The Denmark World Cup soccer team roster is determined by its current coach and Danish soccer legend, Morten Olsen. Olsen, who leads the Danish soccer team since 2000, making him one of the longest active soccer national head coaches in the world, was also one of eight players nominated by the Danish Football Association, qualifying him for "Best Danish Footballer of All Time" award (which was eventually won by Michael Laudrup)

As Olsen has a long history as head coach of the Netherlands World Cup team, he had little trouble selecting players for the finals in South Africa. During 2010, Olsen sticked to a fixed set of 23 players, only occasionally selecting players ourside this group, mostly for their experience. These additional players are: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord, aged 33), Martin Jørgensen (AGF, 34), Jesper Grønkjær (Copenhagen, 32), Jakob Poulsen (AGF, 26) and Anders Møller Christensen (OB, 32). Despite the stability of the team, qualifications for Final rounds of either European Cup or World Cup and even great successes in the European Cup (Winning in 1992 and reaching the Semi-finals in 1984) have been interchanged with several failed qualification tournaments, especially for World Cup tournaments. Denmark has been a regular participant of the European Cup from 1984 onwards, only missing qualification in 2008. Because of the big influence of Morten Olsen on the Danish soccer team, the team is often nick-named The Olsen Gang”, or “Olsen's Eleven”.

The Denmark World Cup Roster, updated June 9, 2010:

Goal:

• Kim Christensen, IFK Göteborg
• Stephan Andersen, Bronby IF
• Thomas Sørensen, Stoke City

Defence:

• Daniel Agger, Liverpool
• Lars Jacobsen, Blackburn Rangers
• Patrick Mtiliga, Malaga
• Per Krøldrup , Fiorentina
• Simon Poulsen, AZ Alkmaar
• Simon Kjær, Palermo
• William Kvist Jorgensen, FC Copenhagen

Midfield:

• Christian Poulsen, Juventus
• Christian Eriksen, Ajax
• Daniel Jensen, Werder Bremen
• Jacob Poulsen, AGF Aarhus
• Mikkel Beckmann, Rangers FC
• Thomas Enevoldsen, FC Groningen
• Thomas Kahlenberg, Wolfsburg
• Dennis Rommedahl, AFC Ajax
• Jesper Gronkjaer, FC Copenhagen
• Martin Jorgensen, AGF

Offence:

• John Dahl Tomassen, Feyenoord
• Nicklas Bendtner, Arsenal
• Soren Larsen, MSV Duisburg

The Danish participation on the 1992 European Cup was both the most perilous, as their best performance ever. Initially, the Danish team didn’t even qualify for the event, being runners-up In their qualification group after Yugoslavia. However, due to international sanctions as a result of the Yugoslav wars, Yugoslavia was banned from the European Cup, getting Denmark a late invitation as runner-up. The team, including excelling goalie Peter Schmeichel and Brian Laudrup, and lead by coach Richard Møller Nielsen, adopted a very defensive style of play, making them extremely hard to beat. The team progressed after surviving the group stage with big soccer countries England and France, defeated reigning European champion The Netherlands after a penalty shoot-out, and won the finals against also reigning World Champion Germany. So far, Denmark has not been able to reach the same successes, even though the “Morten Olsen” period, which started in 2000 and still continues to date, is quite successful, based on long-term results, with a winning share of 58,7%, and an average of 2,03 points per game http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/coachInfo.aspx?coachid=4118&teamtypeid=330&genderid=1