World ranking

7

UEFA Champs Records

Semi-finalists 1984, 1991, 1993, 2001; Quarter-finalists 1995

Euro 2005 qualification

Group 2 winners

Colours

Red shirts with white trim, white shorts

Coach

Poul Højmose

Key players

Katrine Pedersen (defender), Merete Pedersen (striker), Tine Cederkvist (goalkeeper)

Website 

www.dbu.dk


While their neighbours have collected silverware and the accompanying plaudits, the Danes have had to settle for a series of near misses. They have reached four Euro semi-finals, the last of them in 2001 when they were beaten by Sweden, and also had a third place finish in the 1991 World Cup.

So at Euro 2005 they will be striving to reach a major final for the first time – and if their qualifying campaign is anything to go by they will surely be in with a chance of achieving their ambition.

Only Germany, who won all of their games in Group 4, had a better qualifying record than the Danes. What’s more Poul Højmose’s team, after drawing with Norway in their first match, won all seven of their subsequent games including a sweet 2-1 success against the Norwegians.

After successfully completing their Group 2 programme Denmark then gave themselves another tremendous boost with a 3-1 victory in Philadelphia over Olympic champions America, whose defeat was their first in 21 outings.

Striker Merete Pedersen, who had scored five goals in Denmark’s final two Euro 2005 qualifiers, bagged a brace against the Americans and will be a player to watch out for during the UEFA tournament in England.

Pedersen’s namesake Katrine, the Denmark captain, is already well known in England following her stint as a central defender in the all-conquering Fulham team who won the domestic treble in 2002-03.

And in Poul Højmose, who took over as Head Coach after the 1999 World Cup, the Danes have an astute leader who is determined to see his team make their mark at Euro 2005.