Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Tournament details | |
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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) |
Gunnar Nordahl 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
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.
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 |
Netherlands | 3–1 | Republic of Ireland |
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Wilkes 1' 74' Roosenburg 11' |
Report | O'Kelly 52' |
First round
31 July 1948 18:30 |
Yugoslavia | 6–1 | Luxembourg |
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Stanković 57' Mihajlović 61' Željko Čajkovski 65' 70' Mitić 74' Bobek 87' |
Report | Schammel 10' |
31 July 1948 18:30 |
Great Britain | 4–3 (aet) | Netherlands |
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McBain 22' Hardisty 58' Kelleher 77' McIlvenny 111' |
Report | Appel 20' 63' Wilkes 81' |
2 August 1948 18:30 |
South Korea | 5–3 | Mexico |
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Choi Song-Gon 13' Bai Chon-Go 30' Chung Kook-Chin 63', 66' Chung Nam-Sik 87' |
Report | Cárdenas 23' Figueroa 85' Ruiz 89' |
2 August 1948 18:30 |
Italy | 9–0 | United States |
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Pernigo 2', 57', 88', 90' Stellin 25' (pen.) Turconi 46' Cavigioli 72', 87' Caprile 90' |
Report |
Quarter-finals
5 August 1948 18:30 |
Sweden | 12–0 | South Korea |
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Liedholm 11', 62' G. Nordahl 25', 40', 78', 80' Gren 27' Carlsson 61', 64', 82' Rosén 72', 85' |
Report |
5 August 1948 18:30 |
Denmark | 5–3 | Italy |
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John Hansen 30', 53', 74', 82' Pløger 84' |
Report | Cavigioli 49' Caprile 67' Pernigo 81' |
Semi-finals
10 August 1948 18:30 |
Sweden | 4–2 | Denmark |
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Carlsson 18' 42' Rosén 31' 37' |
Report | Seebach 3' John Hansen 77' |
Bronze medal match
13 August 1948 14:00 |
Great Britain | 3–5 | Denmark |
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Aitken 5' Hardisty 33' Amor 63' (pen.) |
Report | Præst 12', 49' John Hansen 16', 77' J. Sørensen 41' |
Gold medal match
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
Statistics
Goalscorers
- 7 goals
- John Hansen (Denmark)
- Gunnar Nordahl (Sweden)
- 5 goals
- Francesco Pernigo (Italy)
- Henry Carlsson (Sweden)
- Kjell Rosén (Sweden)
- 4 goals
- Stjepan Bobek (Yugoslavia)
- 3 goals
- Bob Hardisty (Great Britain)
- Emidio Cavigioli (Italy)
- Servaas Wilkes (Netherlands)
- Gunnar Gren (Sweden)
- Željko Čajkovski (Yugoslavia)
- 2 goals
- Karl Aage Hansen (Denmark)
- Johannes Pløger (Denmark)
- Emilio Caprile (Italy)
- Julien Gales (Luxembourg)
- Marcel Paulus (Luxembourg)
- Fernand Schammel (Luxembourg)
- Bram Appel (Netherlands)
- Chung Kook-chin (South Korea)
- Nils Liedholm (Sweden)
- Gündüz Kılıç (Turkey)
- Rajko Mitić (Yugoslavia)
- Franjo Wölfl (Yugoslavia)
- 1 goal
- Karl Aage Præst (Denmark)
- Holger Seebach (Denmark)
- Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (Denmark)
- El Din El Guindy (Egypt)
- René Courbin (France)
- René Persillon (France)
- Andy Aitken (Great Britain)
- Bill Amor (Great Britain)
- Frank Donovan (Great Britain)
- Dennis Kelleher (Great Britain)
- Douglas McBain (Great Britain)
- Harry McIlvenny (Great Britain)
- Sarangapani Raman (India)
- Brendan O'Kelly (Ireland)
- Adone Stellin (Italy)
- Angelo Turconi (Italy)
- Nicolas Kettel (Luxembourg)
- Raúl Cárdenas (Mexico)
- Antonio Figueroa (Mexico)
- José Ruiz (Mexico)
- Andre Roosenburg (Netherlands)
- Bai Chon-Go (South Korea)
- Chung Nam-sik (South Korea)
- Choi Song-Gon (South Korea)
- Şükrü Gülesin (Turkey)
- Lefter Küçükandonyadis (Turkey)
- Huseyin Saygun (Turkey)
- Prvoslav Mihajlović (Yugoslavia)
- Branko Stanković (Yugoslavia)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football at the 1948 Summer Olympics. |
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Coordinates: 51°33′20″N 0°16′47″W / 51.5556°N 0.2797°W