands in 2021. That was their first quarter-final since the 1996 victory against Germany (0-0 a, 4-1 h); they were beaten 1-3 by Ukraine at this stage two years ago.
Champions in 1988 with a squad including Laurent Blanc, Eric Cantona, Franck Sauzée and Jocelyn Angloma, this is France's eighth appearance in the final tournament and fourth in a row.
Having missed out for six successive tournaments from 2007 onwards, France got to the semi-finals on their return in 2019 and the quarter-finals two years later. France have now qualified six times since a group stage was introduced in 2000 and have reached the knockout rounds on each occasion.
In 2023, a team coached by Sylvain Ripoll finished first in Group D, winning all three games, scoring seven goals and conceding two, before losing 3-1 to Ukraine in the last eight.
France kicked off qualifying for the 2025 finals under Thierry Henry, Gérald Baticle taking over in August 2024.
Les Bleuets were second to Slovenia in qualifying Group H (W5 D1 L2), progressing as one of the three best runners-up.
Arnaud Kalimuendo was France's top scorer in qualifying with four goals.
Links and trivia
Have played together:
Oliver Provstgaard & Loum Tchaouna (Lazio 2025–)
Oscar Højlund & Jean-Mattéo Bahoya (Eintracht Frankfurt 2024–)