Denmark men's national handball team

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 after victories against Angola and Norway. In the main round the team faced Croatia, the 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 semi-final Denmark lost to Poland 36–33 and ended up in the bronze match against France, which they won 34–27 thus placing third.

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

After finishing third 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 gold in 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.

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 fifth place against Spain. They won the placement match 34–27.

At The 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, after winning nine consecutive matches, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Denmark along with Germany co-hosted the 2019 World Championship and played in Group C with Norway, Tunisia, Chile, Austria and Saudi Arabia. started with a victory over Chile and remained undefeated. Then played in Group II in the main round the first match with a win over Hungary, also undefeated, played in the semi-finals. A win over six-time world champions France put them in the final. Denmark won world championship title with a 31–22 victory over Norway in the final.

Denmark qualified for the 2021 World Championship in Egypt as defending champions. They went undefeated and won the second successive world title. They also became the only team, to win nineteen national matches in a row at World Championship tournaments from 2019 to 2021, surpassing the eighteen winning streak by France.

Denmark along with Croatia and Norway will co-host the 2025 World Championship, it will be the third time Denmark co-host the tournament, they are automatically qualified as co-host

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	Champions	1st of 12	8	6	0	2	230	211	+19
2020 Tokyo	Runners-up	2nd of 12	8	6	0	2	255	212	+33
2024 Paris	qualified
Total	9/15	1 Title	52	29	3	20	1305	1238	+57

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	Champions	1	8	7	0	1	233	193
2010	5th/6th place	5	7	5	0	2	198	184
2012	Champions	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
2020	Preliminary round	13	3	1	1	1	85	83
2022	Third place	3	9	7	0	2	274	228
2024	Qualified
2026	Qualified as co-host
2028	TBD
Total	14/15	2 titles	101	64	5	32	2808	2586

*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.

The squad for the 2023 World Men's Handball Championship in Poland and Sweden.[4][5]

Matches and goals are correct as of 19 December 2022.[6]

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 247 10 THW Kiel 3 RB Niclas Kirkeløkke (1994-03-26) 26 March 1994 1.95 m 53 99 Rhein Neckar Löwen 4 LW Magnus Landin Jacobsen (1995-08-20) 20 August 1995 1.97 m 104 209 THW Kiel 7 LW Emil Jakobsen (1998-01-24) 24 January 1998 1.92 m 39 144 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 11 CB Rasmus Lauge (1991-06-20) 20 June 1991 1.93 m 142 353 Veszprém KC 15 P Magnus Saugstrup (1996-07-12) 12 July 1996 1.97 m 58 129 SC Magdeburg 18 RW Hans Lindberg (1981-08-01) 1 August 1981 1.88 m 281 776 Füchse Berlin 19 RB Mathias Gidsel (1999-02-08) 8 February 1999 1.90 m 39 184 Füchse Berlin 20 GK Kevin Møller (1989-06-20) 20 June 1989 2.03 m 70 7 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 21 LB Henrik Møllgaard (1985-01-02) 2 January 1985 1.97 m 192 182 Aalborg Håndbold 22 CB Mads Mensah (1991-08-12) 12 August 1991 1.88 m 174 309 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 24 LB Mikkel Hansen (1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 1.96 m 243 1261 Aalborg Håndbold 25 P Lukas Jørgensen (1999-03-31) 31 March 1999 1.93 m 2 11 GOG Håndbold 26 RW Jóhan Hansen (1994-05-01) 1 May 1994 1.90 m 71 145 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 27 LB Michael Damgaard (1990-03-18) 18 March 1990 1.92 m 87 225 SC Magdeburg 32 LB Jacob Holm (1995-09-05) 5 September 1995 1.95 m 69 190 Füchse Berlin 34 P Simon Hald (1994-09-29) 29 September 1994 2.03 m 65 83 SG Flensburg-Handewitt 38 RB Mads Hoxer (2000-12-06) 6 December 2000 1.95 m 4 7 Aalborg Håndbold 43 CB Simon Pytlick (2000-12-11) 11 December 2000 1.91 m 10 28 GOG Håndbold 64 LB Lasse Møller (1996-06-11) 11 June 1996 1.99 m 12 6 SG Flensburg-Handewitt

As of the 2023 World Championship.