Sports Mole takes a closer look at Denmark’s squad for Euro 2024, including the stars to make the cut and notable names to miss out on selection.
Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand has confirmed a 26-player selection for this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament in Germany, the latest manager to take full advantage of UEFA’s expansion of squad sizes.
Former continental champions back in 1992, the Red and Whites were losing semi-finalists to England in the delayed Euro 2020 tournament and will earn a shot at revenge over the Three Lions in Group C, which also houses Serbia and Slovenia.
Hjulmand’s men will take on Sweden and Norway in a pair of all-Scandinavian friendlies before jetting off to the Euros, and a star-studded squad brimming with Premier League experience are set to don the red strip in Group C.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Denmark’s 26-man squad for the European Championships, including the key names to make the cut and also those absent from the ranks.
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Three years on from his harrowing cardiac arrest during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland, Christian Eriksen – who rebuilt his career with Brentford and now sports the colours of Manchester United – will represent his nation at Euro 2024.
The 32-year-old fell down the Red Devils’ pecking order in the 2023-24 season, which Hjulmand admitted was less than ideal, but he has nevertheless earned a place in the Red and Whites’ 26-man squad for his sixth major tournament.
Eriksen – the most capped player in the Denmark ranks with 128 appearances to his name – is joined in the selection by fellow Man United man Rasmus Hojlund, fresh from scoring a respectable 16 goals in his debut season for the 20-time English champions, in addition to netting seven times in Euros qualifiers.
There is plentiful English representation in all areas of the field, as five of Denmark’s seven midfielders are based in England, including Brentford trio Christian Norgaard, Mathias Jensen and Mikkel Damsgaard, as well as Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
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Sporting Lisbon’s highly-rated fulcrum Morten Hjulmand and Thomas Delaney – now with Anderlecht – complete the engine room, while Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen and Leicester City’s Jannik Vestergaard are among the defensive picks.
Eriksen is not the most-capped player in the Denmark squad – that honour belongs to 131-appearance Simon Kjaer, who sports the captain’s armband and forms a vital part of the central defensive troupe alongside Andreas Christensen and Victor Nelsson.
Alexander Bah, Joakim Maehle, Rasmus Kristensen and Victor Kristiansen provide Hjulmand’s full-backs options, while 100-cap Kasper Schmeichel headlines the goalkeepers alongside Fredrik Ronnow and Leicester’s Mads Hermansen, the only player in the squad yet to make a senior appearance for his country.
Behind Eriksen’s 40 strikes, Yussuf Poulsen is the second-highest scorer in the Denmark ranks with 12, while Andreas Skov Olsen, Jonas Wind, Kasper Dolberg, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Anders Dreyer complete the attacking contingent.
Bournemouth, Celtic stars omitted from Denmark squad
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While plenty of recognisable names are present in the Denmark squad, there are still a few notable absentees, including that of Martin Braithwaite, who represented his nation at Euro 2024 and has 69 caps and 10 goals for the Red and Whites.
Despite now operating in the second tier of Spanish football with Espanyol, Branthwaite struck 21 goals in 38 regular LaLiga2 games in 2023-24, but he has been deemed surplus to Hjulmand’s requirements for Euro 2024.
The bulk of Denmark’s noteworthy omissions come in the middle of the park, where there is no room for Philip Billing, who struggled for regular starts in the Bournemouth side during the second half of the 2023-24 season.
The same cannot be said for Matt O’Riley, who came up with a staggering 19 goals and 18 assists in 49 games for Celtic last season, but his contributions were not enough for a spot among the 26; Hjulmand explained that his midfield selections were based on players who could “move around a bit”.
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The Denmark boss insisted that O’Riley could not have done more for a selection – hardly comforting words for the 23-year-old – but Jesper Lindstrom‘s snub is not so surprising; the 24-year-old failed to score or assist one in 29 games for Napoli.
While a handful of Brentford starters are in the ranks, there is no room for defensive duo Mads Roerslev or Mathias Jorgensen – otherwise known as Zanka – and the experienced Jens Stryger Larsen, who has played 54 times for his nation, is out too.
Very few of Hjulmand’s absentees are injury-related, but exciting Reims attacker Mohamed Daramy is one of them; the 22-year-old sustained a knee problem while playing for his country in March and missed his side’s final eight Ligue 1 games of the season.
Denmark’s 26-man Euro 2024 squad in full
Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel (Anderlecht), Frederik Ronnow (Union Berlin), Mads Hermansen (Leicester City)
Defenders: Andreas Christensen (Barcelona), Simon Kjaer (Milan), Joachim Andersen (Crystal Palace), Jannik Vestergaard (Leicester), Victor Nelsson (Galatasaray), Alexander Bah (Benfica), Joakim Maehle (Wolfsburg), Rasmus Kristensen (Roma), Victor Kristiansen (Bologna, on loan from Leicester)
Midfielders: Christian Eriksen (Man United), Thomas Delaney (Anderlecht), Morten Hjulmand (Sporting), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Tottenham), Christian Norgaard (Brentford), Mathias Jensen (Brentford), Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford)
Forwards: Jacob Bruun Larsen (Burnley), Andreas Skov Olsen (Club Brugge), Anders Dreyer (Anderlecht), Kasper Dolberg (Anderlecht), Rasmus Hojlund (Man United), Jonas Wind (Wolfsburg), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig)
