The Danes like to think of handball as a Danish invention - founded by Holger Nielsen who in 1906 introduced the first written rules of the game and Rasmus Ernst who as a teacher in Nyborg simultaneously taught a game which was very similar to his students.

Indeed, the first handball match to be registred took place in 1907 when teams from Nielsen´s school and Ernst´s school met in Elsinore.

Ever since then Denmark has played an important role in the history of handball: The Danes were present in 1928 when The International Amateur Handball Federation was formed and also when The International Handball Federation was founded in 1946 and there has been Danish participation at all international championships from the very beginning - that is when the Danish teams have qualified.

Especially in the 1990´s and a couple of years into the new century the female Danish team were very successful winning Olympic gold medals in 1996, 2000 and 2004, the World Championship in 1997 and the European Championship in 1994, 1996 and 2002.

The men´s team has had a number of brilliant results for many years with the gold medal at the European Championship 2008 as the greatest so far.

At youth level the Danish international teams have also won a lot of medals and the Women's 20 team is the world champions, and the Men's 20 team is the defending European champion.

The Danish clubs have also enjoyed tremendous success internationally. Four years in a row from 2003 to 2007 Slagelse DT (3 times) and Viborg HK (once) have won the EHF Champions League in women´s handball.

As a sport with about 120,000 active players handball is the 4th most popular sport in Denmark and the Danish Handball Association as we know it today was founded on 2 June 1935 and will celebrate its 75th birthday just before the Euro 2010.

The Danish model for elite sport has been an inspiration to many other countries. Read about the Danish way of organising top sport on sporteventdenmark.com.

On the website www.visitdenmark.com you will be able to get all the information you need before planning a pleasant stay in our wonderful country.