Denmark is a Scandinavian country and like pretty much the rest of Europe, loves football aka soccer! In this article, we’ll cover all the Danish sports vocabulary related to football and many other popular sports in this region and around the world.
The first lesson is how to say sport or sports in Danish. Actually, it’s just sport!
Danes love sport. In fact, about 75% of children in Demark participate in sports on a regular basis. More than 50% of adults are also members of sports clubs. It’s important to Danes and a part of their culture, to keep fit well into the elder years.
If you want to make friends quickly, it’s suggested that you join a sports team as soon as you can!
But don’t worry about being good or not. Danes aren’t competitive like some western cultures can be. Rather, they place an emphasis on good play, trying hard, and enjoying the community that sports create by bringing people together.
So let’s learn some sports vocabulary in Danish to help you make friends and play sports more easily!
8 Most Popular Sports In Denmark
Football (soccer) – Fodbold
You know Denmark adores soccer when you see that it has 1,600 football clubs with more than 330,000 local players. The sport was actually introduced to Denmark by British engineers who played it as a pastime while they were designing and helping build the country’s railroad system in the 1870s.
Since then football has grown to become the most popular sport in Denmark. The country has qualified for the European Championships in football six times and won the 1992 title. Other titles include the 1995 Confederations Cup and reaching the World Cup in 1998.
To strike up an easy conversation and impress locals, make mention of the ‘glory days’ when Denmark beat Germany in the 1992 European Championship. Also, any talk of Michael Laudrup will indicate you know your stuff as he’s lauded by the Danish Football Association as the best football player in Denmark of all time.
Handball – Håndbold
Denmark, Ireland, and Germany have all claimed to have invented handball. The Danes claim to have invented the modern form of the game in 1898. To this day, playing handball is a Danish passion.
People turn up in the thousands to watch matches and it’s also a popular sport to watch on TV. You’ll find handball courses all over Denmark so everybody can play – men, women, and children too!
Since handball was introduced in the Olympics in the 1970s, Danish players from the women’s team from Denmark have gone on to win more gold medals than any other country. As for the men’s Danish National team, they can brag about taking home the most medals in European Handball Championship’s history.
Sailing – Sejlads
As a nation virtually surrounded by water (it’s located on a peninsula), and their ancestors being the Vikings, it’s no surprise that sailing is rather popular.
According to the national Olympic committee, during the summer Olympics Denmark won 28 medals in sailing, which includes 12 gold medals.
Danes aren’t only good at sailing, but rowing, swimming, and canoeing too. This means that almost everyone is good at swimming. With 8.750 km of coastline, you’d need to be! Children are even taught to swim at school and it’s a popular sport in Denmark as well as sailing.
American Football – Amerikansk fodbold
This is probably a bit surprising as you wouldn’t think of American football when you think of a Denmark sport but it exists and it’s growing in popularity. There’s even a national team that plays for the Danish National League. All of this is run by the Danish American Football Federation (DAFF).
The DAFF league operates similarly to the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. They have regular season games, playoffs and the Mermaid Bowl (Super Bowl equivalent).
Ice hockey – Ishockey
Being located in Scandinavia, you can bet it gets pretty cold here in winter. The Danes take advantage and get out there and play hockey. Their professional league is known as Metal Ligaen. It has turned out a couple notable players Peter Regin and Nicklas Jensen, who both made it into the National Hockey League (NHL).
Cycling – Cykling
When many people think of Denmark, they think of bicycles. Danes love cycling! It’s a great and easy way to get around, and it’s a fun hobby too. All the cities in Denmark are the most cyclist-friendly in the world and they’ve even designed special bicycle parking lots.
A few Danes have gone on to be successful in the Tour De France and other professional races. The most famous is Thorvald Ellegaard, who won 925 races out of the 1,560 races he participated in.
Danish Longball — Dansk Langbold
This is a locally played game that involves a bat and a ball. You can think of it as a hybrid mixture of cricket and baseball. Sometimes a bit of dodgeball is included where players are ousted if they are hit with the ball.
It’s a popular fun sport in Denmark that people play as a hobby. There are no professional leagues, yet.
Krolf — Krolf
This sport was also created in Denmark and pretty much is solely played here. It’s a mix of croquet and golf. Each player uses a mallet to hit a ball into a hole. There are 12 holes in the course and there will usually be obstacles for players to hit their balls around and a par of six for each hole.
Other Danish Sports Vocabulary
Here’s a listing of other sports the Danish athletes and regular Danes play professionally or recreationally to help you answer what are sports called in Danish?
Have A Conversation About Sports In Danish
Here are some simple questions and answers you can use to fit into the sports culture in Denmark, no matter what your taste in sports is!
Which sports do you like to watch? | Hvilken sportsgren kan du lide at se? | |
I like to watch … (insert sport) | Jeg kan godt lide at se … |
Who’s your favorite player? | Hvem er din yndlingsspiller? | |
My favorite player is (insert name) | Min yndlingsspiller er |
Which football team do you cheer for? | Hvilket fodboldhold hepper du på? | |
I cheer for (insert team name) | Jeg hepper på |
Would you like to watch (insert sport) together? | Vil I se | |
Sure! | Jo da! | |
No. I’d rather watch (insert sport) | Nej. Jeg vil hellere se |
Have you ever been to a (insert sport) game before? | Har du nogensinde været til et (indsæt sport) spil før? | |
No! But I’d like to go | Ingen! Men jeg vil gerne gå |
Have you ever been to a (insert sport) match before? | Har du nogensinde været til en (indsæt sport) kamp før? | |
No! But I’d like to go | Ingen! Men jeg vil gerne gå |
Learn More Danish With Ling
After studying the names of sports in Danish, head on over to Ling App to learn more! Ling has set itself apart from the rest of the competition by allowing you to listen to real conversations in Danish, recorded by native Danish speakers.
In fact, all of our 60+ languages have been approved by native speakers who also had a hand in creating some of the lessons. It’s an all-encompassing language app where you’ll learn to read, speak, and write. All it takes is between 10-15 focused minutes a day.
Ling App has over 10 million downloads and this very blog is where you can access hundreds of resources for free.