How Denmark won Euro 92: ‘We didn’t have the best players, but we had the best team’

This is the latest in our fortnightly series about the 16 triumphant teams in the European Championship before the 17th edition is played in Germany this summer.

So far, we’ve looked at the Soviet Union in 1960, Spain in 1964, Italy in 1968, West Germany in 1972, Czechoslovakia in 1976, West Germany again in 1980, France in 1984 and the Netherlands in 1988. This time, it’s Denmark in 1992.

Introduction

Maybe the strangest international tournament victory ever.

Denmark won Euro 1992 despite having not qualified for the competition in the first place. They were granted entry less than a fortnight before the tournament after Yugoslavia were banned from participating by UEFA due to the war in their country.

Yugoslavia’s place was instead awarded to the runner-up in their qualifying group — Denmark. When the decision was made, the Yugoslavia team were already in Sweden (the host nation) at their training base for the tournament.

Denmark were not sufficiently prepared for the tournament, although the idea that all the players were on their holidays is slightly exaggerated. A couple had been taking a short break, but the Danish league campaign finished only two weeks before the opening match and the national side were scheduled to play a friendly against CIS, the short-lived replacement for the Soviet Union, a week before the Euros.

Denmark’s success came in a month when the country was already in the news across Europe after the electorate narrowly voted ‘No’ in the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty, which was briefly considered a serious barrier to the formation of the European Union (then the European Economic Community), which nevertheless did happen the following year. “If you can’t join them, beat them,” joked Danish foreign secretary Uffe Ellemann-Jensen after Denmark’s surprise entry to Euro 1992.

One thing Denmark and their supporters had on their side was geography. Their first game of the tournament was against England in Malmo — these days a quick trip over the Oresund Bridge, but even in the days before it was built, a short ferry ride from the Danish capital Copenhagen.

The manager

Richard Moller Nielsen was not a popular figure going into the tournament. A defender who had earned two Denmark caps three decades earlier, Nielsen had won two championships in his home country as a manager but had also been assistant to Sepp Piontek, the national coach.

Piontek was famous for building an adventurous side that became the neutral’s favourites at World Cup 1986, but his assistant Nielsen wanted less entertainment and more structure. His way of playing was basic, defensive and rather unglamorous, more in keeping with what we tend to associate with Scandinavian football.

His goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel, was forced to apologise to his manager after saying to the media that while Piontek had made Danish football “upper class”, Nielsen had made it “lower class”.

His methods were so defensive that Michael Laudrup, the greatest player at his disposal and surely the greatest Danish footballer ever, walked away from the national side, saying he would refuse to play until Nielsen was replaced as manager. His brother, Brian, also quit. Clearly, this made Nielsen unpopular across the country.

But when Denmark’s entry to Euro 1992 was confirmed, Brian returned to the fold. Michael refused and watched the tournament on television on holiday in the USA. Denmark’s greatest player therefore missed out on their greatest moment. He did return a year later, though, and played at both Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup.

Tactics

Denmark used a 5-3-2 and had for several years, although there were some crucial tweaks as the tournament progressed. After they started with a tedious 0-0 against England and a 1-0 defeat against hosts Sweden, Nielsen dropped misfiring striker Bent Christensen and brought in attacking midfielder Henrik Larsen.

This proved important for two reasons. First, Larsen scored the opener in the surprise 2-1 win over France that sealed qualification for the knockout stage, then another two in the 2-2 draw with Netherlands in the semi-final.

Second, it allowed Brian Laudrup to take up a more advanced position, from where he was Denmark’s key attacking player, particularly on the break, playing off main striker Flemming Povlsen, one of those centre-forwards who does the dirty work well, doesn’t score much, and somehow seems to thrive at international level.

Brian Laudrup on the ball in the final (Simon Bruty/Allsport/Getty Images)

This was how they lined up for the final, after a slight rejig in defence because left wing-back Henrik Andersen suffered a serious knee injury in the semi-final.

It was broadly a counter-attacking approach from Nielsen’s side, with a mass of solid defenders and the hard-working, tough-tackling John Jensen in front. But they certainly threw players into attack, with all three midfielders popping up in advanced positions and the wing-backs pushing forward aggressively, too.

Key player

Brian Laudrup produced some wonderful wing play against France and particularly against the Netherlands in the semi-final when he ran Frank de Boer ragged.

