Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

is the most popular sport in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, with 331,693 players and 1,647 clubs registered () under the

Danish FA The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national te ...

. The game was introduced into Denmark by British sailors. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub is the oldest club outside of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, having been founded on 26 April 1876. Denmark hosted the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football, the 1991 UEFA Women's Euro, the 2000 UEFA Cup Final, and the 2003 UEFA Women's Cup Final.

Men's league system

The Copenhagen Football Championship, known as Fodboldturneringen, was established in 1889 as the first domestic league by the Danish Football Association (DBU). Since its founding, many other regional leagues was founded in Denmark. A national league championship was first established in 1927 with the first season being held as

1927–28 Danmarksmesterskabsturneringen The 1927–28 Danmarksmesterskabsturneringen i Fodbold was the 1st edition of the new year-long league structure for the Danish national football championship play-offs, a Danish FA-organised club football tournament between the highest ranking cl ...

. The different leagues was linked together to create a pyramidal structure allowing promotion and relegation between different levels. The top four levels in Denmark are governed by the Danish Football Association and, the first three divisions by its professional body

Divisionsforeningen Foreningen af Divisionsklubber i Danmark ( en, Danish League), commonly referred to as Divisionsforeningen or shortened to DF (or FDD), is a trade, special interest and employers' organization for men's professional association football in Den ...

. The top 3 are collectively called ''Danmarksturneringen i fodbold'' (literally: the Denmark Tournament in Football), and share a common set of rules more geared towards professional football. Reserve teams are allowed in the league structure, but can only reach the Denmark Series. The

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

clubs' reserve teams, primarily, have their own reserve competition. The lower divisions are controlled by the six regional associations. The number of divisions in the lower series under the auspices of the local football association vary greatly depending on the association's size.

Competition records

UEFA Champions League

The following teams have advanced to elimination rounds in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. *Group stage:

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...

( 1995–96, 2008–09), Brøndby IF ( 1998–99),

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure o ...

( 2006–07, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2016–17),

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...

( 2012–13), F.C. Midtjylland (

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

) *Round of 16:

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

( 2010–11)

UEFA Cup/Europa League

The following teams have advanced to elimination rounds in the UEFA Cup (now Europa League). *Semi-finals: Brøndby IF ( 1990–91) *Quarter-finals:

Boldklubben 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 is a football club founded on 2 June 1903, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven times winner of the Danish championship (introduced 1913) in 1920, 1924, 1926, 1938, 1969, 1970 and 1976 and twice winner of the Danish ...

( 1991–92),

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

( 1994–95), Brøndby IF ( 1996–97),

( 2019–20) *Round of 16:

( 2008–09)

UEFA Europa Conference League

The following teams have advanced to elimination rounds in the UEFA Europa Conference League. *Round of 16:

( 2021–22) *Knock out round: Midtjylland ( 2021–22), Randers ( 2021–22) Defunct:

European Cup

The following teams have advanced to elimination rounds in the European Cup. *Quarter-finals:

AGF Aarhus Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howe ...

( 1960–61), Brøndby IF ( 1986–87)

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

The following teams have advanced to elimination rounds in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

. *Quarter-finals:

B1909 Boldklubben 1909, known as B1909, is a Danish association football club currently playing in the Denmark Series. They play at Gillested Park in Odense on Funen, which has a capacity of 6,000. Founded in 1909, the club spent a total 38 seasons ...

( 1962–63),

Randers Freja Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football. History Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the JBU in 1907. The football d ...

( 1968–69),

Vejle BK Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish football champions, Danish champi ...

( 1977–78),

( 1988–89)

References

External links

Danish Football Association

Jutland Football History

Peders fodboldstatistik
extensive match database
www.haslund.info
season by season results and tables

- Danish Football League Tables, Records & Statistics Database. {{League systems