Events from the year 2002 in Denmark.

Incumbents

* Monarch –

Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024. Having reigned for exactly ...

* Prime minister –

Anders Fogh Rasmussen Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became ...

Events

*19 October – The first phase of the Copenhagen Metro, running from Nørreport to Lergravsparken, is opened by Queen Margrethe II. *12 December – A

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

is held in the

Bella Center Bella Center (abbreviated BC) is Scandinavia's second largest exhibition and conference center (after Messecenter Herning), and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Located in Ørestad between the city centre and Copenhagen Airport, it offers an ...

, Copenhagen, an agreement is reached for May 2004 enlargement.

Culture

Film

* The Riber Award film festival at

Aalborg University Aalborg University (AAU) is an international public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1974, the university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subje ...

is established.

Literature

Media

* 15 February – It is announced that Erik Refner from

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

wins the

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, the World Press Photo of the Ye ...

award for a picture of the body of an Afghan refugee being prepared for burial. * 22 October – The newspaper '' Dagen'' is founded.

Music

* 9 February – Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2002 * 25 May – For the first time Denmark came last in

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

receiving only 7 points, although song "Tell Me Who You Are" by

Malene Mortensen Malene Winther Mortensen (born 23 May 1982) is a Danish singer. She entered the Danish music scene in 2001, during the first season of ''Stjerne for en aften'', the Danish edition of '' Star for a Night''. She made it to the finals, with her re ...

was one of favourites to win. * 4 October — ''Dåbens Pagt'' (''Pact of the Baptism'') by

Frederik Magle Frederik Reesen Magle (; born 17 April 1977) is a Danish composer, concert organist, and pianist. He writes contemporary classical music as well as fusion of classical music and other genres. His compositions include orchestral works, cantatas ...

is premiered at the christening of

Prince Felix of Denmark Count Felix of Monpezat (born Prince Felix of Denmark; 22 July 2002) is a member of the Danish royal family. He is the younger son of Prince Joachim and his first wife, Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. He is a grandson of Queen Margre ...

Sports

Badminton

* 5–9 March —

Camilla Martin Camilla Martin Nygaard (née Martin; born 23 March 1974) is a Danish retired badminton player. She and Lene Køppen, who played two decades earlier, are the only Danish women to have won both the All England and World Championships singles t ...

wins gold in Women's Single at the 92nd All England Open. * 13–20 April – With five gold medals, two silver medals and four bronze medias, Denmark finishes as the best nation at the 18th European Badminton Championships in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden.

Cycling

* 6 October –

Jakob Piil Jakob Storm Piil (born 9 March 1973) is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, where he later lived many years in Odense. He is an all-round rider, known for his aggressive style of riding, whose speciality is to pick the right breakawa ...

wins

2002 Paris–Tours The 2002 Paris–Tours was the 96th edition of the Paris–Tours cycle race and was held on 6 October 2002. The race started in Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines and finished in Tours. The race was won by Jakob Piil of the CSC–Tiscali team. Genera ...

. * Date unknown

Matthew Gilmore Matthew Gilmore (born 11 September 1972 in Ghent) is a Belgian-Australian retired track cyclist, who mostly competed and was most successful on track for Belgium. Although Gilmore was born in and represented Belgium, he is the son of Australian ...

(BEL) and Scott McGrory (AUS) wins the

Six Days of Copenhagen The Six Days of Copenhagen is a six-day track cycling race held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event was first held in 1934. The event is held at the Ballerup Super Arena Ballerup Super Arena (formerly Siemens Arena) is a multi-purpose i ...

Six-day track cycling race.

Equestrian sports

* 10 September Rikke Laumann wins a silver medalin Women's vaulting at the

2002 FEI World Equestrian Games The 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games were held in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, from 10 to 22 September 2002. They were the 4th edition of the games which are held every four years and run by the FEI. Venue The main venue was the Estadio Muni ...

Football

* 9 May OB wins the

2001–02 Danish Cup The 2001–02 Danish Cup was the 48th season of the Danish Cup. The final was played on 9 May 2002. The winner qualified for UEFA Cup qualification. First round In first round competed 48 teams from the "series" (2000 Denmark Series and lower) an ...

by defeating F.C. Copenhagen 21 in the final. * 31 May – June 39 —

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

participates in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

in Japan and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. ** 1 June – Denmark defeats

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

2–1 in their first match in

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

of the initial group stage. ** 6 June – Denmark draws against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

in their second group stage match. ** 11 June – Denmark wins group A by defeating

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

2–0 in their last group stage match and is ready for the

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. ** 16 June – Denmark is defeated 3–0 by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the Round of 16 and is finished in the tournament.

