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

Wales and Denmark go head to head at a major tournament for the first time as they meet at the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam in the first UEFA EURO 2020 round of 16 tie.

• While Wales have extended their second EURO finals campaign in a row, and overall, into the knockout stages, Denmark have progressed beyond the group stage for the first time in 17 years.

• Both sides finished second in their section on goal difference, Wales taking the runners-up spot in Group A on four points behind Italy while Denmark became the first team ever to reach the EURO knockout stages after losing their first two games thanks to a memorable Matchday 3 win against Russia that secured Group B's runners-up spot behind Belgium.

• The winners of this tie will take on the Netherlands or the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals in Baku on 3 July.

Previous meetings

• All ten of the teams' previous fixtures have produced a winner, Denmark recording six victories and Wales four.

• Denmark won the two most recent, beating Wales twice in the UEFA Nations League in autumn 2018. Christian Eriksen scored both goals in a 2-0 win in Aarhus on 9 September before Nicolai Jørgensen (42) and Martin Braithwaite (88) – with his first competitive international goal – found the net in Cardiff on 16 November, Gareth Bale's 89th-minute strike coming too late for Wales.

• Their only other meeting this century was a Brøndby friendly in November 2008, Craig Bellamy scoring the only goal to give Wales their only win in the last four fixtures between the teams.

• The countries have crossed paths in four UEFA European Championship qualifying matches, each winning 1-0 at home in the 1988 preliminaries – although it was the Danes who went on to reach the finals in West Germany – before two away wins were recorded in the run-up to UEFA EURO 2000. Wales triumphed 2-1 in Copenhagen in October 1998, with another Bellamy winner, but lost 2-0 in Liverpool the following June, the Danes finishing second behind group winners Italy and again going on to the final tournament, on that occasion via the play-offs.

EURO facts: Wales

• This is Wales's second successive UEFA European Championship, following their 2016 debut. It proved a memorable bow, as a team coached by Chris Coleman qualified first in their group ahead of England, Slovakia and Russia before beating Northern Ireland (1-0) and Belgium (3-1) to reach the country's first ever semi-final at a UEFA or FIFA tournament at any level for men or women. Portugal proved too strong in the last four, however, the eventual champions running out 2-0 winners.

• Wales's previous best EURO performance came in 1976, when they went out to Yugoslavia 3-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. They fell 2-0 in the first leg in Zagreb before a 1-1 draw in Cardiff.

• That 2016 campaign was only Wales's second appearance in a major tournament. They reached the quarter-finals at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, where they were eliminated 1-0 by eventual winners Brazil.

• In qualifying for these finals, a team managed by Ryan Giggs recovered from losing two of their first three matches to remain unbeaten in the last five (W3 D2) and finish second in Group E behind Croatia. They booked their place in the tournament with a 2-0 home win against Hungary in the last fixture.

• At these finals, a team now managed by caretaker Robert Page drew 1-1 against Switzerland before a 2-0 defeat of Turkey on Matchday 2, both games played in Baku. Wales then went through despite a 1-0 loss to Italy in Rome in their final Group A fixture.

• Wales's sole previous game at the Johan Cruijff ArenA was a 2-0 friendly loss against the Netherlands in 2014, a game Wayne Hennessey, Chris Gunter, Joe Allen and Jonny Williams all started.

• The Welsh have lost all five of their previous games in the Netherlands, all against the home side, conceding 16 goals. A Dean Saunders goal at the PSV Stadion in Eindhoven in a 1998 World Cup qualifier is their only one in the country – Wales lost that game 7-1.

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. They have not won a EURO knockout game since their 2-0 victory over Germany in the 1992 final.

• 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, runs they have extended at the final tournament – Spain and Ukraine. They are the only one of the five who did not top their qualifying 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 three group games all took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, where they lost to Finland (0-1) and Belgium (1-2) before a thrilling 4-1 win against Russia that snatched second place in the section.

• The defeat of Russia ended Denmark's four-game losing run in the EURO final tournament, and was only their third win in their last 13 EURO finals matches (D2 L8); they have still lost five of their last seven fixtures.

• This is Denmark's first match at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, although they have played ten previous matches in Amsterdam (W2 D2 L6), most recently a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands at the Olympic Stadium in September 1989. Their record in the country overall is W2 D3 L9, their last visit a 1-1 friendly draw at Eindhoven's PSV Stadion in May 2008; their sole fixture there against a side other than the Netherlands is a 1-0 UEFA European Championship quarter-final play-off defeat of Luxembourg at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium in December 1963.

Links and trivia

• Wales manager Page was an unused substitute in Denmark's 2-0 win at Anfield in the UEFA EURO 2000 qualifier.

• Wales defender Ben Davies was a youth player at Danish side Viborg between 2001 and 2004.

• Opposing goalkeepers Danny Ward and Kasper Schmeichel have been Leicester City team-mates since 2018.

