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Denmark

Denmark have a long, proud record in women's football and although they are yet to win a major senior title, they are rarely missing from the big final tournaments.

Denmark
Denmark ©Getty Images

Denmark are fixtures at this level of the game and in Sweden are hoping to put right their recent reputation as a nation who always qualify but then seldom progress at final tournaments.

UEFA Women's EURO 2009 was a good example, as they lost their last game to the Netherlands when a draw would have taken them through to the knockout stages, a similar scenario to their defeat by Finland four years earlier. They have been in the last four on four occasions, and made four out of six FIFA Women's World Cups, and now hope a new generation, inspired by the likes of Cathrine Paaske-Sørensen, can improve on that.

Denmark were quick to make their mark on women's football by winning the inaugural, unofficial world championship in 1970. Led by captain Lis Lene Nielsen and inspired by goal-hungry 15-year-old Susanne Augustesen, Denmark were the world's dominant force, a fact they reiterated by repeating the feat in 1971

Qualifying round: Group 7 winners, P8 W7 D0 L1 F28 A3 Pts21

Key players
Sanne Troelsgaard (midfielder, Brøndby IF), Johanna Rasmussen (forward, Kristianstad DFF), Pernille Harder (forward, Linköping FC)

Coach: Kenneth Heiner-Møller

Date of birth: 17 January 1971

Playing career: Ølstykke FC, Ferencvárosi TC, B93 København, AGF Århus, Vejle BK

Coaching career: B93 København Under-18, Brøndby IF U18, Brøndby IF women, Denmark

Kenneth Heiner-Møller is a busy man. Not only does has he coached the Denmark women's team since 2006, but he also works part-time as a psychologist and is a teacher at a sports school.

Taking his current surname from his wife after they married, Heiner-Møller was known as Kenneth Rasmussen during his playing career as a midfielder, beginning at youth level with B 1903 København and then at senior level with second division Ølstykke FC. In 1994, he made the rare move from Denmark to Hungary with Ferencvárosi TC, winning the league as well as two national cups in a short spell. Returning home with B 1903, he went on to play for AGF Århus and Vejle BK, taking his tally of Danish league games to 250 before becoming a coach in 2002.

His first role was with the B93 København Under-18 side and he then had two years in charge of Brøndby IF's team at the same age group, before a 2005 switch to lead the club's female section. Heiner-Møller enjoyed immediate success with a domestic double and run to the UEFA Women's Cup quarter-finals.

In July 2006, he was appointed Denmark women's coach after Peter Bonde switched to become assistant for the men's team. After taking his charges to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, only just missing out on the quarter-finals and an Olympic berth, Heiner-Møller successfully steered his side through qualifying for UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009 and 2013. He will step down after the finals to become CEO of development of national coaches and sportsdirectors within Team Danmark, and organisation which supports and finances elite sport in Denmark.

Qualifying top scorer
Pernille Harder: 9

Tournament record
2009: group stage
2005: group stage
2001: semi-finals
1997: group stage
1995: quarter-finals
1993: third place
1991: third place
1989: quarter-finals
1987: did not qualify
1984: semi-finals

Other honours
1998 UEFA European Women's Under-18 Championship