Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Tournament details
Host country Great Britain
Dates26 July – 13 August 1948
Teams18 (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 played18
Goals scored102 (5.67 per match)
Top scorer(s)Sweden Gunnar Nordahl
Denmark John Hansen (7 goals)

The football tournament of the 1948 Summer Olympics was won by Sweden.[1] This remains Sweden's only international title at a senior male football level and was the first international appearance of the trio that would later be known as Gre-No-Li dominating the Italian league at A.C. Milan in the 1950s.

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

Wembley Highbury Dulwich Fulham
Empire Stadium Arsenal Stadium Champion Hill Craven Cottage
Walthamstow

London
 

South coast (→)

 Tottenham
Green Pond Road White Hart Lane
Brentford
Griffin Park
Ilford Brighton
Lynn Road Goldstone Ground
South Norwood Portsmouth
Selhurst Park Fratton Park



Squads

Final tournament

The 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 furthest 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.

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.

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 Željko Čajkovski 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

Luxembourg 6–0 Afghanistan
Gales 6', 79'
Kettel 40'
Schammel 41'
Paulus 62', 80'		 Report
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: A.C. Williams (Great Britain)
Netherlands 3–1Republic of Ireland Ireland
Wilkes 1', 74'
Roosenburg 11'		 Report Smith[3] 52'
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: George Reader (Great Britain)

First round

Yugoslavia 6–1 Luxembourg
Stanković 57'
Mihajlović 61'
Že. Čajkovski 65', 70'
Mitić 74'
Bobek 87'		 Report Schammel 10'
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)
Denmark 3–1 (a.e.t.) Egypt
K. Hansen 82', 95'
Pløger 119' (pen.)		 Report El Guindy 83'
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)
Great Britain 4–3 (a.e.t.) Netherlands
McBain 22'
Hardisty 58'
Kelleher 77'
McIlvenny 111'		 Report Appel 20', 63'
Wilkes 81'
Attendance: 21,000
Referee: Vald Laursen (Denmark)
France 2–1 India
Courbin 30'
Persillon 89'		 Report Raman 70'
Attendance: 17,000
Referee: Gunnar Dahlner (Sweden)
Turkey 4–0 Republic of China
Kılıç 18', 61'
Saygun 72'
Küçükandonyadis 87'		 Report
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Johann Beck (Austria)
Sweden 3–0 Austria
G. Nordahl 2', 10'
Rosen 71'		 Report
Attendance: 9,514
Referee: William Ling (Great Britain)
South Korea 5–3 Mexico
Choi Seong-gon 13'
Bae Jeong-ho 30'
Chung Kook-chin 63', 66'
Chung Nam-sik 87'		 Report Cárdenas 23'
Figueroa 85'
Ruiz 89'
Attendance: 6,500
Referee: Leo Lemesic (Yugoslavia)
Italy 9–0 United States
Pernigo 2', 57', 88', 90'
Stellin 25' (pen.)
Turconi 46'
Cavigioli 72', 87'
Caprile 90'		 Report
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Charles de la Salle (France)

Quarter-finals

Yugoslavia 3–1 Turkey
Že. Čajkovski 21'
Bobek 60'
Wölfl 80'		 Report Gulesin 33'
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Victor Sdez (France)
Sweden 12–0 South Korea
Liedholm 11', 62'
G. Nordahl 25', 40', 78', 80'
Gren 27'
Carlsson 61', 64', 82'
Rosén 72', 85'		 Report
Attendance: 7,110
Referee: Giuseppe Carpani (Italy)
Great Britain 1–0 France
Hardisty 29' Report
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)
Denmark 5–3 Italy
John Hansen 30', 53', 74', 82'
Pløger 84'		 Report Cavigioli 49'
Caprile 67'
Pernigo 81'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: William Ling (Great Britain)

Semi-finals

Sweden 4–2 Denmark
Carlsson 18', 42'
Rosén 31', 37'		 Report Seebach 3'
John Hansen 77'
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)
Great Britain 1–3 Yugoslavia
Donovan 20' Report Bobek 19'
Wölfl 24'
Mitić 48'
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Bronze medal match

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

Gold medal match

Sweden 3–1 Yugoslavia
Gren 24' 67' (pen.)
G. Nordahl 48'		 Report Bobek 42'
Attendance: 60,000

Bracket

Swedish gold medal team
 
First roundQuarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinals
 
              
 
 
 
 
 Yugoslavia6
 
 
 
 Luxembourg1
 
 Yugoslavia3
 
 
 
 Turkey1
 
 Turkey4
 
 
 
 Republic of China0
 
 Yugoslavia3
 
 
 
 Great Britain1
 
 Great Britain (a.e.t.)4
 
 
 
 Netherlands3
 
 Great Britain1
 
 
 
 France0
 
 France2
 
 
 
 India1
 
 Yugoslavia1
 
 
 
 Sweden3
 
 Sweden3
 
 
 
 Austria0
 
 Sweden12
 
 
 
 South Korea0
 
 South Korea5
 
 
 
 Mexico3
 
 Sweden4
 
 
 
 Denmark2 Bronze Medal match
 
 Denmark (a.e.t.)3
 
  
 
 Egypt1
 
 Denmark5 Great Britain3
 
 
 
 Italy3  Denmark5
 
 Italy9
 
 
 United States0
 

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

References

  1. ↑ "Football at the 1948 London Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  2. ↑ Hayes, Paul (8 June 2021). "International Football at the 1948 Olympics". BBC Genome Project. BBC Online. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  3. ↑ Official Report on Ireland’s Participation XIVth Olympiad August 1948

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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • "Games of the XIV. Olympiad; Football Tournament". RSSSF.
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