From Absurdity to Ecstasy: How Denmark Turned the Tide

Photo credit: AFP (Source: The Hindu)

On a cold September night in 2018, Denmark fielded an all-amateur squad, including seven national team futsal players, in a friendly match against Slo vakia. Back then, few expected national team support to reach the peak it has today.

The bizarre situation arose after a lengthy contract dispute between the national team's male and female players and players' association on one side and the Danish Football Association (DBU) on the other side. And as the two sides failed to agree in time before the match, DBU had to field a team made up of players who were not part of the players' association, which meant they had to go from club to club. outside the professional and semi-professional ranks.

Despite Denmark's long history with trade unions and general support for workers' rights, the public saw the national team spoiled and criticism of the well-paid superstars was overwhelming from start to finish. The amateur players revealed that Christian Eriksen and other top national players called them out and pressured them not to join the national team, and even though the superstars explained that they were hitting because they wanted to secure better terms for lower league players and smaller clubs did not help their cause. Support for the national team was in shambles.

Fast forward just over four years, and Denmark have just delivered their best result in an international tournament since winning the Euros in 1992 and are about to start the 2022 World Cup, which brought the normally so calm and restrained Danes into a state of complete footballing ecstasy. How did this happen?

The fact that the Danish team did so well at the Euros was no coincidence. The team had been well prepared for the task by former national team coach Åge Hareide. The Norwegian took over in 2016, and in his 42 games in charge (excluding the game against Slovakia, led by ex-Arsenal player John Jensen), the red-whites lost just three times . Hareide took Denmark to the round of 16 of the World Cup in Russia, where they lost on penalties to eventual finalists Croatia, and Euro 2020 was supposed to be the culmination of his work over the four last years.

Unfortunately for Hareide, Covid-19 saw the tournament postponed for a year, after his national team contract expired. Prior to his departure, he was on a 34-game unbeaten streak starting in 2018 World Cup qualification.

Hareide revealed that he had looked into his crystal ball and had already predicted the outcome of the European Championships. He predicted that Denmark would get a huge boost by playing three home games in the group stage and t...