Jan Heintze - International Career

International Career

Heintze made his Denmark debut on 29 April 1987 in a Euro 1988 qualifying match, a 1–0 win over Finland, and he played all three matches at the final Euro 1988 tournament, though Denmark lost them all. At the final qualification match for the Euro 1992 against Yugoslavia on 1 May 1991, Heintze's then club, PSV, wanted him to stay home to play an important match for PSV, but he decided to travel with the Denmark team, though they were already eliminated from the qualification. Once at the Denmark camp, Heintze learned that national coach Richard Møller Nielsen did not intend to start with him in the game, and after consulting PSV, who still wanted him to play, Heintze decided to go back to the Netherlands, without the knowledge of Møller Nielsen. Back in Eindhoven, Heintze found out he wasn't eligible for the PSV match since he had been written off to play for Denmark. Heintze would see the PSV game from the sideline, and as a punishment for leaving the national team, he received a one-year ban from the national team by Møller Nielsen. As the ban expired before the Euro 1992, Heintze was once more called up, but an injury kept him from re-entering the team. Thus, he missed Denmark's later victory in Euro 1992, following Yugoslavia's exclusion from the tournament due to the Yugoslav wars. He played a further four matches under Møller Nielsen, before his national team career went on hiatus.

When Denmark hired new coach Bo Johansson in 1996, Heintze was once more called up for Denmark, and he played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000 tournaments. Following the international retirement of Peter Schmeichel in April 2001, Heintze captained his country at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, under new Denmark coach Morten Olsen. At the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Heintze was suffering in the heat, and after being substituted after the second match of the tournament, Heintze watched the last two games from the bench, before Denmark was eliminated. He ended his national career following the competition, 38 years of age, though he continued to play another season for PSV.

In a Euro 2000 qualifying match against Belarus on 5 June 1999 he scored a memorable goal, directly from a corner kick.