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

The 1948 Olympic Games title was won by Sweden, managed by Englishman George Raynor.

Summary

Sweden, whose Football Association forbade professionalism within domestic football, ran out as winners and only used 12 players throughout the entire tournament.

Squads

Final tournament

The Sweden team that won the Gold Medal.

This 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.

File:1948 Olympic football final match ball.jpg

The final match ball.

Yugoslavia (victors over Luxembourg) and Sweden (3–0 winners against Austria) also went through. France did well to eliminate India, most of whose players ignored the need to wear boots.

Sweden's play at White Hart Lane attracted much attention even then. 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. There were future World Cup stars also on parade in South Korea's 5–3 defeat of Mexico and the United States's 9–0 defeat at the hands of Italy. Walter Bahr, Ed Souza, Charlie Colombo and John Souza would, later, find some sort of fame as members of the American team that would beat England at the 1950 FIFA World Cup.

In the quarter-finals, Sweden flourished against the South Koreans and were similarly dominant against the Danes in the semi-final. In the second semi-final, Great Britain played Yugoslavia at Wembley Stadium going out by 3 goals to 1.

3–1 was also the score in the final, Gunnar Nordahl and Gunnar Gren's goals proving too much for the Yugoslavians.

Preliminary round

Luxembourg v Afghanistan

26 July 1948
18:00

Luxembourg	6–0	Afghanistan
Gales Schammel Kettel Paulus	Report

Goldstone Ground, Brighton
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: A.C. Williams (Great Britain)

Netherlands v Republic of Ireland

26 July 1948
18:00

Netherlands	3–1	Republic of Ireland
Wilkes 1' 74' Roosenburg 11'	Report	O'Kelly 52'

Fratton Park, Portsmouth
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: George Reader (Great Britain)

First round

Yugoslavia v Luxembourg

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: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Denmark v Egypt

31 July 1948
18:30

Denmark	3–1 (aet)	Egypt
K. Hansen 82' 95' Pløger 119' (pen.)	Report	El Guindy 83'

Selhurst Park, South Norwood
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)

Great Britain v Netherlands

31 July 1948
18:30

Great Britain	4–3 (aet)	Netherlands
McBain 22' Hardisty 58' Kelleher 77' McIlvenny 111'	Report	Appel 20' 63' Wilkes 81'

Arsenal Stadium, Highbury
Attendance: 21,000
Referee: Vald Laursen (Denmark)

France v India

31 July 1948
18:30

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

Lynn Road Stadium, Ilford
Attendance: 17,000
Referee: Gunnar Dahlner (Sweden)

Turkey v China

2 August 1948
18:30

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

Green Pond Road, Walthamstow
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Johann Beck (Austria)

Sweden v 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)

South Korea v Mexico

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)

Italy v United States

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: Charles de la Salle (France)

Quarter-finals

Yugoslavia v Turkey

5 August 1948
18:30

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

Lynn Road Stadium, Ilford
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Victor Sdez (France)

Sweden v South Korea

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: Giuseppe Carpani (Italy)

Great Britain v France

5 August 1948
18:30

Great Britain	1–0	France
Hardisty 29'	Report

Craven Cottage, Fulham
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Denmark v Italy

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

Sweden v Denmark

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)

Great Britain v Yugoslavia

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: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Bronze medal match

Great Britain v Denmark

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: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

Gold medal match

Sweden v Yugoslavia

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 (Great Britain)

Bracket

Preliminary round			First round			Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Finals



				Yugoslavia	6

				Luxembourg	1
	Luxembourg	6

	Afghanistan	0
							Yugoslavia	3

							Turkey	1



				Turkey	4

				China	0



										Yugoslavia	5

										Great Britain	3



				Great Britain (aet)	4

				Netherlands	3
	Netherlands	3

	Republic of Ireland	1
							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



				Denmark (aet)	3

				Egypt	2



							Denmark	5

							Italy	3



				Italy	9

				United States	0

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