Women’s Soccer in Denmark: A History | OneFootball

Denmark is known for its reserved people and lifestyle. Some of that reserve comes from The Law of Jante, an unofficial code promoting equality and humility among one another. This equitable culture makes Denmark and Scandinavia the best place for the women’s game to thrive.

In 1969 the Federazione Italiana Calcio Femminile decided to create a tournament for women’s international teams to compete in. UEFA disregarded this effort and was not a part of it. The inaugural tournament would occur in the autumn and be disputed amongst four teams; Italy, France, Denmark and England.

Although Italy came out as winners, their sternest test came against Denmark in the final. The participating Danish side was formed by club side Boldklubben Femina. The Danes came out as the tournament’s top scorers, putting four past England and scoring the opener in the final.

The Golden Era

The following year Boldklubben Femina were invited to represent Denmark at the first unofficial Women’s World Cup in Italy in 1970. With experience from the European tournament only six months prior, the Danes waltzed past West Germany and England to get their revenge on Italy with a 2-0 final win. Denmark was reported as winning due to their physical advantages. Images show the team playing in AC Milan kits as they lost theirs in a mess-up at the airport.

The following year (1971) another Women’s World Cup was held in Mexico. Denmark, now represented by a squad of Danish citizens and not just a single club, wanted to retain their title. Advancing through the group via victory versus France and a stalemate with the Italians, Denmark dismantled the Argentines 5-0 in the semi-final. The hosts barely stood in their way, easing to a 3-0 victory thanks to a hat trick from Susanne Augustesen. The then fifteen-year-old became one of the first stars to come out of Scandinavia as she netted scored in front of an estimated 110,000 spectators at Estadio Azteca.

Susanne Augustesen (Public Domain)

Augustesen (pictured left with Modena) would spend much of her twenty-year career in Italy, scoring more than six hundred goals. However, Augustesen never received another cap from the Danish Football Association which launched an official team in 1972.

Domestics

Official Danish domestic competition began in 1974 and has remained semi-professional. This lack of professionalism has left Danish clubs far behind their other Nordic neighbours and other continental nations. Fortuna Hjørring are the only Danish team to have reached The Champions League final in 2003, losing 7-1 in a two-legged affair to Sweden’s Umeå IK. The last Danish club to play in European competition was HB Køge. In the 2021-22 UEFA Women’s Champion’s League they finished bottom of their group with no points, scoring two and conceding twenty-two.

The most impactful Danish club has been Boldklubben Femina, founded in 1959. A journalist working for Femina magazine was sent to report on a team of student nurses playing an exhibition game. He was so impressed by the standard of play that he decided to create a team, which not coincidentally included many of those nurses. Femina used their media platform to find coaches and financially back the squad. By the ’60s the club could stand on own its feet with the help of sponsorship deals and prestige.

First Great Dane

Marie Ševčíková (Public Domain)

It was in 1968 during a tour of Czechoslovakia where Femina BK met Slavia Prague and lost 2-0 and 3-2. On the left wing stood the tall figure of Marie Ševčíková, who had largely impressed during the friendlies. Ševčíková would apply for political asylum in Denmark later that year; when that was accepted she signed for BK Femina.

In 1969 BK Femina travelled to Italy to play more friendly games. Impressed by her performances Real Torino tried and failed to get her to transfer. However, ACF Elettroplaid (ACF Fiorentina) was successful and signed her in 1971. She only spent one season in Florence, losing the Italian Cup final (1-0) before dropping down a league to play for GS Casabella Perignano and returning to end her footballing career with Femina.

Fun fact: Marie Ševčíková was also a talented tennis player. She was one of the top thirty players at youth level in Czechoslovakia.

On the World Stage

Since the ’80s Denmark has performed on the international stage as one would expect from a smaller nation. Their first attempt under the Danish FA was at Euro 84. Placed in a group with Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany, the Danes surprisingly finished on top, moving into the semi-final stage where they were defeated by England. They failed to qualify for the 1987 and 1989 competition, but finished third in 1991 (they were also the host nation).

That finish secured them a berth in first FIFA World Cup in 1991. Their first game at the tournament was a 3-0 victory vs New Zealand with Helle Jensen becoming Denmark’s first female World Cup scorer. A one-all draw against the hosts and defeat against the Norwegians enabled passage to the quarter-finals as the best third-placed team. West Germany proved too strong as the Danes fell to the first-ever extra-time goal at the tournament.

The seven best teams from the ‘95 World Cup were selected to compete in the 1996 Olympic Games. Denmark, who was a quarter-finalist, received an invitation. Playing exclusively against the world’s best, Denmark fell well short of China, USA and Sweden. They finished rock bottom without a point in their group. This tournament suggested that Denmark’s prestige in the woman’s game was slipping, and that they were incapable of competing against the best. The 2000s painted more of a sobering picture. Euro 2001 resulted in a semi-final, World Cup 2003 failure to qualify, Euro 2005 and 2009 failures to qualify and World Cup 2007 a group stage exit.

Today

Denmark’s international decline in women’s soccer coincides with the increasing professionalization of the game in other European countries. Women’s soccer in Germany became professional during the ’90s, in Sweden in the late ’80s and the Netherlands in 2007. But the Danish top-tier, Danmarksturneringens Kvindeliga is still only semi-professional. This forces young Danish women who wish to enhance their footballing skills to leave and seek clubs outside Denmark.

Today the Danish national team boasts the quality of world-class forward Pernille Harder and upcoming talents like Kathrine Kühl and Cornelia Kramer. But the country’s last World Cup squad only included two players domestic players. The rapid development of national women’s leagues and international teams like the Netherlands, Spain and emerging nations like Portugal have outpaced Denmark set them back further from the top of the women’s game.