Golf

* 26 May —

Anders Hansen Anders Rosenberg Hansen (born 16 September 1970) is a Danish former professional golfer. Career Hansen was born in Sønderborg, Denmark. He turned professional in 1995. It took him a few years to establish himself on the European Tour, with ...

wins the

BMW PGA Championship The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland), Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the ...

on the

2002 European Tour The 2002 European Tour was the 31st season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972. Changes for 2002 There were three new tournaments to the European Tour in 2002, the BMW Asian Open i ...

. * 30 June —

Søren Hansen Søren Hansen (born 21 March 1974) is a Danish professional golfer. Hansen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He won the 1997 Danish Amateur Stroke Play Championship and turned professional later that year. Hansen collected his first profession ...

wins

Murphy's Irish Open The Irish Open currently titled as the Amgen Irish Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the European Tour. The Irish Open was first played in 1927 and was played annually, except for the war years, until 1950. There ...

on the

. * 1 September —

Thomas Bjørn Thomas Bjørn (born 18 February 1971) is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he also b ...

wins the

BMW International Open The BMW International Open is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour held in Germany. History Founded in 1989, it was held near BMW's home city of Munich every year until 2012. From 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2011 ...

on the

. * 27 October —

Steen Tinning Steen Tinning (born 7 October 1962) is a Danish professional golfer who formerly played on the European Tour and plays on the European Senior Tour. Career Tinning was born in Copenhagen. After a successful amateur career he turned professional i ...

wins

Telefónica Open de Madrid The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to 2000. It was an official money event on the European Tour The European T ...

on the

Handball

* 3 February —

wins bronze at the

2002 European Men's Handball Championship The 2002 Men's European Handball Championship was the fifth edition of the tournament and took place from 25 January to 3 February 2002 in Sweden. Qualification Note: Bold indicates champion for that year. ''Italic'' indicates host for that ...

by defeating

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

20–22 in the third place play-offs. * 6–15 December —

2002 European Women's Handball Championship The 2002 EHF European Women's Handball Championship was held in Denmark from 6–15 December. It was won by Denmark women's national handball team, Denmark after beating Norway women's national handball team, Norway 25–22 in the final match. Th ...

takes place in Denmark. ** 15 December

wins gold by defeating

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

25–22 in the final.

Other

* 16 June —

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

wins the

2002 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans was an automobile endurance race held for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars from 15 to 16 June 2002 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close by Le Mans, France. It was the 70th running of the event, as organize ...

as part of the

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

team, his fourth win of the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

race. * 11 August —

Wilson Kipketer Wilson Kosgei Kipketer (born 12 December 1972) is a Danish former middle distance runner. With a personal best of 1:41.11, Kipketer is tied with Emmanuel Wanyonyi as the second fastest of all time over the 800 meter distance, behind David ...

wins gold in Men's 800 metres at the

2002 European Athletics Championships The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany. Men's results Track 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , 2006 , 2010 , 1 Dwain Chambers originally won the 100 m in 9.96 and was pa ...

in Munich, Germany. * 29 November —

Mikkel Kessler Mikkel Kessler (born 1 March 1979) is a Danish former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2013. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) title (Super and Regular versions) th ...

fights for his first championship and defeats former WBC super middleweight champion Dingaan Thobela over twelve rounds to become IBA champion.

Births

JanuaryMarch

* 7 January Mohamed Daramy, footballer * 13 January

Frederik Vesti Frederik Vesti Stamm (; born 13 January 2002) is a Danish racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Action Express Racing, Cadillac Whelen and serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Mercedes-Benz in Formula One, M ...

, racing driver * 17 January Yousef Salech, footballer

AprilJune

* 15 April Mathias Kvistgaarden, footballer * 14 May – Kristoffer Lund, soccer player

JulySeptember

*22 July – Count Felix of Monpezat *28 July – Mads Hansen, footballer

OctoberDecember

* 19 November

Anton Gaaei Anton Gaaei (born 19 November 2002) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Ajax. Club career Viborg FF Anton Gaaei started his career in Bruunshåb/Tapdrup IF and then passed by Overlund GF, before he moved to ...

, football player * 16 December Victor Kristiansen, footballer *21 December –

Clara Tauson Clara Tauson (born 21 December 2002) is a Danish professional tennis player. Her career-high rankings are world No. 21 in singles, achieved on 3 March 2025 and No. 124 in doubles, on 16 June same year. Tauson has won three WTA Tour titles, all o ...

, tennis player

Deaths

* 12 February – John Eriksen, Danish football player (b.

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

) * 12 August Knud Lundberg, football player (born

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2002 in Denmark

Years of the 21st century in Denmark

2000s in Denmark

Incumbents

Events

Culture

Film

Literature

Media

Music

Sports

Badminton

Cycling

Equestrian sports

Football

Golf

Handball

Other

Births

JanuaryMarch

AprilJune

JulySeptember

OctoberDecember

Deaths

See also

References