Denmark has a fine football tradition dating back to 1889 when their FA was founded.
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Overview
The objectives of the Danish Football Association (DBU) can be broken down into three areas:
1. Winning – national teams qualifying for EURO finals and the FIFA World Cup (men and women), as well clubs performing well in European club competitions (men and women).
2. Children – overarching mission of having the ‘world’s best football for children’.
3. Together – a commitment to working together, from the association through to the leagues, players, coaches, men and women, east and west Denmark.
UEFA support
UEFA’s HatTrick programme, which channels EURO funds into football development across Europe, has allowed the DBU to keep more young players actively playing the game thanks to the appointment of a team of 16 club advisors.
Spread across the breadth of Denmark, these specialists work with grassroots clubs, delivering training programmes for coaches and volunteers to ensure young players are receiving quality guidance in a safe environment and increasing the number of boys and girls playing the sport.
By providing the right conditions for children and teenagers to enjoy the game, the DBU is able to raise grassroots standards and keep more players involved into adulthood.
UEFA Foundation for Children in Denmark
Set up in 2015, the UEFA foundation uses football as a vehicle to help improve children’s lives by supporting hundreds of campaigns and projects across Europe and around the world.
Sport's potential power as a social tool has become increasingly recognised by the EU thanks to its ability to promote values such as teamwork, respect, diversity, equality of opportunity and fair play.
Football for Unity is a pan-European project, co-funded by the EU, streetfootballworld and the European Football for Development Network (EFDN), which uses football to help improve the lives of refugees and third-country nationals in seven UEFA EURO 2020 host cities, including Copenhagen.
The initiative, which will run during the tournament, will include football-focused activities that provide a pathway into the community for those who have previously struggled to integrate due to cultural differences, language barriers or social stigmas.
Timeline
Association history
1889Founded on 18 May 1889, the Dansk Boldspil-Union (DBU) is the first national football association in mainland Europe. At the time, only one of the 20 clubs in Copenhagen is dedicated exclusively to football.1929Although a Danish championship is played in 1913, it is not until 1929/30 that a full-blown league is organised with ten sides in the first division.1936A second division is added, with a third tier following in 1945.1954Dane Ebbe Schwartz becomes the first president of UEFA. A man of great diplomacy with an international education, the former AB Copenhagen goalkeeper steers the organisation skilfully through its early years.1958Structural modifications see the domestic autumn/spring season change to a calendar-year format, ending in November, with the three divisions expanding to 12 teams each.1971With the domestic game still amateur, the DBU begins to accept foreign-based professionals in the national team.1977Allan Simonsen is crowned European Footballer of the Year as the Danes begin to exert more of an international influence.1992The Danish Superliga launches and, immediately, the campaign reverts to autumn/spring. The first five years of this new-look competition produce five different champions, confirming a renewed spread of power in the national game.1994The national stadium is selected to host the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup final, with England's Arsenal defeating Italy's Parma 1-0.2000Arsenal return to Parken for the UEFA Cup final, but are beaten on penalties by Galatasaray of Turkey.2016The Superliga is expanded to 14 teams for the 2016/17 season.2021Copenhagen's Parken hosts four matches at UEFA EURO 2020.Present day
National team history
1960Denmark take an Olympic silver medal, losing out to Yugoslavia after reaching to the final with a win over Hungary and having navigated their way through a group including Argentina, Poland and Tunisia. It is a first official honour for the Danes, despite actually winning an unofficial Olympic tournament in Athens in 1906.1984A talented Denmark squad go all the way to the UEFA European Championship semi-finals, only losing out to Spain on penalties.1986They back that up by reaching their first FIFA World Cup tournament, topping a group that includes finalists West Germany before losing to Spain in the round of 16.1991Denmark is chosen to host the UEFA European Women's Championship, the hosts finishing third behind Norway and champions Germany, defeating Italy in the third place play-off.1992Despite not qualifying for the tournament, Denmark's men replace Yugoslavia at UEFA EURO '92 at late notice, and shock the whole of Europe by going on to win the tournament. A series of stylish displays culminates in a rearguard effort to beat world champions Germany 2-0 in the final.1993It's third again for the women at EURO, this time beating Germany after losing to Norway for the second successive tournament.1995Denmark win the FIFA Confederations Cup, beating Argentina in the final in Saudi Arabia.1998In France, Denmark reach the World Cup quarter-finals, the men's best performance so far on the global stage, having failed to qualify for 1994.2017Denmark's women reach the final of UEFA Women's EURO 2017, but despite taking an early lead are beaten 4-2 by hosts Netherlands.2018Pernille Harder is named the UEFA Women's Player of the Year, claiming the honour a second time in 2020.2021Denmark overcome the loss of Christian Eriksen in the group stage to make the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-finals only to lose out in extra time to England at Wembley.Present day
