Denmark World Cup 2018 profile: Ones to watch, best bets and more
Find out about Denmark's World Cup history, fun facts and squad profile ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Denmark Factfile
- FIFA World Ranking: 12
- Sky Bet outright winner odds: 80/1
- Best Bet: Christian Eriksen Denmark's top scorer at 2/1
- World Cup appearances: 4
- Best World Cup finish: Quarter-finals (1998)
- Nickname: De Rød-Hvide (The Red-White); Danish Dynamite
Coach – Aage Hareide: A former Norway international defender is in charge of his fellow Scandinavian nation, and he has the tough task of replacing Danish legend and the country's longest-serving coach, Morten Olsen.
Legend – Peter Schmeichel: Led Denmark to their finest hour in football as they stepped off the beach to win Euro 92 as stand-ins for a banned Yugoslavia. Schmeichel was a colossus for the Danes in that tournament, but also for Manchester United in club football as he became the best goalkeeper in the world while at Old Trafford.
Star Man – Christian Eriksen: The Spurs man has been outstanding for Denmark in qualifying - they'd be nowhere without his remarkable return of 11 goals during the campaign, including a hat-trick in the play-off against the Irish.
Did you know? Denmark were given less than a week’s notice of their participation in Euro 92 after Yugoslavia were banned from participating due to civil war and UN sanctions, making their success one of the most remarkable in football history.
Fun Fact: Denmark have never scored a World Cup finals goal from outside of the box, with all 27 efforts coming from inside the area - Eriksen may change that this year as six of his 11 goals in qualifying came from outside the box.
Qualifying: It did not go smoothly for the Danes under new coach Hareide as they finished behind Poland in Group E and needed to go into the play-offs. A 5-1 aggregate victory over the Republic of Ireland, though, saw them emphatically book their spot in Russia.
Group C fixtures: Peru (5pm, June 16, Saransk), Australia (1pm, June 21, Samara), France (3pm, June 26, Moscow)
Denmark squad
Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester), Frederik Ronnow (Brondby), Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield).
Defenders: Simon Kjaer (Sevilla), Mathias Jorgensen (Huddersfield), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Henrik Dalsgaard (Brentford), Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jens Stryger Larsen (Udinese), Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich).
Midfielders: Christian Eriksen (Tottenham), Lasse Schone (Ajax), Michael Krohn-Dehli (Deportivo La Coruna), Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen), William Kvist (FC Copenhagen), Lukas Lerager (Bordeaux).
Forwards: Andreas Cornelius (Atalanta), Kasper Dolberg (Ajax), Martin Braithwaite (Bordeaux), Nicolai Jorgensen (Feyenoord), Pione Sisto (Celta Vigo), Viktor Fischer (FC Copenhagen), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig).
Denmark Profile
They may be second-favourites to progress to the knock-out stages, but Denmark find themselves as 80/1 longshots to lift the World Cup.
They line-up in Group C alongside France, Peru and Australia and can be found at 4/6 to qualify to the next round.
Denmark last lined up at a World Cup in 2010 when they were knocked out at the group stage behind the Netherlands and Japan.
They have made it out of the World Cup group stages three times in four attempts and they usually have a result in their matches - only two of their 16 games at the finals have ended in draws.
The Danes should have enough to progress to the knockout stages, and will be hopeful of causing an upset by pipping France to top spot.
Who to watch out for
The Denmark team possesses a wealth of talent but Christian Eriksen will be their main hope in Russia.
The Tottenham midfielder is a top-class player who stars for his club in the Premier League. He scored a devastating hat-trick away at the Republic of Ireland in their qualification play-off as the Danes went through in style.
Elsewhere, Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is set to be the starting goalkeeper, with Huddersfield defender Zanka (Mathias Jorgensen) also a likely part of the squad.
Former Cardiff striker Andreas Cornelius has also featured in qualifying. The 25-year-old has scored six goals for Italian outfit Atalanta this season.
How did they qualify?
Denmark finished runners-up in UEFA Group E qualifying and had to settle for a play-off victory over the Republic of Ireland.
Poland won the group, sitting five points clear of Denmark. The Danes did finish four points in front of Montenegro who were in third.
They were the third-best second-placed side, and the draw saw them face the Irish in November 2017.
Denmark drew the first leg 0-0 in Copenhagen before a Christian Eriksen-inspired performance fired them through with a 5-1 victory in Dublin.
Any interesting facts about Denmark?
You will see the Danish flag plenty of times during the World Cup - it's the oldest state flag in the world still in use by an independent nation, first acknowledged in 1219.
LEGO was invented in Denmark, and they will be hoping to build on qualification success by advancing to the knock-out stages.
Heading to Russia? The Danish fans might seem quite friendly. The UN World Happiness Report has rated Danes as the happiest people on Earth two years in a row.
The Danish language has no word for ‘please’, but they have found other ways to express høflighed (courteousness).
Any famous football moments?
Denmark’s finest hour came at Euro 1992, where they won despite not expecting to feature at the tournament.
They had missed out on qualification when they finished runners-up in their group, but found themselves a part of the competition after Yugoslavia, who they finished second to in qualifying, were banned from participating due to civil war and UN sanctions.
Despite their surprise inclusion, they finished second in Group 1, behind hosts Sweden, and advanced to the semi-final stage.
They drew 2-2 with Netherlands but beat them 5-4 on penalties before meeting Germany in the final.
John Jensen and Kim Vilfort were on target as Denmark pulled off a huge shock to win the final 2-0 and lift the trophy without qualifying.
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