As in so many aspects of their life, the Danish are PASSIONATE about their football. Whilst attendances are in general much lower than in leagues of comparable levels in the UK, that does not stop the average Dane being very knowledgeable and passionate about their local club. Yes, their local club, as Danes are much less fickle than British fans and it is the norm to follow your local team and/or the team of your parents.
The Danish football pyramid is topped by SAS Ligaen where for the past 15 years Aab, Brondby and F.C.Copenhagen have been “top dogs”.
One club I have a soft spot for is FC Randers and their excellent site is also in English. Please support them if you have a chance.
Many of the Danish teams have supported Bjørn Heidenstrm on his epic journey.
Whilst this is undoubtedly not one of the stronger leagues in Europe and many of the best young Danes leave their homeland to ply their trade at a higher level the national side can perhaps be considered over-achievers. They have qualified for World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Admittedly they were not in one of the stronger qualifying groups and an horrendous goalkeeping mistake in Parken by the hapless Swedish keeper secured their passage.
As a national side, Denmark really came to the fore with the Danish Dynamite era
In the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Denmark finished with 8 points from as many games, including a 3-1 win against eventual World Cup champions Italy, but Denmark failed to qualify for the final tournament despite the impressive result. Qualification for the Euro 1984 saw the team beat England 1-0. Denmark qualified for their first international tournament since 1964, and the team was dubbed “Danish Dynamite” in a competition for the official Danish Euro 1984 song. Denmark’s participation ended in the semi-final when the team lost on penalties to Spain. Following the strong performance at the finals, the name of “Danish Dynamite” became a mainstay for the following decade of Danish national team football under German coach Piontek.

The Danish team at the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Denmark made their first World Cup appearance in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and with the attacking duo of Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjær the team surprised the world, sweeping the group, including a 6-1 thrashing of Uruguay. In the second round Denmark once again faced Spain, and once more Denmark lost out. The team received a trashing of their own, losing 5-1, including four goals by Butragueno. The first Spanish goal was caused by a miss-timed backpass by Jesper Olsen – an unfortunate action subsequently coined as “a real Jesper Olsen” (en rigtig Jesper Olsen). The phrase would live on for 13 years when an identical backpass was carried out by Gronkjær^[4]
After the glory days of 1986 came a period of transition with faltering results. The Euro 1988 tournament ended in early defeat as Denmark lost the group games to Spain, Germany, and Italy. When Denmark failed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup Sepp Piontek was replaced by his assistant coach Richard Møller Nielsen.
Their glory years were in the early 1990s with the triumph in the 1992 European Championships (Euro 1992) tournament as its most prominent victory, beating the the European champions in the semi-final, and the world champions in the final . They also won the Confederations Cup in 1995 defeating Argentina 2-0 in the final.
Best players of all time
In November 2006, the Danish Football Association nominated eight Danish national team footballers for the “Best Danish Footballer of All Time” award. The public could vote for the nominated players through the TV2 broadcasting channel, and Michael Laudrup won the award with 58% of the votes.^[17]