Denmark national handball team

This article is about the men's handball team. For the women's national team, see Denmark women's national handball team.

Denmark
Shirt badge/Association crest
Information
Association	Danish Handball Association
Coach	Guðmundur Guðmundsson
Most caps	Lars Christiansen (338)
Most goals	Lars Christiansen (1503)
Colours
Home Away
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances	6 (First in 1972)
Best result	4th (1984)
World Championship
Appearances	21 (First in 1938)
Best result	2nd (1967, 2011, 2013)
European Championship
Appearances	11 (First in 1994)
Best result	1st (2008, 2012)
Last updated on Unknown.

Denmark national handball team

Medal record
World Championship
	1967 Sweden
	2011 Sweden
	2013 Spain
	2007 Germany
World Cup Field Handball
	1948 France
European Championship
	2008 Norway
	2012 Serbia
	2014 Denmark
	2002 Sweden
	2004 Slovenia
	2006 Switzerland

The Denmark national handball team is the national handball team of Denmark. Controlled by the Danish Handball Association it represents Denmark in international matches. They are the team with most medals won in European Championship history on the men's side with a total of six medals, those being two gold medals (2008, 2012), one silver (2014) and three bronze medals (2002, 2004 & 2006).

History

Handball is one of the most popular pastimes in Denmark, only exceeded by e.g. football. At the end of 2003 the Danish Handball Association had more than 146,000 active and passive members.

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 didn't succeed, losing matches to both Iceland and Croatia. In stead 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.

Competitive record

     Champions       Runners-up       Third Place       Fourth Place  

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	Not yet qualified
Total	6/12	0 Titles	36	17	3	16	820	815	+5

World Championships

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
Germany 1938	Semi Finals	4	3	0	0	3	6	20
Sweden 1954	Fifth place	5	3	1	0	2	44	45
East Germany 1958	Semi Finals	4	6	4	0	2	121	86
West Germany 1961	Fifth place	5	6	4	0	2	92	78
Czechoslovakia 1964	Seventh place	7	6	3	0	3	105	96
Sweden 1967	Runners Up	2	6	4	0	2	107	78
France 1970	Semi Finals	4	6	3	0	3	103	116
East Germany 1974	Second round	8	6	2	0	4	63	78
Denmark 1978	Semi Finals	4	6	4	1	1	114	101
West Germany 1982	Semi Finals	4	7	4	1	2	150	143
Switzerland 1986	Second round	8	7	3	0	4	152	160
Czechoslovakia 1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sweden 1993	Second round	9	7	2	2	3	145	156
Iceland 1995	Preliminary round	19	5	2	0	3	126	117
Japan 1997	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Egypt 1999	Round of 16	9	6	4	0	2	141	140
France 2001	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Portugal 2003	Second round	9	7	4	0	3	201	193
Tunisia 2005	Preliminary round	13	5	3	0	2	174	117
Germany 2007	Semi Finals	3	10	7	0	3	316	283
Croatia 2009	Semi Finals	4	10	7	0	3	298	258
Sweden 2011	Runners Up	2	10	9	0	1	334	256
Spain 2013	Runners Up	2	9	8	0	1	291	244
Qatar 2015	Quarterfinals	5	9	6	2	1	272	234
Total	21/24	0 Titles	140	84	*6	50	3355	2999

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

European Championship

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
Portugal 1994	Fourth place	4	7	3	1	3	150	152
Spain 1996	11th/12th Place	12	6	0	0	6	132	158
Italy 1998	Did not qualify
Croatia 2000	9th/10th Place	10	6	2	0	4	143	153
Sweden 2002	Third place	3	8	6	1	1	212	190
Slovenia 2004	Third place	3	8	6	0	2	240	206
Switzerland 2006	Third place	3	8	5	1	2	249	231
Norway 2008	Champion	1	8	7	0	1	233	193
Austria 2010	5th/6th Place	5	7	5	0	2	198	184
Serbia 2012	Champion	1	8	6	0	2	216	201
Denmark 2014	Second place	2	8	7	0	1	247	222
Poland 2016	Qualified
Total	11/12	2 titles	66	41	3	22	2020	1890

*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.

Team

Current squad

This is the squad for the Golden League.

