Denmark national handball team

2007 World Championship

In 2007 Denmark participated in the World Championship in Germany, where they were pitted in Group E against Angola, Hungary and their neighbors to the north Norway. Denmark finished second in their group following victories against Angola and Norway. In the main round the team faced Croatia, Czech Republic, Russia, Hungary and defending champions Spain.

Despite an initial defeat against Croatia, the team advanced by defeating their last three opponents. In the quarterfinal Iceland was defeated by the narrowest of margins, 42-41. In the semifinal Denmark lost to Poland 36-33 and ended up in the bronze match against France where they won 34-27 thus placing third.

Denmark's pivot Michael V. Knudsen was added to the All Star Team of the tournament.

2008 European Championship

After finishing 3rd in three consecutive European Championships, the Danish team won gold at the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship, which took place in neighboring Norway. The team lost only one match on the way to the gold, that being a fiercely contested derby against hosts Norway. The Danish team defeated Croatia 24-20 in the final, after inching out Germany in the semis. Keeper Kasper Hvidt and winger Lars Christiansen were important factors in the Danish campaign, both being selected for the tournament all-star team and Lars Christiansen also finishing as shared top goalscorer.

2010 European Championship

As defending champions, Denmark was a favorite to reclaim the title. However, they did not succeed, losing matches to both Iceland and Croatia. Instead of advancing to the main-round Denmark ended up playing for 5th place against Spain. They won the placement match 34-27.

2011 World Championship

At The 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, after winning 9 matches in a row, Denmark reached the final beating Spain 28:24 in the semi-final. This was the first time in over 44 years, that the Denmark National Handball Team reached a World Championship final. In the final, Denmark lost against France 35:37 in overtime. This meant at the time, that France was able to hold all three major titles as reigning European Champions, Olympic Champions and also double World Champions.

2012 European Championship

Denmark came to the 2012 European Men's Handball Championship as vice World Champions and as one of the pre-favorites to win the tournament. However, in the main group, Denmark lost to both Serbia and Poland, proceeding to the main round with zero points, having only won against Slovakia. This meant that Denmark had to win all of their matches and at the same time, they had to rely on other results in order to advance to the semi-finals. Miraculously, results from other matches were in favor of Denmark. The destiny of Denmark's survival lay in the hands of Poland as Poland had to win against Germany in order to sustain Denmark's survival in the tournament. After a fierce and close match between Poland and Germany, Poland won 33-32. This meant that Denmark only had to beat Sweden in their final main round match, and they would go through to the semi-finals. Denmark beat Sweden by a large margin, 31-24, making handball history along the way, becoming the first team ever, both on the men's and women's side in European Championship history to advance to the semi-finals having carried zero points into the main round.

Like the 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, Denmark met Spain in the semi-finals, a match Denmark won 25-24. In the other semi-final, hosting nation Serbia met Croatia, a match Serbia won 26-22.

In a low scoring match, Denmark won their second European Championship title after beating Serbia 21-19 in the final, thus becoming the first handball team ever claiming the European Championship title having carried zero points into the main round.

2013 World Championship

Despite having disappointed at the 2012 Olympics in London, Denmark was still among the top teams to win the World Champions title. As defending European Champions, Denmark was seated with Russia, Iceland, Macedonia, Qatar and Chile in Group B. Winning all of their matches, they advanced safely to the 16th round where they had to meet Tunisia. Having no problems defeating Tunisia with the score of 30-23, Denmark reached the Quarterfinals where Hungary awaited. After a splendid first half, leading 18-11, the second half was a more close affair, though Denmark managed to win 28-26, reaching the semi-finals for the second consecutive time in this tournament. In the semi-finals, Denmark was seated with Croatia who had beaten the defending World Champions, France, in their semi-final. Though the odds where in favor of Croatia, Denmark played their best match in the 2013 World Championship so far, winning 30-24 and securing their second consecutive World Championship final.

In the final, Denmark was up against hosting nation, Spain. The final became a horrendous game for Denmark, losing with a record-breaking 16 goals, and losing the title for the second time in a row, with Spain declared as winner of the tournament for the second time in history.

2014 European Championship

As vice world champions, defending European Champions and the advantage of home court, Denmark were among the favorites to win the tournament. They won all of the matches in the preliminary round as well as the main round easily advancing to the semi-finals. Denmark met Croatia in the semi-final. They beat Croatia, 29-27, but lost to the French national team in the finals, losing 41-32. This was the second time in a row, that Denmark lost a Championship, losing to Spain at the 2013 World Championship.

Olympic Games

The team did not participate in the 1936 field handball tournament at the Olympics, but lost at the 1952 Olympics in a demonstration match against Sweden.

