Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host country | Australia |
Dates | 24 November – 8 December |
Teams | 11 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Soviet Union (1st title) |
Runners-up | Yugoslavia |
Third place | Bulgaria |
Fourth place | India |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 12 |
Goals scored | 53 (4.42 per match) |
Attendance | 194,333 (16,194 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Neville D'Souza Todor Veselinović Dimitar Milanov (4 goals each)[1] |
The association football tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was won by the Soviet Union.[2]
Background[]
Following five withdrawals, the tournament featured three Eastern bloc teams and four from Asia. The other sides included in the draw were from the United States, Germany (West and East united), Great Britain and the hosts Australia, competing in their first Olympic football tournament.
The tendency of Eastern bloc countries to provide state-funding for their athletes put Western amateurs at a significant disadvantage. As a result, all Olympic football tournaments 1952 onwards were dominated by the Soviet Union and its satellites.[3]
Venues[]
Melbourne | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Olympic Park Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||
Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 104,000 | |||
Melbourne Cricket Ground |
Final tournament[]
First round[]
Five teams withdrew before the final draw, including China PR (who boycotted the Games to protest the reception of Taiwan), Egypt (who also boycotted the Games in protest of Israel, UK and France's invasion), and Turkey, South Vietnam, and the recent world runners-up Hungary, a nation that was cheered in other Olympic contests due to the ongoing suppression by Soviet troops.
Therefore, only three games were played in the first round (as China and Turkey were drawn against each other, their match was scratched).
The Soviet Union defeated Germany 2–1, Great Britain defeated Thailand 9–0, and Australia defeated Japan 2–0.
Soviet Union | 2–1 | Germany |
---|---|---|
Isayev 23' Streltsov 86' |
Report | Habig 89' |
Great Britain | 9–0 | Thailand |
---|---|---|
Twissell 12', 20' Lewis 21' (pen.) Laybourne 30', 82', 85' Bromilow 75', 78' Topp 90' |
Report |
Australia | 2–0 | Japan |
---|---|---|
McMillan 26' (pen.) Loughran 61' |
Report |
Byes: Bulgaria (drawn against Egypt, who withdrew), India (drawn against Hungary, who withdrew), Indonesia (drawn against South Vietnam, who withdrew), United States and Yugoslavia (match postponed to quarter-finals after five of the original sixteen teams withdrew).
Quarter-finals[]
Yugoslavia defeated the United States 9–1.
Great Britain lost 6–1 to Bulgaria, and at half-time, ratings from HMS Newcastle vaulted the fence and exhorted the team to show more grit, after which they were peacefully escorted off the field.[4]
The Soviets drew their game against Indonesia 0–0 and won 4–0 in the replay.
The Indians defeated Australia 4–2 with a hat trick by centre forward Neville D'Souza, the first by an Asian in the Olympics. Prior to the game there had been debate, once again, as to whether the Indians should be shod. Sir Stanley Rous respected their decision either way, although in the end, the Indians decided to wear boots. The Indonesian referee disallowed two first half goals. Bob Bignall the Australian captain was unable to get an intelligible reply out of him during the break.
Yugoslavia | 9–1 | United States |
---|---|---|
Veselinović 10', 84', 90' Antić 12', 73' Mujić 16', 35', 56' Papec 20' |
Report | Zerhusen 42' |
Soviet Union | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | Indonesia |
---|---|---|
Report |
Soviet Union | 4–0 | Indonesia |
---|---|---|
Salnikov 17', 59' Ivanov 19' Netto 43' |
Report |
Australia | 2–4 | India |
---|---|---|
Morrow 17', 41' | Report | D'Souza 9', 33', 50' Krishnaswamy 80' |
Semi-finals[]
Yugoslavia defeated India 4–1. It would be their third consecutive Olympic final, after losing both in 1948 and 1952.
The Soviets defeated Bulgaria 2–1. Bulgaria scored first and conceded two goals in the last six minutes of the game.