• Wales duo Davies and Joe Rodon are Tottenham team-mates of Denmark's Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. Bale spent 2020/21 on loan at the London club.

• Brentford's Mathias Jensen and Swansea City's Connor Roberts and Ben Cabongo were on opposing sides in the 2020/21 English Championship play-off final on 29 May, which the London side, for whom Christian Nørgaard was an unused substitute, won 2-0 to clinch promotion to the Premier League.

• Bale's last two goals were scored past Schmeichel on 23 May as Tottenham won 4-2 away to Leicester on the final day of the Premier League season.

• Aaron Ramsey scored the third goal past Schmeichel as Arsenal beat Leicester 4-3 on the opening day of the 2017/18 Premier League season.

• Davies and Eriksen played together at Tottenham between 2014 and 2020.

• Ethan Ampadu and Andreas Christensen have been Chelsea team-mates since 2017; they are unbeaten in their eight appearances together (W7 D1).

Penalty shoot-outs

• Wales have yet to figure in a competitive shoot-out.

• Denmark's shoot-out record is W2 L2:
4-5 v Spain, 1984 UEFA European Championship semi-final
5-4 v Netherlands, EURO '92 semi-final
4-2 v Mexico, 1995 FIFA Confederations Cup group stage
2-3 v Croatia, 2018 FIFA World Cup round of 16

Latest news

Wales
• The Matchday 3 defeat against Italy means that Wales's record at the EURO finals is now W5 D1 L3 with 13 goals scored and eight conceded.

• Aaron Ramsey became the first Welshman to score in two major tournaments when he put his team ahead on Matchday 2 against Turkey. He was also on target against Russia at UEFA EURO 2016 and now has 17 goals in 66 internationals – the seventh highest in Wales's all-time scoring list.

• Connor Roberts' added-time strike against Turkey was his second goal for Wales and first in 25 appearances, his first having come in just his third match – and first start – in a 4-1 home win over the Republic of Ireland in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League.

• Gareth Bale, Wales's record scorer with 33 goals, provided both assists against Turkey but missed a penalty in the same game and after also drawing a blank against Italy has now failed to find the net in his last 14 internationals – his longest barren run since he went 20 games without a goal from August 2007 to October 2010.

• Kieffer Moore's goal against Switzerland was his sixth for Wales and came on his final tournament debut. Wales have never lost a game in which he has scored (W4 D2).

• Wales have failed to score in three of their last five games, including their two pre-tournament friendlies, in which they lost 3-0 to France in Nice and drew 0-0 against Albania in Cardiff. Neco Williams was sent off after 26 minutes in the defeat by France, in which 19-year-old Rubin Colwill came off the bench to make his international debut.

• There are no 2020/21 domestic league winners in the Wales squad. Indeed, 15 of their UEFA EURO participants spent the season operating in the second or third tiers of English football. The only major trophy winners in the squad were Ramsey, who lifted the Coppa Italia with Juventus, and goalkeeper Danny Ward, who helped Leicester City capture the FA Cup – though neither played in the final, the latter on the bench as understudy to Denmark's Kasper Schmeichel.

• There are eight survivors from UEFA EURO 2016 in the Wales squad for this tournament: Joe Allen, Bale, Ben Davies, Chris Gunter, Wayne Hennessey, Ramsey, Ward and Jonny Williams.

• Ethan Ampadu is suspended for this game following his red card against Italy.

Denmark
• Denmark have become the first team ever to qualify as group runners-up for the knockout phase of a EURO final tournament with one win and two defeats. Northern Ireland came through their section at UEFA EURO 2016 with the same record, but as one of the best third-placed teams – a feat repeated at this tournament by Ukraine.

• The 4-1 win over Russia in Copenhagen on Matchday 3 was Denmark's tenth win in their last 14 matches (D1 L3). Despite the earlier Group B defeats against Finland and Belgium they have lost just four of their last 31 games (W18 D9), two of the others having also been against Belgium, in the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League (0-2 h, 2-4 a).

• Yussuf Poulsen's goal against Russia was his second in successive games at UEFA EURO 2020 and his third at a major tournament following his winner against Peru at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He now has ten goals in 57 internationals.

• Mikkel Damsgaard, Andreas Christensen and Joakim Mæhle all found the net for the first time in a major tournament – and in the UEFA European Championship, qualifying games included – with their goals against Russia. Damsgaard's was his third in five internationals but his first in a competitive game.

• Denmark warmed up for UEFA EURO 2020 by drawing 1-1 against Germany in Innsbruck on 2 June – 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 clean sheet in 12 games; they failed to keep any in their three group stage encounters.

• Christian Eriksen and captain Simon Kjær were the only two members of Kasper Hjulmand's squad to have previously played in a EURO final tournament before Matchday 1. They both started all three matches in 2012, when Kasper Schmeichel and Daniel Wass were unused members of the 23-man party.

• Kjær won his 110th cap against Russia, overtaking Eriksen to move to fourth place outright in Denmark's all-time list.

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