But realistically, it was Schmeichel. One year into his spell at Manchester United, the goalkeeper was one of relatively few Denmark players who played overseas. He endured a shaky game in the goalless draw against England, with striker Povlsen telling the media: “Some people have said we have the best goalkeeper in the world — I wonder why we didn’t bring him with us.”

But he was outstanding for the rest of the tournament. Particularly noteworthy was his aggression when coming for crosses, regularly taking out his team-mates in his desperation to claim the ball.

In the semi-final against the Netherlands, he was caught out by Dennis Bergkamp’s shot, which brought the Dutch their first equaliser, but made a crucial save in the shootout from Marco van Basten. He again excelled in the final with his trademark save from Stefan Reuter, spreading himself wide to come out on top in a one-on-one, and also a flying save from a Jurgen Klinsmann header, among several other fine stops.

Schmeichel saves from Van Basten in the semi-final shootout (Simon Bruty/Allsport/Getty Images)

It’s also worth pointing out that Schmeichel was the key man in one of Denmark’s main tactics — the backpass. In the last tournament before the introduction of the backpass law, which banned goalkeepers from handling passes deliberately played to him by a team-mate, Denmark took full advantage.

They regularly knocked 30-yard backwards balls from defence or midfield to Schmeichel, who would pick up the ball, waste time and then hoof it downfield. Schmeichel, to his credit, has since admitted to being slightly embarrassed that Denmark won the tournament in such a fashion and has called the backpass law ‘the best rule change in football ever’.

You might be surprised to learn…

Denmark initially didn’t seem to take the tournament particularly seriously — they assumed they would only be in Sweden for the three group matches before elimination. That carefree approach continued throughout the tournament, with Nielsen surprisingly lax in terms of discipline.

As detailed by Dave Farrar in an article for Blizzard magazine, some of the things the Danish players recall from the tournament include an impromptu round of mini golf on the eve of their crucial final group game, having Burger King for dinner two nights before the semi-final, and their partners staying in the team hotel the night before the final — after realising German fans had already booked up all the Stockholm hotel rooms.

The final

Even after sneaking past the Netherlands in the semi-final on penalties, Denmark were still huge underdogs against Germany. They had a much weaker squad and a day less of rest and still seemed surprised they remained in the tournament.

Germany started much stronger, with Schmeichel forced into action on several occasions throughout the first half. As various Denmark players admitted afterwards, an early concession probably would have been impossible for them to recover from, but then, entirely against the run of play, they took the lead through an unlikely source.

Jensen was regarded as an incredibly wayward shooter, a reputation that would endure during his subsequent period at Arsenal, but on this occasion, on the edge of the area, he connected brilliantly with a right-wing cutback and slammed the ball inside the near post. Martin Tyler’s commentary for British television underlined the shock. “Yes! Jensen! John Jensen has finally got one right!”

But the real hero was Schmeichel, providing a superb performance for a side who, in all honesty, were barely capable of holding Germany back. Denmark needed a second goal, however, to be safe.

The defining moment

Amid the stories of the Danes coming back from their holidays and taking the Euros only half-seriously, there was a tragic personal tale.

The second goal in the final came from Kim Vilfort, a midfielder who ran in behind, cut inside and slammed the ball home off the near post.

Vilfort scores in the final (Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Vilfort had spent the tournament travelling between Sweden and Denmark to be with his young daughter Line, who was terminally ill with leukaemia. The Danish FA were merely stating that he was absent from training for personal reasons. When one media outlet reported the specific reason for his absence, his suffering became a public event, much to the family’s dismay.

Vilfort has rejected the ‘hero’ tag and only returned twice from Denmark to play in the semi-final and final after encouragement from his family, who didn’t want him to miss what turned into the biggest few weeks in his sporting career. Line died shortly after the tournament.

Were they the best team?

They didn’t initially qualify, were 50-1 outsiders (and 150-1 after failing to score in their first two matches) and only actually won two games in the tournament. They also rode their luck at times, sealing their progression against France with a goal that looked offside and putting the final to bed with that Vilfort goal that surely involved a handball.

But equally, you can’t quibble with Denmark’s route to glory — after no goals and one point from their opening two matches against England and Sweden, they subsequently got past France, the Netherlands and Germany, three of the pre-tournament favourites, and the scorelines were 2-1, 2-2 and 2-0.

For all of Nielsen’s focus on defensive shape, they did score six goals in three games against top opposition. “We had fantastic spirit,” said Vilfort. “We didn’t have the best players, but we had the best team.”

(Top photo: Getty Images)