# Danish Football Association

The Danish Football Union (Danish: Dansk Boldspil-Union; abbr. DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues, alongside the men's and women's national teams. Based in the city of Brøndby, it is a founding member of both FIFA and UEFA. The DBU has also been the governing body of futsal in Denmark since 2008.

## Beginnings

The DBU was founded on 18 May 1889 and was the first national football association outside Great Britain and Ireland. However, it did not register games officially before the 1908 Summer Olympics, meaning that the win in the 1906 Intercalated Olympics tournament was not officially recorded by the DBU.

## List of presidents

The following is a list of presidents since its creation in 1905.
| President | Term |
| Frederik Markmann | 1889–1890 |
| Harald Hilarius-Kalkau | 1890–1894 |
| Johannes Forchhammer | 1894–1897 |
| Albert Albertsen | 1897–1911 |
| Ludvig Sylow | 1911–1918 |
| Louis Østrup | 1918–1935 |
| Kristian Middelboe | 1935–1940 |
| Leo Frederiksen | 1940–1948 |
| Kristian Middelboe | 1948–1950 |
| Ebbe Schwartz | 1950–1964 |
| Vilhelm Skousen | 1965–1977 |
| Carl Nielsen | 1977–1990 |
| Hans Erik Jensen | 1990–1991 |
| Poul Hyldgaard | 1991–2002 |
| Allan Hansen | 2002–2014 |
| Jesper Møller | 2014–present |

## DBU competitions
### Men's

* Leagues
** Superliga
** First Division (1. Division)
** Second Divisions (2. Division)
** Third Divisions (3. Division)
** Denmark Series (Danmarksserien) (4 groups)
* Cups
** DBU Pokalen

### Women's

* Leagues
** Elite Division (Elite Divisionen)
** First Division (1. Division)
** Second Division (2. Division) (2 groups)
** Denmark Series women (Danmarksserien) (3 groups)
* Cups
* Cup (Landspokalturneringen)

### Defunct

* Landsfodboldturneringen (1913–1927)
* Provinsmesterskabsturneringen (1913–1931)
* Sylow-Tournament (1918–1926)

## Regional structure

The DBU is separated into six regional associations, based on the former counties of Denmark:
* DBU Jutland, which in turn is separated into four regions:
** Region 1: Nordjylland County
** Region 2: Viborg and Ringkøbing counties
** Region 3: Århus and Vejle counties
** Region 4: Ribe and South Jutland counties
* DBU Funen: Funen County
* DBU Zealand: West Zealand, Roskilde, Frederiksborg, Copenhagen counties and Zealand part of Storstrøm County
* DBU Copenhagen: Frederiksberg and Copenhagen municipalities
* DBU Lolland-Falster: Non-Zealand part of Storstrøm County
* DBU Bornholm: Bornholm municipality
The Faroe Islands and Greenland, which are autonomous territories within Denmark, have their own football associations and are not part of the DBU. Greenland is not a member of FIFA or any continental federation, but the Faroe Islands are a member of both FIFA and UEFA.

## International teams

The Denmark national football teams represents Denmark in international football competitions and is controlled by the DBU. As of June 2021 the teams consist of:

### Women's

* A-level National Team
* Under-23 National Team
* Under-19 National Team
* Under-17 National Team
* Under-16 National Team

### Men's

* A-level National Team
* Under-21 National Team
* Under-20 National Team
* Under-19 National Team
* Under-18 National Team
* Under-17 National Team
* Under-16 National Team
* Futsal National Team
* Oldboys National Team

## Yearly honours

The DBU awards the best national team players each year, with an award to the best senior team player, as well as the best player in three of the DBU's six national youth teams.

### Player of the Year

Since 1963, the DBU has awarded the Danish Player of the Year in a vote amongst the Danish players. In the time of amateur football, only players in the domestic league could achieve the prize, and even after the emergence of paid football in 1978, no players in foreign clubs were eligible for the award. When the award was finally opened to all Danish players, domestic and abroad, in 1983, national team captain Morten Olsen was the first player to win the Player of the Year award taking all Danish players into consideration. The record number of award wins is four, by Brian Laudrup (1989, 1992, 1995, and 1997).

### Young Players of the Year

The Young Players of the Year Awards on the other hand are sponsored by Arla Foods, the awards were initially known as Mælkens talentpriser (the Milk Talent Awards) in order to promote the line of dairy products of the company then known as MD Foods. DBU found new sponsor DONG (later DONG Energy), an oil company, in 2004 but Arla went on to sponsor the prize which was renamed Arla's talentpriser (the Arla Talent Awards) in 2005.

## National team contract negotiations
### Women's national team

In 2017, the negotiations regarding terms and salary with the women's national team broke down, causing DBU to cancel the world cup qualification match against Sweden. The team lost the match 3–0 due to forfeit. DBU was handed a fine by the UEFA disciplinary committee. The national team and DBU came to an agreement before the match was supposed to be played, but the match was already cancelled. The team then failed to qualify directly to the world cup. A playoff match will decide if the team will qualify to the world cup.

### Men's national team

After the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the agreement between DBU and the men's national team expired. The negotiations about terms and salary are still ongoing. Currently DBU has selected a squad without any players from the top tier of international and national leagues. The team is to play two matches. DBU refuses to negotiate before the end of the two matches.
The badge is still in use on the Danish men's kit for the European Championship 2020 (so-named despite being played in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Equal Team Pay
Prior to the start of EURO 2024, Denmark's players union Spillerforeningen put in place a new agreement with the Danish Football Association where the men's and women's teams will receive equal pay and conditions at tournaments, after the men's team refused a pay rise. Both Teams will now be paid the same for national team appearances.