Mads Mensah Larsen

Mads Mensah Larsen
Larsen in 2024
Personal information
Born (1991-08-12) 12 August 1991
Holbæk, Denmark
Nationality Danish
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Centre back
Club information
Current club Skjern Håndbold
Number 18
Youth career
Team
Himmelev
Holbæk
FIF
Senior clubs
Years Team
2009–2012
AG København
2010–2011
Nordsjælland Håndbold (loan)
2012–2014
Aalborg Håndbold
2014–2020
Rhein-Neckar Löwen
2020–2025
SG Flensburg-Handewitt
2025–
Skjern Håndbold
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2026
Denmark 225 (341)
Medal record
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
2020 Tokyo Team
World Championship
2019 Germany/Denmark
2021 Egypt
2023 Poland/Sweden
2025 Croatia/Denmark/Norway
2013 Spain
European Championship
2026 Denmark/Norway/Sweden
2014 Denmark
2024 Germany
2022 Hungary/Slovakia
Junior World Championship
2011 Greece

Mads Mensah Larsen (born 12 August 1991) is a Danish handball player for Skjern Håndbold and formerly the Denmark national team.[1]

Mensah started his senior career at AG København, where he won the Danish Championship in 2012. In 2010-11 he was loaned out to Nordsjælland Håndbold. He left AGK in 2012, when the team went bankrupt.[2][3] He then joined Aalborg Håndbold,[4] where he also won the Danish Championship. In 2014 he went abroad to the German clubs Rhein-Neckar Löwen and SG Flensburg-Handewitt. In 2025 he returned to Denmark to join Skjern Håndbold, despite his contract with Flensburg-Handewitt running until 2026.[5] After the club told him his contract would not be extended after 2026, he made the decision to return to Denmark.[5]

At the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship he won gold medals, meaning that Denmark held both the World, European and Olympic titles at the same time, as only the second team ever after France's 'Les Experts'.[6] He acted mainly as a back-up during the tournament. Due to Denmark's many injuries at the pivot position, he did play there as a makeshift solution in the final.[7] After the tournament, he retired from the Danish national team.[8] Afterwards, the Danish head coach Nikolaj Jacobsen said that he wished Mensah had continued, although he did respect the decision.[9]

He studied Humanistic informatics at Aalborg University. He has a Danish mother and a Ghanaian father.[10]

Honours

References

  1. ^ "Mads Mensah Larsen". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  2. ^ "AG København er gået konkurs" [AG København is bankrupt] (in Danish). Politiken. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Kasi-Jesper færdig med AG København" (in Danish). Jyllands-Posten. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  4. ^ "Statistic Men's National Team. Team Roster, Denmark". DHF. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Mensah forlader storklub og skifter til Danmark". sport.tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2 Danmark. 14 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Euro 2026 Final - Match Report". European Handball Federation. 1 February 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Mensah som vikar på stregen" (in Danish). TV2 Danmark. 1 February 2026. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  8. ^ "Mensah stopper på landsholdet" (in Danish). TV2 Danmark. 5 February 2026. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  9. ^ "Landstræner er ikke enig i beslutning – men respekterer den" (in Danish). TV2 Danmark. 5 February 2026. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  10. ^ Browne, Ken (24 September 2020). "Mads Mensah Larsen: Denmark handball's creative force". Retrieved 7 August 2021.