Martin Laursen - International Career

International Career

While playing for Silkeborg, Laursen played one game for the Danish under-19 national team in December 1996. He was called up for the Danish under-21 national team in February 1997, and went on to play 14 games for the under-21s until June 1999. Laursen made his debut for the senior Denmark national team in a friendly match against Portugal in March 2000. He was a part of the Denmark squad at the UEFA Euro 2000, though he did not play a single game at the tournament due to injury.

Laursen's breakthrough with the national team came at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when he played full time in all four Denmark games before elimination. Laursen scored his first goal for his country in September 2003, in the UEFA Euro 2004 qualification, an all-important goal in injury time of the penultimate qualification match. His goal levelled the game with Romania to 2–2, and kept Denmark in the race for a place at the final competition. Laursen and the Denmark team secured qualification when they drew the last game, thus winning their qualification group. Laursen played full time in Denmark's four games at the tournament, playing impressively.

After the March 2005 game against Kazakhstan, Laursen's national team career went on a hiatus, due to a knee injury. After his absence from the Danish national team for more than one and a half years, he was called up in November 2006, but had to withdraw from the team before the game due to yet another knee injury. In June 2007, Laursen returned to Denmark's starting line-up in a 2–0 win against Latvia. He played his last international game on 11 October 2008 against Malta. In January 2009, Laursen announced his retirement from international football, as he found it physically straining to play for both club and country.