Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Tournament details
Host country Great Britain
Dates 26 July – 13 August
Teams 18 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s) 13 (in 13 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Sweden (1st title)
Runners-up  Yugoslavia
Third place  Denmark
Tournament statistics
Matches played 18
Goals scored 102 (5.67 per match)
Top scorer(s) Sweden Gunnar Nordahl
Denmark John Hansen (7 goals)

The 1948 Olympic Games title was won by Sweden, managed by Englishman George Raynor.

Summary

Sweden, whose Football Association forbade professionalism within domestic football, ran out as winners and only used 12 players throughout the entire tournament.

Squads

Final tournament

The Sweden team that won the Gold Medal.

This began on 26 July 1948 with a preliminary round of two matches: Luxembourg defeating Afghanistan 6–0 and the Netherlands beating Ireland 3–1, with Faas Wilkes scoring two goals for the Dutch. In the first round, which began five days later, the Netherlands played Great Britain at Highbury, Britain prevailing 4–3 after extra time. In goal for Britain was Ronnie Simpson, who would go on to become the oldest Scottish international debutant in history and one of the Lisbon Lions.

12-panel brown leather football on a plinth of hardwood, with a brass panel inscribed with the names of the victorious team members, photographed through the glass of a display case
The final match ball.

Yugoslavia (victors over Luxembourg) and Sweden (3–0 winners against Austria) also went through. France did well to eliminate India, most of whose players ignored the need to wear boots.

Sweden's play at White Hart Lane attracted much attention even then. Their forward line contained three exceptional players; one of them Gunnar Gren scored a brace in an easy win. There were two goals, as well, for future FIFA World Cup star Zeljko Cajkovski in Yugoslavia's 6–1 rout of Luxembourg, although they were behind at half-time. There were future World Cup stars also on parade in South Korea's 5–3 defeat of Mexico and the United States's 9–0 defeat at the hands of Italy. Walter Bahr, Ed Souza, Charlie Colombo and John Souza would, later, find some sort of fame as members of the American team that would beat England at the 1950 FIFA World Cup.

In the quarter-finals, Sweden flourished against the South Koreans and were similarly dominant against the Danes in the semi-final. In the second semi-final, Great Britain played Yugoslavia at Wembley Stadium going out by 3 goals to 1.

3–1 was also the score in the final, Gunnar Nordahl and Gunnar Gren's goals proving too much for the Yugoslavians.

Preliminary round

26 July 1948
18:00
Luxembourg  6–0  Afghanistan
Gales
Schammel
Kettel
Paulus
Report
Goldstone Ground, Brighton
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: A.C. Williams (Great Britain)

26 July 1948
18:00
Netherlands  3–1  Republic of Ireland
Wilkes  1'  74'
Roosenburg  11'
Report O'Kelly  52'
Fratton Park, Portsmouth
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: George Reader (Great Britain)

First round

31 July 1948
18:30
Yugoslavia  6–1  Luxembourg
Stanković  57'
Mihajlović  61'
Željko Čajkovski  65'  70'
Mitić  74'
Bobek  87'
Report Schammel  10'
Craven Cottage, Fulham
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

31 July 1948
18:30
Denmark  3–1 (aet)  Egypt
K. Hansen  82'  95'
Pløger  119' (pen.)
Report El Guindy  83'
Selhurst Park, South Norwood
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)

31 July 1948
18:30
Great Britain  4–3 (aet)  Netherlands
McBain  22'
Hardisty  58'
Kelleher  77'
McIlvenny  111'
Report Appel  20'  63'
Wilkes  81'
Arsenal Stadium, Highbury
Attendance: 21,000
Referee: Vald Laursen (Denmark)

31 July 1948
18:30
France  2–1  India
Courbin  30'
Persillon  89'
Report Raman  70'
Lynn Road Stadium, Ilford
Attendance: 17,000
Referee: Gunnar Dahlner (Sweden)

2 August 1948
18:30
Turkey  4–0  China
Kılıç  18', 61'
Saygun  72'
Küçükandonyadis  87'
Report
Green Pond Road, Walthamstow
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Johann Beck (Austria)

2 August 1948
18:30
Sweden  3–0  Austria
G. Nordahl  2'  10'
Rosen  71'
Report
White Hart Lane, Tottenham
Attendance: 9,514
Referee: William Ling (Great Britain)

2 August 1948
18:30
South Korea  5–3  Mexico
Choi Song-Gon  13'
Bai Chon-Go  30'
Chung Kook-Chin  63', 66'
Chung Nam-Sik  87'
Report Cárdenas  23'
Figueroa  85'
Ruiz  89'
Champion Hill, Dulwich
Attendance: 6,500
Referee: Leo Lemesic (Yugoslavia)

