The men's team have won every single one of the six gold medals available since the competition's inception in 2006 and are likely to claim a seventh as their line-up contains Olympic medallists including Rio 2016 silver medal winner Viktor Axelsen, who is also the reigning world champion.

They will face Israel, who have no players ranked inside the top 100, in their first match of the tournament before coming up against Croatia and Ireland.

The women's team, which includes 2015 European Games gold medallist Sara Thygesen, will start their campaign against Sweden as they look to win their third consecutive title.

Israel and Iceland are the other two teams in their group.

The country that will push Denmark the closest is likely to be Germany, who have won 11 medals across both the men's and women's categories at the tournament since 2006.

However, their first objective will be to reach the final as both the men's and women's teams failed to do so at the last tournament in 2016, also held in Kazan.

England also have a chance of making the podium in the men's event having done so at the last three Championships.

Hosts Russia will most likely find success in the women’s event having claimed two silver medals in the last four editions of the tournament.

They will start their campaign against Turkey.

The European Team Badminton Championships takes place from February 13 to 18 and will serve as a qualification event for the 2016 Thomas and Uber Cups.

Tomorrow (February 13) also sees the start of the African Team Badminton Championships at the Hacène Harcha Arena in the Algerian capital Algiers.

South Africa will enter the men's tournament as the hot favourites having won the last two editions of the competition whilst they have also won the Championship a record four times.

The South Africans will also be the team to watch in the women's event as the five-time champions look to recover from a poor 2016 tournament in which they failed to medal.

Mauritius secured gold on that occasion.

Hosts Algeria have never won a medal in this competition.

As is the case with the European event, the African competition serves as a continental stage tournament for the Thomas and Uber Cups.

The African Continental Team Badminton Championships ends on February 15.