Denmark vs Finland: UEFA EURO 2020 match background, facts and stats

Denmark will be looking to make the most of home advantage as they kick off their UEFA EURO 2020 campaign against Finland in Copenhagen – although their Nordic neighbours will be equally keen to make an impression in their first ever match at a final tournament.

• While this opening Group B fixture kicks off a ninth EURO appearance for 1992 winners Denmark, Finland are making their UEFA European Championship finals debut.

• Denmark last appeared in a EURO final tournament in 2012, and will be confident of making a positive start at Parken Stadium given their overall record against the Finns.

Previous meetings

• This is the teams' first meeting since a friendly in Esbjerg on 15 November 2011. Aleksei Eremenko gave Mixu Paatelainen's visitors an unexpected lead on 17 minutes but Morten Olsen's Denmark staged a second-half rally, two goals in three minutes just before the hour from Daniel Agger and Nicklas Bendtner securing a 2-1 victory.

• That made it one defeat in their last 22 games against Finland for the Danes (W15 D6), the sole reverse in that sequence a 2-1 loss in the Spanish resort of La Manga in February 2000, Vesa Vasara scoring twice for the Finns including an 89th-minute winner.

• That 22-match sequence also includes both the sides' previous EURO contests, in qualifying for the 1988 finals. Denmark won 1-0 home and away, thanks to goals from Jens Jørn Bertelsen and Jan Mølby respectively, en route to the final tournament.

• Finland are without a win in Denmark since a 2-0 friendly success in September 1949 – only their second victory away to their neighbours, the other having come in October 1931 (3-2).

• Denmark's home record against Finland since that 1949 defeat is W18 D3.

• Finland's record in Copenhagen overall is W2 D3 L22. Their last visit was a 1-1 friendly draw in August 2003, Jesper Grønkjær giving the home side a 42nd-minute lead before Aki Riihilahti equalised for Finland with two minutes remaining.

• That was only the second match between the sides at Parken Stadium, following a 2-1 friendly win for Denmark in August 1994. Brian Laudrup and Morten Wieghorst scored second-half goals after Finland's Kim Suominen had opened the scoring five minutes before the break.

EURO facts: Denmark

• This is Denmark's ninth appearance in the UEFA European Championship, but only their second in the past four editions. They were eliminated in the group stage at UEFA EURO 2012, finishing third in their section behind Germany and Portugal with three points from three games.

• The Danes lost to Scandinavian neighbours Sweden in the UEFA EURO 2016 play-offs, going down 4-3 on aggregate (1-2 a, 2-2 h).

• Denmark were winners at EURO '92, finished fourth in 1964 and reached the semi-finals in 1984. Their most recent knockout appearance came in 2004, when they lost 3-0 to the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.

• Denmark have lost their last two games in the EURO final tournament, and three of the last four; they have recorded only two wins in their last ten EURO finals matches (D2 L6).

• The Danes booked their place at UEFA EURO 2020 by finishing second behind Switzerland in Group D despite remaining unbeaten in their eight qualifiers (W4 D4). They reached the finals with a 1-1 draw away to the Republic of Ireland in their final qualifier.

• Denmark are one of five teams to have reached UEFA EURO 2020 unbeaten along with Belgium, Italy – who both won every game – Spain and Ukraine. They are the only one of the five who did not top their group.

• Åge Hareide, who oversaw the successful qualifying campaign, was replaced by Kasper Hjulmand following the postponement of UEFA EURO 2020; the former Nordsjælland coach had been due to take over from Hareide after the tournament.

• Denmark's record in Copenhagen is W139 D60 L70. At Parken Stadium it is W61 D25 L18. They have lost only one of their last 11 matches there (W6 D4) – 0-1 against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on 5 September 2020.

EURO facts: Finland

• This is Finland's debut in the UEFA European Championship. The closest they previously came to reaching the finals was in the UEFA EURO 2008 preliminaries when they failed to beat Portugal in their final qualifier, allowing their opponents to qualify instead thanks to a 0-0 draw in Porto.

• Finland are the 34th country to have qualified for the EURO.

• Having never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, this is Finland's debut in a major tournament. They are one of two countries to be making their first appearance at UEFA EURO 2020, along with North Macedonia in Group C.

• Markku Kanerva's side won six of their ten UEFA EURO 2020 qualifiers (L4) to finish second in Group J behind Italy.

