When one hears the words “Danish Dynamite”, it will not be very easy to conclude in what area of Danish life it is related to. It was actually a name used to refer to the Danish national football team specifically under Coach Sepp Piontek. This was during their glory days from 1980 to 1990.
Piontek is of German descent. A lot of stories have been told on how he managed to make the team produce the desired results by not making it easy for them to get privileges. One of the most talked about stories was when Piontek had to “fetch” some players from a night club after failing to make it back after the imposed curfew. In time, the players learned to respect the rules of Piontek and the desired winning results were seen.
It was during this Danish Dynamite days that Denmark qualified for their first international tournament. This was seen as a very big thing considering that the country has been participating to qualify since 1964. The Danish team's first World Cup appearance was during the 1986 FIFA World Cup. It is interesting to note that the name Danish Dynamite was first used to refer to the team through an official song entry in the 1984 Danish Euro Competition.
The fact that 14 out of the 20 team players were overseas-based was largely credited to the faster transition of the team from amateurs to professionals. After these glory days however, the team experienced some setbacks as evidenced by the number of defeats on record. In time, the national team was able to revive itself and make a comeback. Sometime in the year 2000, a new name “Olsen Gang” was being used interchangeably with Danish Dynamite to refer to the team. This new name referred to the new coach Morten Olsen who happened to be the team captain during the successful 80s.
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