Denmark national football team

The Denmark national football team represents Denmark is international. It is controlled by the Dansk Boldspil-Union.

Denmark is one of eight nations that have won the FIFA World Cup with their first (and only) title being in 1914 when they defeating England at England in extra time which shocked the football world.

Amateur status
Amateur football was in Denmark for the first half of the 20th century which led to problems later on. The first official Olympics football tournament for Denmark was a gold medal after the late withdrawal of the Great Britain team. This included a 17-1 win over France which at the time was the biggest football win in history. They were expected to be one of the favourites for the 1910 FIFA World Cup held in Austria. After knocking off Scotland, they lost to Argentina in the quarter-finals.

After finishing in the bronze medal position at the next Olympics. They were expected to be knocked out in the group stage of the 1914 FIFA World Cup held in England. But after they finished top of Pool B, they would surprise the football world as they defeated Norway and Italy to meet the English in the final. After the normal time ended at 2-2, extra time had to be played and two goals from and  helped Denmark take their first (and to date only) World Cup, 4-2.

With the first World War over, Denmark struggled to get into an international football tournament with them winning their second Nordic Football Championship in 1918 which would be their last successful tournament win until 1938. The team struggled to get it through to the World Cup after three qualifying rounds that they didn't get through. In the 1938 edition, they finished on top of the group in qualifying before bundling out in the first round by Brazil in a replay.

The next two tournaments for the Danish would end in first round eliminations. At the 1948 Summer Olympics, the Danes lost to Egypt in extra time when scoring a late goal in the 114th minute to knock out the Danes. After only scraping through to the 1950 FIFA World Cup by a virtual of a playoff against Luxembourg, they got the luxury of playing at home after the DBU and the SvFF agreed to host matches held at Denmark. Not that this helped them much with only three points (a win against Costa Rica and a draw against Spain to finish in third place for Group D.

The next major tournament would see them losing to Greece in the first round of the 1952 Olympics, the team would just miss out on qualifying for the 1954 FIFA World Cup with ending the Danish hopes and sending Portugal to their second WC.

FIFA World Cup
Gold  Silver   Bronze