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 beat Sweden 2-1 and Norway 3-1 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.
Manchester United duo Rasmus Hojlund, Christian Eriksen make the cut
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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 - 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 Simon Kjaer, who sports the captain's armband and forms a vital part of the central defensive troupe alongside Andreas Christensen and Mathias Jorgensen.
Alexander Bah, Joakim Maehle, Rasmus Kristensen and Victor Kristiansen provide Hjulmand's full-backs options, while 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 41 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 was originally no room for defensive duo Mads Roerslev or Mathias Jorgensen - although the latter has now been called-up due to Victor Nelsson's withdrawal - 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), Alexander Bah (Benfica), Joakim Maehle (Wolfsburg), Rasmus Kristensen (Roma), Victor Kristiansen (Bologna, on loan from Leicester), Zanka (Brentford)
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)
Manager - Kasper Hjulmand
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Following a very modest and short-lived playing career - which was curtailed at the age of just 26 due to a serious knee injury - Hjulmand has since won the adoration of the Danish faithful thanks to his stellar work in the manager's chair.
The 52-year-old took on a few club jobs before taking on the national team's reins, managing Nordsjaelland - whom he won the 2011-12 Danish Superliga title with - Lyngby and Bundesliga side Mainz 05 ahead of his 2020 appointment to the Denmark job.
Within just one year of replacing Age Hareide, Hjulmand oversaw the Danes' magnificent run to the Euro 2020 semi-finals, which ended in a heartbreaking extra-time loss to England, before failing to pick up a single point in the 2022 World Cup.
Nevertheless, with a record of just over two points on average from his first 50 games in charge, Hjulmand remains contracted to Denmark until the summer of 2026 and will be leading his side at the next World Cup, barring a qualifying disaster or equally sack-worthy display in Germany.
Form
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Just two of Denmark's 10 qualifying matches saw Hjulmand's men succumb to defeat, and their successful bid for a spot among the 24 also included a seven-match unbeaten streak in their preliminary section from June 2023 to November 2023.
Despite suffering a 2-0 final-day loss to Northern Ireland, Denmark managed to hold off the Slovenians - whom they will soon reunite with - on head-to-head points, and their 2024 exploits have served to boost national morale.
Indeed, the Danes are unbeaten in four friendly matches so far in the current calendar year, being held to a 0-0 draw with Switzerland before a straightforward 2-0 beating of the Faroe Islands in March.
June's warm-up friendlies saw Eriksen become the last-gasp hero in a 2-1 success over Sweden, before a final 3-1 success over fellow Scandinavian neighbours Norway on June 8, where Hojbjerg was on target for the second time in the space of a few days.
Star player - Morten Hjulmand
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With Red Devils duo Hojlund and Eriksen stealing the headlines, Sporting Lisbon midfielder Morten Hjulmand may have flown under the radar slightly, but the Portugal-based lynchpin is primed for a proper national team breakthrough in Germany.
Representing Copenhagen, Admira Wacker and Lecce before jumping ship to join Sporting last season, Hjulmand quickly built up a reputation as a tenacious defensive midfielder with a slight goal threat, scoring four of his own and setting up four more.
The 24-year-old is one of the less experienced players in Hjulmand's ranks, but Premier League clubs are already believed to have taken notice of his exploits, and a bidding war could very well materialise if he continues to go from strength to strength in the Danish red.
Group and fixtures
June 16: Slovenia 1-1 Denmark (MHPArena) - 18:00 (17:00 BST)
June 20: Denmark 1-1 England (5pm | Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt)
June 25: Denmark 0-0 Serbia (8pm | Allianz Arena, Munich)
Expected XI
Schmeichel; Vestergaard, Christensen, Andersen; Bah, Hojbjerg, Hjulmand, Maehle; Eriksen, Damsgaard; Hojlund
Ben Knapton