Games	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1936 Berlin	Did not participate
Not held from 1948 to 1968
1972 Munich	Match for 13th place	13th of 16	5	2	1	2	78	78	0
1976 Montreal	Match for 7th place	8th of 11	5	2	0	3	113	127	−14
1980 Moscow	Match for 9th place	9th of 12	6	2	0	4	124	124	0
1984 Los Angeles	Fourth Place	4th of 12	6	4	0	2	134	122	+12
1988 Seoul	Did not qualify
1992 Barcelona
1996 Atlanta
2000 Sydney
2004 Athens
2008 Beijing	Match for 7th place	7th of 12	8	3	2	3	225	211	+14
2012 London	Quarter-finals	6th of 12	6	4	0	2	146	153	−7
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Champion	1st of 12	8	6	0	2	230	211	+19
Total	7/13	1 Title	44	23	3	18	1050	1026	+24

World Championships

World Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1938	Semi Finals	4	3	0	0	3	6	20
1954	Fifth place	5	3	1	0	2	44	45
1958	Semi Finals	4	6	4	0	2	121	86
1961	Fifth place	5	6	4	0	2	92	78
1964	Seventh place	7	6	3	0	3	105	96
1967	Runners-up	2	6	4	0	2	107	78
1970	Semi Finals	4	6	3	0	3	103	116
1974	Second round	8	6	2	0	4	63	78
1978	Semi Finals	4	6	4	1	1	114	101
1982	Semi Finals	4	7	4	1	2	150	143
1986	Second round	8	7	3	0	4	152	160
1990	Did not qualify
1993	Second round	9	7	2	2	3	145	156
1995	Preliminary round	19	5	2	0	3	126	117
1997	Did not qualify
1999	Round of 16	9	6	4	0	2	141	140
2001	Did not qualify
2003	Second round	9	7	4	0	3	201	193
2005	Preliminary round	13	5	3	0	2	174	117
2007	Semi Finals	3	10	7	0	3	316	283
2009	Semi Finals	4	10	7	0	3	298	258
2011	Runners-up	2	10	9	0	1	334	256
2013	Runners-up	2	9	8	0	1	291	244
2015	Quarterfinals	5	9	6	2	1	272	234
2017	Round of 16	10	6	5	0	1	182	157
/ 2019	Qualified
Total	23/26	0 Titles	145	89	*6	51	3537	3154

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided in a penalty shootout.

European Championship

European Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1994	Fourth place	4	7	3	1	3	150	152
1996	11th/12th Place	12	6	0	0	6	132	158
1998	Did not qualify
2000	9th/10th Place	10	6	2	0	4	143	153
2002	Third place	3	8	6	1	1	212	190
2004	Third place	3	8	6	0	2	240	206
2006	Third place	3	8	5	1	2	249	231
2008	Champion	1	8	7	0	1	233	193
2010	5th/6th Place	5	7	5	0	2	198	184
2012	Champion	1	8	6	0	2	216	201
2014	Runners-up	2	8	7	0	1	247	222
2016	5th/6th Place	6	7	4	1	2	194	180
2018	Fourth place	4	8	5	0	3	235	205
Total	12/13	2 titles	81	50	4	27	2449	2275

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided in a penalty shootout.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Current squad

The squad chosen for the 2018 European Men's Handball Championship.^[1][2]

Matches and goals are correct as of 12 January 2018.^[3]

Head coach: Nikolaj Jacobsen

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 1 GK Niklas Landin Jacobsen (1988-12-19) 19 December 1988 2.01 m 174 6 THW Kiel 3 RB Niclas Kirkeløkke (1994-03-26) 26 March 1994 1.95 m 16 25 GOG Håndbold 4 LW Magnus Landin Jacobsen (1995-08-20) 20 August 1995 1.96 m 27 55 KIF Kolding 6 LW Casper Ulrich Mortensen (1989-12-14) 14 December 1989 1.90 m 102 278 TSV Hannover-Burgdorf 11 CB Rasmus Lauge Schmidt (1991-06-20) 20 June 1991 1.93 m 90 156 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 14 P Anders Zachariassen (1991-09-04) 4 September 1991 1.92 m 12 24 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 16 GK Jannick Green (1988-09-29) 29 September 1988 1.95 m 99 2 SC Magdeburg 17 RW Lasse Svan Hansen (1983-08-31) 31 August 1983 1.99 m 183 421 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 18 RW Hans Lindberg (1981-08-01) 1 August 1981 1.85 m 248 688 Füchse Berlin 19 P Rene Toft Hansen (1984-11-01) 1 November 1984 2.00 m 128 193 THW Kiel 20 GK Kevin Møller (1989-06-20) 20 June 1989 2.00 m 19 2 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 21 LB Henrik Møllgaard (1985-01-02) 2 January 1985 2.00 m 120 160 Paris Saint-Germain 22 CB Mads Mensah Larsen (1991-08-12) 12 August 1991 1.96 m 93 194 Rhein-Neckar Löwen 23 P Henrik Toft Hansen (1986-12-18) 18 December 1986 2.00 m 104 192 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 24 LB Mikkel Hansen (1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 1.92 m 178 834 Paris Saint-Germain 25 CB Morten Olsen (1984-10-11) 11 October 1984 1.84 m 62 160 TSV Hannover-Burgdorf 27 LB Michael Damgaard (1990-03-18) 18 March 1990 1.92 m 61 144 SC Magdeburg 42 RB Peter Balling (1990-04-05) 5 April 1990 1.88 m 21 37 TTH Holstebro

Statistics