Yugoslavia | 4–1 | India |
---|---|---|
Papec 54', 65' Veselinović 57' Salam 78' (o.g.) |
Report | D'Souza 52' |
Soviet Union | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Bulgaria |
---|---|---|
Streltsov 112' Tatushin 116' |
Report | Kolev 95' |
Finals[]
Yugoslavia were playing Red Star Belgrade's Dragoslav Šekularac in this tournament; he would feature in the 1960 European Nations' Cup final. They lost 1–0 to a second half Anatoli Ilyin goal.
Bulgaria took Bronze defeating India 3–0.
Bronze Medal match[]
Gold Medal match[]
Soviet Union | 1–0 | Yugoslavia |
---|---|---|
Ilyin 48' | Report |
Team details | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bracket[]
First round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||
November – Olympic Park | ||||||||||||||
bye | ||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia | 9 | |||||||||||||
United States | 1 | |||||||||||||
United States | ||||||||||||||
December – MCG | ||||||||||||||
bye | ||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia | 4 | |||||||||||||
November | ||||||||||||||
India | 1 | |||||||||||||
Australia | 2 | |||||||||||||
December – MCG | ||||||||||||||
Japan | 0 | |||||||||||||
Australia | 2 | |||||||||||||
India | 4 | |||||||||||||
India | ||||||||||||||
December – MCG | ||||||||||||||
bye | ||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia | 0 | |||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 1 | |||||||||||||
Indonesia | ||||||||||||||
December – Olympic Park | ||||||||||||||
bye | ||||||||||||||
Indonesia | 0 | |||||||||||||
November | ||||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 4 | |||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 2 | |||||||||||||
December – Olympic Park | ||||||||||||||
Germany | 1 | |||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 2 (a.e.t.) | |||||||||||||
Bulgaria | 1 | |||||||||||||
Bulgaria | ||||||||||||||
December – MCG | ||||||||||||||
bye | ||||||||||||||
Bulgaria | 6 | |||||||||||||
November | December – MCG | |||||||||||||
Great Britain | 1 | |||||||||||||
Great Britain | 9 | India | 0 | |||||||||||
Thailand | 0 | Bulgaria | 3 | |||||||||||
Goalscorers[]
- 4 goals
- Neville D'Souza (India)
- Todor Veselinović (Yugoslavia)
- Dimitar Milanov (Bulgaria)
- 3 goals
- Ivan Petkov Kolev (Bulgaria)
- Jack Laybourne (Great Britain)
- Muhamed Mujić (Yugoslavia)
- Zlatko Papec (Yugoslavia)
- 2 goals
- Bruce Morrow (Australia)
- Todor Diev (Bulgaria)
- George Bromilow (Great Britain)
- Jim Lewis (Great Britain)
- Charlie Twissell (Great Britain)
- Sergei Salnikov (Soviet Union)
- Eduard Streltsov (Soviet Union)
- Sava Antić (Yugoslavia)
- 1 goal
- Frank Loughran (Australia)
- Graham McMillan (Australia)
- Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
- Ernst-Günter Habig (Germany)
- Laurie Topp (Great Britain)
- Krishnaswamy (India)
- Anatoli Ilyin (Soviet Union)
- Anatoli Isayev (Soviet Union)
- Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union)
- Igor Netto (Soviet Union)
- Boris Tatushin (Soviet Union)
- Al Zerhusen (United States)
- Own goals
- Muhamed Abdus Salam (India; playing against Yugoslavia)
Medalists[]
See also[]
- Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads
- Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification
References[]
- ^ Olympic Football Tournament Melbourne 1956 – Top goalscoring players. FIFA.com
- ^ "Football at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 November 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "News .....taken from "The Socceroos and their Opponents" by Laurie Schwab". Australian Online Soccer Museum. Australian Soccer Preservation Society. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics. |
- Football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
- Olympic football tournaments
- 1956 Summer Olympics events
- International association football competitions hosted by Australia