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 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Sweden (1st title)
Runners-up	Yugoslavia
Third place	Denmark
Fourth place	Great Britain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	18
Goals scored	102 (5.67 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Gunnar Nordahl John Hansen (7 goals)
← 1936 1952 →

Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics tournament, won by Sweden.^[1]

It was the first international football tournament ever to be broadcast on television, with the semi-finals, final and bronze medal play-off all being broadcast live in full on the BBC Television Service.^[2]

Venues[]

Brent	Islington	Southwark	Hammersmith & Fulham
Empire Stadium	Arsenal Stadium	Champion Hill	Craven Cottage
Waltham Forest	Empire Stadium Arsenal Stadium Champion Hill Craven Cottage Green Pond Road Griffin Park Lynn Road Selhurst Park White Hart Lane London   Fratton Park Goldstone Ground South coast (→)		Haringey
Green Pond Road			White Hart Lane
Hounslow
Griffin Park
Redbridge			Brighton
Lynn Road			Goldstone Ground
Croydon			Portsmouth
Selhurst Park			Fratton Park

Squads[]

Final tournament[]

Indian team at 1948 Olympics, captain Talimeren Ao at the centre of first row, goal scorer Sarangapani Raman next to Ao and coach Balaidas Chatterjee to the extreme right.

The tournament 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 eliminated India.

The final match ball.

Sweden's style of play at White Hart Lane attracted much attention. 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. South Korea beat Mexico 5–3. Walter Bahr, Ed Souza, Charlie Colombo and John Souza were part of the United States team that lost 9–0 to Italy, conceding five goals at the end of the match when they were down to nine men. They would later participate in the 1950 FIFA World Cup and beat the favourites England in one of the greatest upsets in football history.

In the quarter-finals, Sweden defeated both the South Koreans and the Danes in the semi-final. In the second semi-final, Great Britain played Yugoslavia at Wembley Stadium, going out by three goals to one. 3–1 was also the score in the final in favour of Sweden over Yugoslavia.

Preliminary round[]

26 July 1948

18:00

Luxembourg	6–0	Afghanistan
Gales 6', 79' Kettel 40' Schammel 41' Paulus 62', 80'	Report

Goldstone Ground, Brighton

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: A.C. Williams (Great Britain)

26 July 1948

18:00

Netherlands	3–1	Ireland
Wilkes 1', 74' Roosenburg 11'	Report	Smith[3] 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: (Netherlands)

31 July 1948

18:30

Denmark	3–1 (a.e.t.)	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 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands
McBain 22' Hardisty 58' Kelleher 77' McIlvenny 111'	Report	Appel 20', 63' Wilkes 81'

Arsenal Stadium, Highbury

Attendance: 21,000

Referee: (Denmark)

31 July 1948

18:30

France	2–1	India
Courbin 30' Persillon 89'	Report	Raman 70'

Lynn Road, Ilford

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: (Sweden)

2 August 1948

18:30

Turkey	4–0	Republic of China
Kılıç 18', 61' Saygun 72' Küçükandonyadis 87'	Report

Green Pond Road, Walthamstow

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: (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: (France)

Quarter-finals[]

5 August 1948

18:30

Yugoslavia	3–1	Turkey
Željko Čajkovski 21' Bobek 60' Wölfl 80'	Report	Gulesin 33'

Lynn Road, Ilford

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: (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: (Italy)

5 August 1948

18:30

Great Britain	1–0	France
Hardisty 29'	Report

Craven Cottage, Fulham

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: (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: (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: (Netherlands)

Gold medal match[]

1948 Summer Olympics Football Final

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 (England)

Team details

Sweden Yugoslavia GK Torsten Lindberg RB Knut Nordahl LB Erik Nilsson RH Birger Rosengren CH Bertil Nordahl LH Sune Andersson OR Kjell Rosén IR Gunnar Gren CF Gunnar Nordahl IL Henry Carlsson OL Nils Liedholm Manager: George Raynor GK Ljubomir Lovrić RB Miroslav Brozović LB Branko Stanković RH Zlatko Čajkovski CH Miodrag Jovanović LH Aleksandar Atanacković OR Zvonimir Cimermančić IR Rajko Mitić CF Stjepan Bobek IL Željko Čajkovski OL Bernard Vukas Manager: Milorad Arsenijević

Bracket[]

Swedish gold medal team

	First round				Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Finals
	Yugoslavia	6
	Luxembourg	1
					Yugoslavia	3
					Turkey	1
	Turkey	4
	Republic of China	0
									Yugoslavia	3
									Great Britain	1
	Great Britain (a.e.t.)	4
	Netherlands	3
					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			Bronze Medal match
	Denmark (a.e.t.)	3
	Egypt	1
					Denmark	5							Great Britain	3
					Italy	3							Denmark	5
	Italy	9
	United States	0

Medalists[]

The Irish team

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

References[]

Sources[]

• 1948 Olympic Organising Committee (1951). Official Report (PDF). London. pp. 14, 18, 39, 45–46, 54, 57, 62, 64, 65, 78, 85, 109, 116, 121, 129, 131, 184, 187, 382–388, 534, 541, 544–6.
• "Games of the XIV. Olympiad; Football Tournament". RSSSF.

External links[]

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

• "Olympic Football Tournament London 1948". FIFA.

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