Denmark is one the earliest pioneers of women's football as they participated and won the inaugural 1971 Women's World Cup. The

women's team A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

represents the nation in international competitions. Professional women's football in the country is controlled by the

Danish Football Association The Danish Football Association (; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues, alongside the men's and women's national teams. Based ...

. The association conducts league matches including the

Danish Women's League The Danish Women's League () is a professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danmarksturneringen i kvindefodbold (Kvinde-DM) and is placed a ...

, the top tier of women's football clubs in Denmark.

History

In 1969, the

received an invitation to participate in the first unofficial European Championship for women. While women's football clubs were not officially recognised by the association, a team was sent by

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

based club BK Femina. The team finished runner-up in the competition behind the Italian women's team. The Danish women's team participated in the inaugural 1971 Women's World Cup held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. The team won the title ahead of the hosts

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. With the championship victory, the number of women footballers grew from around 1,500 members in 1971 to 16,000 in 1972. In February 1972, in a meeting of the Danish Football Association in

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

, women's football was officially accepted as a part of the association. The first official international match was played on 27 July 1974 in Markusböle, Finland, where Denmark defeated

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

by a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

. In the

UEFA Women's Euro 1991 The 1991 UEFA Women's Championship took place in Denmark. It was won by Germany in a final against Norway in a repeat of the previous edition's final. Eighteen teams entered qualifying, which was enough to make the competition the first fully offic ...

tournament hosted by Denmark, the team finished third after losing to Norway in the semifinals in a penalty shoot-off before beating Italy in the third place match. In the inaugural

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

held in

1991 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the first FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international governing body sele ...

, Denmark finished third 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 ...

to qualify for the knock-outs, where it lost to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Danish team again finished third in the next European tournament held in Italy, losing again to Norway in the semi-finals. In the 1995 world cup, Denmark placed third in Group C before losing to

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 ...

in the quarterfinals. The team qualified for its lone

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, where they finished eighth. In the 21st century, the Danish team reached the semi-finals of the

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany f ...

where they lost to Sweden. The team reached another semifinals in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

before bettering the result by reaching the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final. The team finished runners-up after losing to

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the finals. The team qualified for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

. In the World Cup, they were eliminated by hosts

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the round of 16.

Club football

The

Danish football league system The Danish football league system, also known as the football league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league structure for association football in Denmark, in which all divisions are bound together by the principle of promotio ...

comes under the purview of the football association.

forms the highest tier of women's football in Denmark. All league clubs are eligible to play in the

Danish Women's Cup The Danish Women's Cup, or Sydbank Kvindepokalen (previously 3F Cup) for sponsorship reasons, is the national Women's association football, women's football cup competition in Denmark and was first held in 1993. Format The tournament consists ...

. The top teams of each season from the top tier qualify for the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

References

{{Women's football in Europe