• Teemu Pukki scored ten of Finland's 16 goals in qualifying. Having also provided an assist, he was involved in 68.75% of their qualifying strikes.

Links and trivia

• Have played together:
Robert Skov & Jesse Joronen (FC Copenhagen 2018/19)
Frederik Rønnow, Christian Nørgaard & Teemu Pukki (Brøndby 2015–18)
Frederik Rønnow & Paulus Arajuuri (Brøndby 2017–18)
Joachim Andersen & Fredrik Jensen (Twente 2017)
Christian Nørgaard & Lukas Hradecky (Brøndby 2013–15)
Martin Braithwaite & Lukas Hradecky (Esbjerg 2009–13)
Mathias Jensen, Christian Nørgaard & Marcus Forss (Brentford 2019–)

• Have played in Denmark:
Tim Sparv (Midtjylland 2014–20)
Pyry Soiri (Esbjerg 2019–)
Joni Kauko (Randers 2016–18, Esbjerg 2018–)
Jesse Joronen (Horsens 2017/18, FC Copenhagen 2018/19)
Lukas Hradecky (Esbjerg 2009–13, Brøndby 2013–15)
Paulus Arajuuri (Brøndby 2017–19)
Teemu Pukki (Brøndby 2014–18)

• Pukki scored past Kasper Schmeichel for Norwich at Leicester on 14 December 2019, the 1-1 draw ending the home side's eight-match winning run in the Premier League.

• Robert Skov scored the only goal as Copenhagen won 1-0 away to Finnish club KuPS in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round first leg on 12 July 2018.

• Current Finland goalkeeping coach Antti Niemi played for Copenhagen between 1995 and 1997.

Latest news

Denmark

• Denmark warmed up for UEFA EURO 2020 by drawing 1-1 against Germany in Innsbruck on 2 June – Youssuf Poulsen scoring the equaliser – and beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 at home four days later in the Brøndby Stadion, where Martin Braithwaite and Andreas Cornelius were on target.

• That second encounter brought Denmark their ninth win in 11 games (D1 L1) and ninth clean sheet in 12. They have lost just two of their last 28 matches (W17 D9), both against Group B rivals Belgium in the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League.

• Christian Eriksen, who was on the pitch for every minute of Denmark's UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying campaign, is on a run of 25 consecutive appearances for his country, all but two of those in the starting XI. The last game he did not play in was a friendly at home to Austria on 16 October 2018.

• Eriksen and captain Simon Kjær are the only two members of Kasper Hjulmand's squad to have previously played in a EURO final tournament. They both started all three matches in 2012, when Kasper Schmeichel and Daniel Wass were unused members of the 23-man party.

• Eriksen, Poulsen and defender Mathias Jørgensen are the only players in the Denmark squad to have scored at a major tournament, each of them having found the net once at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

• Eriksen was an Italian Serie A winner with Internazionale in 2020/21, while Andreas Christensen assisted in Chelsea's UEFA Champions League triumph. Domestic cups were won in England by Schmeichel (Leicester City), in Germany by Thomas Delaney (Borussia Dortmund) and in Spain by Braithwaite (Barcelona).

Finland

• Finland come into UEFA EURO 2020 on the back of a six-match winless run (D2 L4). They lost both of their pre-tournament friendlies – 0-2 away to Sweden on 29 May and 0-1 at home to Estonia on 4 June. Their last victory was 2-1 away to Bulgaria on 15 November last year in the UEFA Nations League.

• While no Finland players have previous major tournament experience, only two of their 26-man squad experienced group stage European club football in 2020/21 – goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky with Bayer Leverkusen and Glen Kamara with Rangers, both in the UEFA Europa League.

• Kamara was a Scottish Premiership champion with Rangers in the season just ended, while Teemu Pukki scored 26 goals to help Norwich City win the English Championship and return after a year's absence to the Premier League. In 2020 Daniel O'Shaughnessy was also a Finnish domestic double winner with HJK Helsinki.

• Pukki's tally of ten EURO goals is the same number as the combined tally of the rest of the Finland squad. The striker needs one more to become his country's all-time top scorer in the competition. He currently shares the honour with three other players – Mikael Forssell, Jari Litmanen and Mixu Paatelainen.

• Pukki has scored in each of his last four competitive internationals – UEFA Nations League games against Bulgaria and Wales and FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine.