Football at the 1908 Summer Olympics
The "Challenge Cup", awarded to
the winning team
Tournament details
Host country Great Britain
CityLondon
Dates19–24 October 1908
Teams6
Venue(s)White City Stadium
Final positions
Champions Great Britain (2nd title)
Runners-up Denmark
Third place Netherlands
Fourth place Sweden
Tournament statistics
Matches played6
Goals scored48 (8 per match)
Top scorer(s)Denmark Sophus Nielsen (11 goals)
Winner's certificate

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, an official football tournament between national representative selections was contested for the first time; football had been played between club teams at the Games of 1900 and 1904.[1][2]

Eight entries were accepted, and were included in the tournament draw, including two from France: the main team and a B team.[3] Both Hungary and Bohemia withdrew after the draw and before the start of play, leaving six teams to contest the tournament.

Great Britain won the gold medal representing the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Ireland), although all the players were from England.

Sophus "Krølben" Nielsen of Denmark set a record by scoring 10 goals in a 17–1 win over France A. The famous mathematician Harald Bohr, brother of the even more famous Niels Bohr, also played for Denmark, who won the silver medal.

Competition schedule

The match schedule of the tournament.[4]

Legend
R1First round SFSemi-finals BBronze medal match FGold medal match
19 Mon20 Tue21 Wed22 Thu23 Fri24 Sat
R1R1½BF

Venue

The White City Stadium hosted all the matches

Squads

Bracket

 
First roundSemi-finalsGold medal match
 
          
 
19 October 1908
 
 
  Denmark 9
 
22 October 1908
 
 France B0
 
  Denmark 17
 
 
 
  France 1
 
  France 2
 
24 October 1908
 
  Bohemia 0
 
  Great Britain 2
 
20 October 1908
 
  Denmark 0
 
  Great Britain 12
 
22 October 1908
 
  Sweden 1
 
  Great Britain 4
 
 
 
  Netherlands 0 Bronze medal match
 
  Netherlands 2
 
23 October 1908
 
  Hungary 0
 
  Netherlands 2
 
 
  Sweden 0
 

Tournament

The matches:[5][6]

With eight entries, the tournament draw had a full quarterfinal round of four matches.

However, after the draw and appointment of referees,  Hungary (on 12 October) and  Bohemia (on 14 October) were both forced to withdraw due to financial reasons: this meant their opponents, the Netherlands and France respectively, were awarded a 2–0 victory.

First round

Netherlands 2–0
Awarded		 Hungary
Referee: Wagstaffe Simmons (Great Britain)
Denmark 9–0 France B
N. Middelboe 10', 49'
Wolfhagen 15', 17', 67', 72'
Bohr 25', 47'
S. Nielsen 78'		 Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Thomas Kyle (Great Britain)
France 2–0
Awarded		 Bohemia
Referee: George Muir (Great Britain)
Great Britain 12–1 Sweden
Stapley 13' 75'
Woodward 17' 31'
Berry 20'
Chapman 25'
Purnell 30' 35' 66' 85'
Hawkes 70' 80'		 Report Bergström 65'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: John Ibbotson (Great Britain)

Semi-finals

Great Britain 4–0 Netherlands
Stapley 37', 60', 64', 75' Report
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: John Howcroft (Great Britain)
Denmark 17–1 France
S. Nielsen 3', 4', 6', 39', 46', 48', 52', 64', 66', 76'
Lindgren 18', 37'
Wolfhagen 60', 72', 82', 89'
N. Middelboe 68'		 Report Sartorius 16'
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Campbell (Great Britain)

Bronze medal match

Originally, all six teams eliminated before the final were to participate in a consolation tournament for the bronze medal, with two first-round matches to be played on 21 October between the four quarter-final losers.

After Bohemia and Hungary withdrew, the first round was scratched on 15 October, meaning France B and Sweden qualified automatically for the semi-finals of the consolation tournament.

These teams and the two semi-final losers, France and the Netherlands, were scheduled to play the semi-finals on October 23, with the French teams being drawn against each other and the Netherlands drawn against Sweden, with the winners to play off in the bronze medal match prior to the gold medal match on October 24.

However, both the French teams had returned home immediately following their crushing defeats to Denmark; therefore, their semi-final and the October 24 bronze medal match were scratched, with the Netherlands v Sweden semi-final becoming the bronze medal match.[7]

Netherlands 2–0 Sweden
Reeman 6'
Snethlage 58'		 Report
Attendance: 300

Gold medal match

1908 Summer Olympics Football Final
Great Britain 2–0 Denmark
Chapman 20'
Woodward 46'		 Report
Attendance: 10,000

Medal summary

Medal table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1  Great Britain (H) 3 3 0 0 18 1 +17 6 Champions
2  Denmark 3 2 0 1 26 3 +23 4 Runners-up
3  Netherlands 2 1 0 1 2 4 −2 2 Third place
4  Sweden 2 0 0 2 1 14 −13 0 Fourth place
5  France 1 0 0 1 1 17 −16 0 Eliminated in semi-finals
6  France B 1 0 0 1 0 9 −9 0 Eliminated in first round
Source: FIFA[10]
(H) Hosts

Medalists

Complete list of medal winners:[11]

Great Britain won the Gold Medal after beating Denmark at the final
Denmark won the Silver Medal
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's tournament  Great Britain
Horace Bailey
Arthur Berry
Frederick Chapman
Walter Corbett
Harold Hardman
Robert Hawkes
Kenneth Hunt
Herbert Smith
Harold Stapley
Clyde Purnell
Vivian Woodward
George Barlow[12]
Albert Bell
Ronald Brebner
W. Crabtree
Walter Daffern
Thomas Porter
Albert Scothern		  Denmark (DEN)[13]
Peter Marius Andersen
Harald Bohr
Charles Buchwald
Ludvig Drescher
Johannes Gandil
Harald Hansen
August Lindgren
Kristian Middelboe
Nils Middelboe
Sophus Nielsen
Oskar Nørland
Bjørn Rasmussen
Vilhelm Wolfhagen
Magnus Beck [12]
Ødbert E. Bjarnholt
Knud Hansen
Einar Middelboe		  Netherlands (NED)
Reinier Beeuwkes
Frans de Bruyn Kops
Karel Heijting
Jan Kok
Bok de Korver
Emil Mundt
Louis Otten
Jops Reeman
Edu Snethlage
Ed Sol
Jan Thomée
Caius Welcker
Jan van den Berg[12]
Lo la Chapelle
Vic Gonsalves
John Heijting
Tonie van Renterghem

Statistics

Goalscorers

Danish Sophus Nielsen, topscorer with 11 goals
11 goals
8 goals
6 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Goalkeeping

PlaceNameTeamGoals allowedGamesGAA
1Horace Bailey Great Britain130.33
2Ludvig Drescher Denmark331.00
3Reinier Beeuwkes Netherlands422.00
4Oskar Bengtsson Sweden1427.00
5Fernand Desrousseaux France B919.00
6Maurice Tillette France17117.00

Bibliography

  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
  1. ↑ Olympic Football Tournament London 1908, FIFA.com
  2. ↑ "Football at the 1908 London Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Great Britain's first home Olympic football adventure by Jon Carter on ESPN, 26 July 2012
  4. ↑ "Match Schedule for Olympic Football Tournament London 1908". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Games of the IV. Olympiad - Football Tournament (London, England, October 19 - 24, 1908) by Lars Aarhus on the RSSSF
  6. ↑ Olympic Tournament - 1908 London on IFFHS
  7. ↑ "Consolation tournament (tournament for third place and bronze medals)". RSSSF. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "Netherlands 2 Sweden 0 (Match summary)". www.footballdatabase.eu. 23 October 1908. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  9. ↑ J.T. Hornsby was originally appointed as referee for this match, but withdrew due to illness and was replaced by Pearson.
  10. ↑ "Men's Olympic Football Tournament (Statistics, Facts & Figures 1908–2016): Statistical Kit (including Rio 2016) – Ranking by tournament 1908–2016" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 27 March 2017. p. 16. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  11. ↑ "Footballers in London". Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2006.
  12. 1 2 3 Those players were also in squad, but did not play any matches.
  13. ↑ (in Danish) Slutrundetrupper 1908-2004 at Danish Football Union Archived 9 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine

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