Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics tournament, won by Sweden, managed by Englishman George Raynor.[1]
| 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 |  |
| Runners-up | .svg.png){kind=small} |
| Third place |  |
| Fourth place |  |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 18 |
| Goals scored | 102 (5.67 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | |
Venues
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Squads
Final tournament
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.
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
Luxembourg  | 6–0 |  |
|---|---|---|
Gales  Kettel Schammel Paulus |
Report |
Netherlands  | 3–1 |  |
|---|---|---|
| Wilkes Roosenburg |
Report | O'Kelly |
First round
| Yugoslavia | 6–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Stanković Mihajlović Željko Čajkovski Mitić Bobek |
Report | Schammel |
| Great Britain | 4–3 (aet) | |
|---|---|---|
| McBain Hardisty Kelleher McIlvenny |
Report | Appel Wilkes |
Turkey  | 4–0 |  |
|---|---|---|
| Kılıç Saygun Küçükandonyadis |
Report |
| Sweden | 3–0 |  |
|---|---|---|
| G. Nordahl Rosen |
Report |
South Korea .svg.png){kind=small} | 5–3 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
|---|---|---|
| Choi Song-Gon Bai Chon-Go Chung Kook-Chin Chung Nam-Sik |
Report | Cárdenas Figueroa Ruiz |
Quarter-finals
| Yugoslavia | 3–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Željko Čajkovski Bobek Wölfl |
Report | Gulesin |
| Sweden | 12–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Liedholm G. Nordahl Gren Carlsson Rosén |
Report |
| Great Britain | 1–0 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
|---|---|---|
| Hardisty |
Report |
Semi-finals
| Great Britain | 1–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Donovan |
Report | Bobek Wölfl Mitić |
Bronze medal match
| Great Britain | 3–5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Aitken Hardisty Amor |
Report | Præst John Hansen J. Sørensen |
Gold medal match
| Sweden | 3–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Gren G. Nordahl |
Report | Bobek |
| Team details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bracket
| First round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||
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| 3 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||
 | 2 | |||||||||||||
 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||
| 12 | |||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Bronze Medal match | ||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | | 3 | |||||||||||
 | 3 | | 5 | |||||||||||
| 9 | |||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small} | 0 | |||||||||||||
Medalists
Statistics
Goalscorers
- 7 goals
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
References
- "Football at the 1948 London Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
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
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football at the 1948 Summer Olympics. |
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| Qualifications |
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| Squads |
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