Dansk Håndbold Forbund

Dansk Håndbold Forbund (DHF)
founding	June 2, 1935
IHF membership	1946
EHF accession	1991
President	Per Bertelsen
Secretary General	Morten Stig Christensen
Clubs (approx.)	approx. 885 (as of 2010)
Members (approx.)	approx. 124,083 (as of 2010)
Seat	Idrættens Hus Brøndby Stadion 20 DK-2605 Brøndby
Website	www.dhf.dk

The Dansk Håndbold Forbund (DHF for short) is the national sports association for handball in Denmark and is based in Idrættens Hus (House of Sports) in Brøndby . It is the umbrella organization for 885 associations, in which over 124,000 members are active (status: 2010). The DHF, which has existed since 1935, is one of around 60 professional sports federations of the Danish Sports Federation and a founding member of the International Handball Federation (IHF) from 1946 and its European continental federation, the EHF from 1991.

In addition to the DHF, handball is also played in other associations in Denmark, including the second largest sports association in the country, the Danske Gymnastik- og Idrætsforeninger (DGI), the workers' sports association ( Dansk Arbejder Idrætsforbund , DAI), the Danish YMCA sports association ( KFUMs Idrætsforbund ) and in the company sports association Dansk Firma Idrætsforbund (DFIF).

history

Handball in Denmark began as a school sport in the 1890s and a first public school tournament in 1904 in Randers . Although the country is counted among the pioneering countries of handball, its own association was not founded until June 2, 1935. Before that, the sport was organized in the Dansk Athletik Forbund , which was also a founding member of the IHF's predecessor, the International Amateur Handball Federation ( IAHF) from 1928.

In field handball , which was played with eleven players until 1959 (women until 1960) and in a team of seven until 1972, the first international match of a Danish men's national team took place on August 20, 1934 in Copenhagen . Denmark lost the game against the German team 16: 5. In indoor handball, the first encounter was on March 8, 1935 against a team from Sweden , which also ended with a defeat with a result of 18:12.

When, in the course of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, in which the Danish handball players did not take part for sporting reasons, the Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, claimed that the handball game had been invented in Germany, this triggered a protest among the Danes, which, however, came after a lawsuit led to no success at the IAHF.

Danish championships

In March 1936 a Danish champion was determined for the first time in Aarhus , whose championships were officially recognized by the Danish national sports association only three years later. Up until the 1946/47 season, the district champions met in a weekend tournament, after which the league system was introduced in the highest class, today's Håndboldligaen . The game operation of the second division began in the 1952/53 season, which was divided into two areas on this side and on the other side of the Great Belt for six years from the late 1950s to the early 1960s . The league system for the women's first and second division was introduced in the 1961/62 season.

In the following year, a national cup winner was determined for the first time for women and men from the teams of the 1964 season, the final tournament of which has been held every year in different venues since then. The tournament, named after a sponsor, is organized by the district associations until the round of 16.

Handball World Cup and European Championship in Denmark

The men's handball world championship was first held in Denmark in 1978 . The 2019 World Cup was organized together with Germany . The 1999 Women's World Cup was held together with Norway, and the country hosted the Women's World Cup again in 2015 . Denmark also hosted the European Women's Handball Championship in 1996 , 2002 and again together with Norway in 2010 . The men's EM took place for the first time in 2014 in their own country.

Greatest successes

• The Danish men's national handball team , which has always participated in all World Cups except in 1990, 1997 and 2001, has won the silver medal three times at this tournament: 1967 and 2011 in Sweden and 2013 in Spain. The world championship was finally won in the home game final in 2019. The team won the European championship title at the 2008 European Championships in Norway and 2012 in Serbia. At the Olympic Games in 2016 , they won the gold medal.
• The Danish national women's handball team won the 1997 World Cup and the 1994 European Championship , both of which took place in Germany, as well as the 1996 and 2002 European Championships , both of which were held in their own country. The women's team emerged victorious three times in a row at the Olympic Games: 1996 in Atlanta , 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens .

Regional associations

The DHF is divided into three regional associations:

• Håndbold Region Øst (HRØ) based in Greve for Zealand , Lolland - Falster and Bornholm ,
• Fyns Håndbold Forbund (FHF) based in Odense for Funen as well
• Jydsk Håndbold Forbund (JHF) based in Viby for Jutland , which is also organized into eight districts.

See also

• List of sports associations in Denmark

Web links

• Dansk Håndbold Forbund Official website (Danish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Dansk Håndbold Forbund: Medlemstal , accessed on April 26, 2012 (Danish)
2. ↑ International Handball Federation: Dansk Haandbold Forbund , accessed on April 26, 2012 (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Dansk Håndbold Forbund: DHF's historie ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on April 26, 2012 (Danish) 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Dansk Håndbold Forbund: Dansk håndbolds historie ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on April 26, 2012 (Danish) 
5. ^ Dansk Håndbold Forbund: Landspokalturneringen , accessed on April 26, 2012 (Danish)
6. ↑ Dansk Håndbold Forbund: DHF Distriktforbund og kredse , accessed on April 26, 2012 (Danish)

Coordinates: 55 ° 38 ′ 50.7 "  N , 12 ° 25 ′ 4.3"  E