Denmarkvs.England

Gareth Southgate's men kick-started their group-stage campaign with a slender 1-0 victory over Serbia on Sunday, a few hours after Denmark were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Slovenia.

Separated by 17 places in the current FIFA World Rankings, Denmark and England have butted heads in many memorable meetings in multiple international competitions over the years.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two nations.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 22

Denmark wins: 4

Draws: 5

England wins: 13

Denmark and England have played each other a total of 22 times across all competitive and non-competitive fixtures. While the Three Lions have come out on top 13 times, Denmark have registered just four victories, with the remaining five games all ending as a draw.

The very first meeting between these two European nations took place back in September 1948 when they played out a goalless friendly stalemate at a neutral venue in Norway.

Eight years later, Denmark and England locked horns for their first competitive encounter in World Cup qualifying, with the Three Lions following up a 5-2 home victory with a 4-1 success in the reverse fixture five months later.

Those two victories were part of a six-match winning streak for England against Denmark, but the latter eventually celebrated their first triumph over the Three Lions in September 1983, with Allan Simonsen's first-half penalty securing a narrow 1-0 win at Wembley Stadium in European Championship qualifying.

Denmark and England shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw during the group stage of Euro 1992, a competition the Danes famously triumphed in having qualified only after Yugoslavia were barred due to the developing Balkan crisis.

Since the turn of the century, England have won four of their eight meetings with Denmark, including a comfortable 3-0 victory in the last 16 of the 2002 World Cup, courtesy of a Thomas Sorensen own goals and strikes from Michael Owen and Emile Heskey.

Denmark got their revenge, though, with two friendly wins by an aggregate score of 7-3 between 2003 and 2005, before England matches that with two friendly victories of their own in 2011 (2-1) and 2014 (1-0).

The most recent three meetings between these two nations have all been competitive ones, including back-to-back encounters in the UEFA Nations League, with Denmark holding England to a 0-0 draw on home soil in September 2020 before securing a narrow 1-0 away victory at Wembley 13 months later, thanks to a first-half penalty from Christian Eriksen.

England and Denmark last locked horns in the semi-finals of Euro 2020, with the Three Lions edging through to their first major tournament final for 55 years after claiming a 2-1 win after extra time at Wembley. Mikkel Damsgaard's superb free-kick was cancelled out by an unfortunate Simon Kjaer own goal, before Harry Kane slotted home the match-winner in the 104th minute after having his initially penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel.

Previous 10 meetings

Jul 07, 2021: England 2-1 Denmark (Euro 2020 Semi-Finals)

Oct 14, 2020: England 0-1 Denmark (UEFA Nations League League A)

Sep 08, 2020: Denmark 0-0 England (UEFA Nations League League A)

Mar 05, 2014: England 1-0 Denmark (International Friendly)

Feb 9, 2011: Denmark 1-1 England (International Friendly)

Aug 17, 2005: Denmark 4-1 England (International Friendly)

Nov 16, 2003: England 2-3 Yugoslavia (International Friendly)

June 15, 2002: Denmark 0-3 England (World Cup Last-16)

Mar 9, 1994: England 1-0 Denmark (International Friendly)

June 11, 1992: Denmark 0-0 England (Euro 1992 Group Stage)