Head coach: Guðmundur Guðmundsson

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 1 GK Niklas Landin Jacobsen (c) (1988-12-19) 19 December 1988 2.00 m 124 1 THW Kiel 3 RB Mads Christiansen (1986-05-03) 3 May 1986 1.94 m 89 200 Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 5 CB Mads Mensah Larsen (1991-08-12) 12 August 1991 1.88 m 48 106 Rhein-Neckar Löwen 6 LW Casper Ulrich Mortensen (1989-12-14) 14 December 1989 1.90 m 54 160 HSV Hamburg 7 LW Anders Eggert (1982-05-14) 14 May 1982 1.79 m 140 522 Flensburg-Handewitt 11 CB Rasmus Lauge Schmidt (1991-06-20) 20 June 1991 1.93 m 67 113 Flensburg-Handewitt 13 RB Nikolaj Ø. Nielsen (1986-09-26) 26 September 1986 1.94 m 11 29 Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 14 P Simon Hald Jensen (1994-09-28) 28 September 1994 2.03 m 1 0 Aalborg Håndbold 15 P Jesper Nøddesbo (1980-10-23) 23 October 1980 1.99 m 182 386 Barcelona 16 GK Jannick Green (1989-09-29) 29 September 1989 1.95 m 62 1 SC Magdeburg 17 RW Lasse Svan Hansen (1983-08-31) 31 August 1983 1.84 m 136 274 Flensburg-Handewitt 18 RW Hans Lindberg (1981-08-01) 1 August 1981 1.88 m 205 578 HSV Hamburg 19 P Rene Toft Hansen (1984-11-01) 1 November 1984 2.00 m 100 158 THW Kiel 20 GK Kevin Møller (1989-06-20) 20 June 1989 2.00 m 1 0 Flensburg-Handewitt 21 LB Henrik Møllgaard (1985-01-02) 2 January 1985 1.96 m 75 126 Paris Saint-Germain 23 P Henrik Toft Hansen (1986-12-18) 18 December 1986 2.00 m 62 122 Flensburg-Handewitt 24 LB Mikkel Hansen (1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 1.92 m 134 628 Paris Saint-Germain 25 CB Morten Olsen (1984-10-11) 11 October 1984 1.84 m 32 90 TSV Hannover-Burgdorf 27 LB Michael Damgaard (1990-03-18) 18 March 1990 1.92 m 11 23 SC Magdeburg 29 RB Peter Balling Christensen (1986-04-11) 11 April 1986 1.90 m 1 4 Team Tvis Holstebro P Jacob Bagersted (1987-03-25) 25 March 1987 1.96 m 29 44 SC Magdeburg CB Allan Damgaard (1986-04-11) 11 April 1986 1.85 m 2 1 HSV Hamburg

Player statistics

Most capped players

#	Player	Games	Position	Years
1	Lars Christiansen	338	W
	Michael V. Knudsen	244	P
	Bo Spellerberg	243	CB
	Erik Veje Rasmussen	233
	Kasper Hvidt	219	GK
	Anders Dahl-Nielsen	209
	Hans Lindberg	211	W
	Kasper Nielsen	191	D, OB
	Joachim Boldsen	186	CB
	Morten Bjerre	185	OB	1992-2005
	Jesper Nøddesbo	178	P
	Kasper Søndergaard	156	OB
	Nikolaj Jacobsen	148	W
	Anders Eggert	140	W
	Lars Krogh Jeppesen	135	OB	1998-2008
	Lasse Svan Hansen	134	W
	Mikkel Hansen	132	OB
	Niklas Landin Jakobsen	120	GK
	Rene Toft Hansen	103	P
20	Mads Christiansen	92	OB

Top scorers

#	Player	Goals	Average	Position	Years
1	Lars Christiansen	1503	4.45	W
2	Erik Veje Rasmussen	1015	4.37
	Michael V. Knudsen	795	3.26	P
	Mikkel Hansen	644		OB
	Anders Dahl-Nielsen	610	2.92
	Nikolaj Jacobsen	584	3.95	W
	Hans Lindberg	578		W
	Anders Eggert	522		W
	Morten Bjerre	432	2.34	OB	1992-2005
	Joachim Boldsen	405	2.18	CB
	Lars Krogh Jeppesen	384	2.84	OB	1998-2008
	Jesper Nøddesbo	376		P
	Kasper Søndergaard	339		OB
	Bo Spellerberg	332		CB
	Kasper Nielsen	289	1.51	D, OB
	Lasse Svan Hansen	265		W
	Mads Christiansen	207		OB

Kit suppliers

Between 2004 to 2006, Denmark's kits were supplied by Adidas. They were replaced by Puma in 2007 and have since supplied Denmark's kits to today.

External links

• Official website
• IHF profile

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Mads Rasmussen & Rasmus Quist Hansen	Danish Sports Name of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Lotte Friis