This year is the fourth time that Denmark will host the EHF EURO, and Denmark have – together with Norway, Germany, Russia and Hungary – participated in every European Championship since the beginning in 1994.

The Danish national team have won a total of five medals through the years at the EHF EURO, giving them the second-best record of all the nations, behind Norway. Their record includes three gold medals in 1994, 1996 and 2002. However their last European podium spot came back in 2004, when the Danes grabbed the silver medal at the EHF EURO in Hungary.

Denmark are bringing a young, talented squad to the EHF EURO 2020, but it also includes experienced stars such as goalkeeper Sandra Toft and right wing Trine Østergaard. Under the leadership of new coach Jesper Jensen the team will be hoping to step back on the path to international medals as they compete once again on home turf.

SANDRA TOFT

The 31-year-old team captain is currently one of the best goalkeepers in the world. She was voted by fans as the best goalkeeper in the world in 2019 in the handball media ‘Handball Planet’. In October this year she then was voted as National female player of the year by her fellow Danish players. Toft just keeps getting better and better and she shows her skills at every game at her club Brest Bretagne Handball and with the national team.   

ANNE METTE HANSEN

Anne Mette Hansen’s trademark is a unique physical ability paired with shots of great variety – two qualities that make her an asset at both ends of the court. Hansen has already won the DELO EHF Champions League twice and is now representing Denmark at yet another championship. The Györi ETO KC left back was the first female player ever to be selected for the Wall of Fame at her former club, Ajax – the club with the most members in Denmark. In Denmark, she is identified as one of the most important players on the national team. She is still trying to get better every day and is thought of as having all the essential conditions to become one of the world’s best left backs if she keeps developing her skills and physique as she currently does

The Danish Handball Federation presented Jesper Jensen as the new Danish national team coach in March this year. Since then Denmark and the rest of the world have been fighting a global pandemic – putting many handball activities on a hold. Jensen is 43 years old and he is an EHF Master Coach. He played on a top level for 17 years, where he represented Team Esbjerg and Skjern Håndbold. The creative playmaker played 120 games for the men’s national team and scored a total of 238 goals. Together with his national teammates he won the European Championship in 2008 in Norway. He started his coaching career in 2013 at Vejen EH in the women’s league in Denmark. After that he coach Aalborg Håndbold in the men’s league and is now the head coach for the current Danish champions Team Esbjerg. Jensen and the rest of the Danish coaching staff had a very limited amount of practise before the EHF EURO and even though they are facing very tough opponents from the start in the group stage, Jesper and the rest of players believe they can deliver a great result at the tournament.