Mads Hermansen has been named in Denmark’s squad for his country’s opening two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The West Ham United goalkeeper has been selected alongside Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel and Chelsea’s Filip Jörgensen by Denmark manager Brian Riemer.
Denmark have been drawn in UEFA qualifying Group C alongside Dinos Mavropanos’s Greece, Belarus and Andy Irving’s Scotland, with the group winners qualifying for next summer’s finals in North America, and the runners-up going into a play-off.
Denmark welcome Scotland to Parken in Copenhagen on Friday 5 September at 8.45pm CEST (7.45pm BST), before travelling to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus to face Greece on Monday 8 September at 9.45pm EEST (7.45pm BST).
Hermansen will hope to win his first senior cap in one of the ties, or when Denmark play away to Belarus in October, albeit that match will be played in Hungary due to UEFA sanctions relating to the war in Ukraine.
Previously, the 25-year-old captained Denmark U21s during their qualification campaign for the 2023 UEFA European U21 Championship finals. Denmark finished second in Group I, losing the one match Hermansen missed against group winners Belgium, and were knocked out on penalties by Croatia in the play-off.
He had also travelled to the 2021 finals, where he was a reserve to OB’s Oliver Christensen. Hermansen was capped nine times at U21 level in total between 2021-22.
Hermansen received his first senior callup for Denmark from then-manager Kasper Hjulmand for UEFA European Championship qualifiers with Finland and Kazakhstan in March 2023. He has been named in all but one senior squad since, but is yet to make his senior international debut.
Denmark have qualified for the World Cup finals on six occasions, with a best of reaching the quarter-finals in France in 1998.
