The Denmark national basketball team represents Denmark in men's international basketball competition. They are controlled by the Danish Basketball Association. In the 1950s, the Danish national team regularly competed at the EuroBasket, the top European tournament. Its best finish was in 1951 where the team ended up with a 3-7 record. Since then, the Danish have struggled to maintain competitivens with the international elites. Denmark has yet to qualify for the FIBA World Cup.
Denmark debuted in the European championships at the EuroBasket 1951 in Paris. They were defeated in all of their preliminary round games, going 0–4. They ended up in last place in their group. In a direct elimination match against Luxembourg, Denmark took a 46–45 lead with 5 seconds left. A final half-court shot by Luxembourg bounced off the rim, giving Denmark its first ever win at the EuroBasket tournament and advancing the team to the first classification round. They picked up another win there, against Scotland, finishing in third place in the group at 1–2. Their third win of the tournament came against Portugal in the 13th–16th place classification semifinal. Denmark then lost to Switzerland in the 13th/14th place match to finish 14th of the 18 teams with a record of 3–7.
Two years later, at the EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow, Denmark did not fare as well. They dropped 8 of their matches on their way to a 16th-place finish out of the 17 teams in the tournament.
At the EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, the national team struggled there as well just as they did at the prior EuroBasket. Losing all 8 of their matches in non competitive fashion, this time they finished last place of the 18 teams at the event.
Later years
After the EuroBasket 1955, the Danish national team regressed and never qualified for a major tournament again. Though, they did achieve some success on a lower level, at the European Championship for Small Countries, where they won Gold in 2010.
1951 EuroBasket: finished 14th among 18 teams 3 Knud Lundberg, 4 Knud Norskov, 5 Erik Korsbjerg, 6 Erik Wilbek, 7 Peter Tantholdt, 8 Belger Can, 9 Bent Sondergaard, 10 Erik Melbye, 11 Sven Thomsen, 12 John Christensen, 13 Ove Nielsen, 14 Kai Sogaard, 15 Erik Carlsen, 16 Niels Mygind ---- 1953 EuroBasket: finished 16th among 17 teams 3 Kai Sorensen, 4 Knud Norskov, 5 Knud Lundberg, 6 Peter Tantholdt, 7 John Christensen, 8 Erik Madsen, 10 Torben Starup-Hansen, 11 Ivan Rasmussen, 12 Ove Nielsen, 13 Erik Wilbek, 14 Pierre Meilsej, 15 Willi Mouritsen, 16 John Nielsen ---- 1955 EuroBasket: finished 18th among 18 teams 3 Kai Sogaard, 4 Erik Korsbjerg, 5 Peter Tantholdt, 6 Pierre Meilsej, 7 An Lillelund, 8 Ivan Rasmussen, 9 Ove Nielsen, 10 T Storup, 11 P Hintz, 12 T Malmquist, 13 Willi Mouritsen, 14 S Sparre
