Football fans are already familiar with illustrious names like Allan Simonsen, Preben Elkjaer, Soren Lerby and Michael Laudrup, the inspiration for the label Danish Dynamite. Indeed, the former's performances for Barcelona and Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1970s made him the first Dane ever to be crowned European Footballer of the Year in 1977.
A founding member of FIFA, Denmark waited a long time for international success, appearing for the first time in a FIFA World finals only in 1986 when they set the Mexico tournament alight with a 6-1 victory over two-time champions Uruguay and finished ahead of Germany in their group with three wins. The run ended in the last 16 with a 5-1 defeat by Spain. Even now, Danes still wince at the name Butragueno, scorer of four goals that day.
With Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari in the hot-seat, the Portuguese hosts successfully negotiated their way to the Final at UEFA EURO 2004.
And although the unfancied Greeks stole the European crown from right under their noses, the setback did not prevent Scolari and his men from easily overcoming their next hurdle: qualification for Germany 2006. The 12-game campaign brought nine wins, three draws and a healthy goal difference of +30, due in no small part to an 11-goal contribution from target man Pauleta, the top scorer in the European qualifying rounds.
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