2 August 1948
18:30
Italy  9–0  United States
Pernigo  2', 57', 88', 90'
Stellin  25' (pen.)
Turconi  46'
Cavigioli  72', 87'
Caprile  90'
Report
Griffin Park, Brentford
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Charles de la Salle (France)

Quarter-finals

5 August 1948
18:30
Yugoslavia  3–1  Turkey
Željko Čajkovski  21'
Bobek  60'
Wölfl  80'
Report Gulesin  33'
Lynn Road Stadium, Ilford
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Victor Sdez (France)

5 August 1948
18:30
Sweden  12–0  South Korea
Liedholm  11', 62'
G. Nordahl  25', 40', 78', 80'
Gren  27'
Carlsson  61', 64', 82'
Rosén  72', 85'
Report
Selhurst Park, South Norwood
Attendance: 7,110
Referee: Giuseppe Carpani (Italy)

5 August 1948
18:30
Great Britain  1–0  France
Hardisty  29' Report
Craven Cottage, Fulham
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

5 August 1948
18:30
Denmark  5–3  Italy
John Hansen  30', 53', 74', 82'
Pløger  84'
Report Cavigioli  49'
Caprile  67'
Pernigo  81'
Arsenal Stadium, Highbury
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: William Ling (Great Britain)

Semi-finals

10 August 1948
18:30
Sweden  4–2  Denmark
Carlsson  18'  42'
Rosén  31'  37'
Report Seebach  3'
John Hansen  77'
Empire Stadium, Wembley
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)

11 August 1948
18:30
Great Britain  1–3  Yugoslavia
Donovan  20' Report Bobek  19'
Wölfl  24'
Mitić  48'
Empire Stadium, Wembley
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Bronze medal match

13 August 1948
14:00
Great Britain  3–5  Denmark
Aitken  5'
Hardisty  33'
Amor  63' (pen.)
Report Præst  12', 49'
John Hansen  16', 77'
J. Sørensen  41'
Empire Stadium, Wembley
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Gold medal match

13 August 1948
18:30
Sweden  3–1  Yugoslavia
Gren  24'  67' (pen.)
G. Nordahl  48'
Report Bobek  42'
Empire Stadium, Wembley
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: William Ling (Great Britain)

Bracket

  Preliminary round First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
                                               
   
   
    Yugoslavia 6  
      Luxembourg 1  
  Luxembourg 6
  Afghanistan 0  
    Yugoslavia 3  
    Turkey 1  
   
   
    Turkey 4
      China 0  
 
   
    Yugoslavia 5  
    Great Britain 3  
   
   
    Great Britain (aet) 4
      Netherlands 3  
  Netherlands 3
  Republic of Ireland 1  
    Great Britain 1
    France 0  
   
   
    France 2
      India 1  
 
   
  Yugoslavia 1
  Sweden 3
   
   
    Sweden 3  
      Austria 0  
 
   
    Sweden 12  
    South Korea 0  
   
   
    South Korea 5
      Mexico 3  
 
   
    Sweden 4
    Denmark 2  
   
   
    Denmark (aet) 3
      Egypt 2  
 
   
    Denmark 5       
    Italy 3         
   
   
    Italy 9
      United States 0  
 
   

Medalists

Gold Silver Bronze
 Sweden  Yugoslavia  Denmark
Torsten Lindberg
Karl Svensson
Knut Nordahl
Erik Nilsson
Birger Rosengren
Bertil Nordahl
Sune Andersson
Gunnar Gren
Gunnar Nordahl
Henry Carlsson
Nils Liedholm
Börje Leander
Franjo Šoštarić
Miroslav Brozović
Branko Stanković
Zlatko Čajkovski
Miodrag Jovanović
Aleksandar Atanacković
Prvoslav Mihajlović
Rajko Mitić
Franjo Wölfl
Stjepan Bobek
Željko Čajkovski
Kosta Tomašević
Ljubomir Lovrić
Zvonimir Cimermančić
Bernard Vukas
Knud Bastrup-Birk
Hans Colberg
Edvin Hansen
John Hansen
Jørgen W. Hansen
Karl Aage Hansen
Erik Kuld Jensen
Ivan Jensen
Ove Jensen
Hans Viggo Jensen
Per Knudsen
Knud Lundberg
Eigil Nielsen
Knud Børge Overgaard
Poul Petersen
Axel Pilmark
Johannes Pløger
Carl Aage Præst
Holger Seebach
Erling Sørensen
Jørgen Leschly Sørensen
Dion Ørnvold

Statistics

Goalscorers

7 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Coordinates: 51°33′20″N 0°16′47″W / 51.5556°N 0.2797°W / 51.5556; -0.2797

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