Denmark has won the Team World Championship fifteen times since 1960, when the international motoring union FIM introduced this prestigious competition, which today is called Speedway of Nations.
By Ib Søby
Who will be world champions in edition number 63 which will be run at Vojens Speedway Center from 27-30 July.
That debate is in full swing in many places on the globe, where speedway fans with joyful anticipation look forward to some days of world-class speedway and top excitement about who should be at the top of the podium and bathed in Champagne.
That this year's World Cup festival is run on Danish soil is absolutely no guarantee of Danish gold medals. Of the fifteen titles that the Danish Motor Union can boast of, only three of them are run in front of a Danish audience.
1983, 1991 and 2008, all in Vojens, which has hosted seven times.
However, in 1986 and 1987, the World Cup was run in three countries, where both Vojens and Fredericia Stadium had a department. In connection with the Par WC which was run from 1968 to 1993, Denmark won only once at home, when Hans Nielsen and Ole Olsen triumphed at Vojens Speedway Center in 1979.
Roughly speaking, it can be said that Denmark only wins every fifth time at home.
For every rider, an official FIM World Cup title is something very special. It is a place in the history books that one can never get deprived of, and a place that quite a few drivers achieve at all.
I clearly remember the tropical night in Reading in 2006, when Charlie Gjedde at a hotel - but a tear in his eye - declared that the World Cup gold medal he had won a few hours before with Denmark, would most likely be the only one he ever came close to of.
Roughly the same thing was said by New Zealander Mitch Shirra in White City in 1979, where he, along with Ivan Mauger, Larry Ross and Bruce Cribb, brought home New Zealand's only Team World Cup title so far. An event that is duly marked at the National Sports Museum in Wellington.
In 1960, no one in the Danish speedway had the imagination to imagine that Denmark could participate in a World Cup final, neither individually nor for teams. In the tough qualifying rounds we got always rear wheels of the Swedes in the Nordic finals.
Admittedly, we had strong drivers - even before Ole Olsen - such as. Kiehn Berthelsen, Arne Pander, Kurt W. Petersen, Kurt Bøgh or Poul Wissing who, in the year before his tragic death in 1967, reached a British-Nordic final in Sheffield together with Ole Olsen.
Olsen's success in the 1970s took a whole generation of young aspiring speedway drivers with him, and finally, in 1978, Denmark qualified for a Team WC final.
It happened in Landshut near Munich, and sensationally the Danes won with Olsen, Finn Thomsen, Hans Nielsen and Michael Lohmann, well led by Oluf Frimodt Pedersen.
Then came the happy 80s where Denmark won EVERYTHING, right up to Black Sunday - September 17 - in 1989 when Erik Gundersen was injured in the Team WC final in Bradford.
The final was won by England, and it would be a full 32 years before they won again, in Manchester last year.
We have had conditional success with the new format - Speedway of Nations. The last two editions have turned to bronze, while Russia with Emil Saytfudinov, Artem Laguta and Cleb Chugunov took World Cup gold in the first three editions in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
But Poland has not won yet either.
Last year it was down to their right leg, but a blunder in the final from Bartosz Zmarzlik cost dearly, creating the biggest British surprise in 32 years.
Well, all those statistics just help to increase the joy of anticipation.
There is room for new names next week.
World Champions and Number of Team World Cup titles
Hans Nielsen 11
Tommy Knudsen 8
Erik Gundersen 7
Nicki Pedersen 4
Niels Kr. Iversen 4
Ole Olsen 3
Jan O. Pedersen 3
Find Thomsen 3
Bo Petersen 2
Preben Eriksen 2
John Jørgensen 2
Brian Karger 2
Hans Andersen 2
Bjarne Pedersen 2
Michael Lohmann 1
Gert Handberg 1
Charlie Pike 1
Kenneth Bjerre 1
Michael Jepsen Jensen 1
Mikkel Bech 1
Peter Kildemand 1
Mads Korneliussen 1
Peter Ravn 1
WC for HOLD
1960Gothenburg
Sweden, England, Czech Republic
1961 Wroclaw
Poland, Sweden, England
1962 Slany
Sweden, England, Poland
1963 Wienna
Sweden, Czech Republic, England
1964 Abensberg
Sweden, Soviet Union, England
1965 Kempten
Poland, Sweden, England
1966 Wroclaw
Poland, Soviet Union, Sweden
1967 Malmö
Sweden, Poland, England
1968 London
England, Sweden, Poland
1969 Rybnik
Poland, England, Soviet Union
1970 London
Sweden, England, Poland
1971 Wroclaw
England, Soviet Union, Poland
1972 Olching
England, Soviet Union, Poland
1973 London
England, Sweden, Soviet Union
1974 Katowice
England, Sweden, Poland
1975 Norden
England, Soviet Union, Sweden
1976 London
Australia, Poland, Sweden
1977 Wroclaw
England, Poland, Czech Republic
1978 Landshut
Denmark, England, Poland
1979 London
New Zealand, Denmark, Czech Republic
1980 Wroclaw
England, USA, Poland
1981 Olching
Denmark, England, Germany
1982 London
USA, Denmark, Germany
1983 Vojens
Denmark, England, USA
1984 Leszno
Denmark, England, USA
1985 Long Beach
Denmark, USA, England
1986 Three Nations
Denmark, USA, England
1987 Three Nations
Denmark, England, USA
1988 Los Angeles
Denmark, USA, Sweden
1989 Bradford
England, Denmark, Sweden
1990 Pardubice
USA, England, Denmark
1991 Vojens
Denmark, Sweden, USA
1992 Kumla
USA, Sweden, England
1993 Coventry
USA, Denmark, Sweden
1994 Brockstedt
Sweden, Poland, Denmark
1995 Bydgoszcz
Denmark, England, USA
1996 Diedenbergen
Poland, Russia, Denmark
1997 Pila
Denmark, Poland, Sweden
1998 Vojens
USA, Sweden, Denmark
1999 Pardubice
Australia, Czech Republic, USA
2000 Coventry
Sweden, England, USA
2001 Wroclaw
Australia, Poland, Sweden
2002 Peterborough
Australia, Denmark, Sweden
2003 Vojens
Sweden, Australia, Denmark
2004 Poole
Sweden, England, Denmark
2005 Wroclaw
Poland, Sweden, Denmark
2006 Reading
Denmark, Sweden, England
2007 Leszno
Poland, Denmark, Australia
2008 Vojens
Denmark, Poland, Sweden
2009 Leszno
Poland, Denmark, Sweden
2010 Vojens
Poland, Denmark, Sweden
2011 Gorzow
Poland, Australia, Sweden
2012 Malilla
Denmark, Australia, Russia
2013 Prague
Poland, Denmark, Australia
2014 Bydgoszcz
Denmark, Poland, Australia
2015 Vojens
Sweden, Denmark, Poland
2016 Manchester
Poland, England, Sweden
2017
Poland, Sweden, Russia
Speedway of Nations
2018 Wroclaw
Russia, England, Poland
2019 Togliatti
Russia, Poland, Australia
2020 Lublin
Russia, Poland, Denmark
2021 Manchester
England, Poland, Denmark
2022 Vojens