Football_at_the_1908_Summer_Olympics
Football at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Football at the Olympics
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]
The "Challenge Cup", awarded to the winning team | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Great Britain |
| City | London |
| Dates | 19–24 October 1908 |
| Teams | 6 |
| Venue(s) | White City Stadium |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Great Britain (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |  Denmark |
| Third place |  Netherlands |
| Fourth place |  Sweden |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 6 |
| Goals scored | 48 (8 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Sophus Nielsen (11 goals) |
1912 → | |
There were eight entries, including two from France (the main team and a B team). [3] Hungary and Bohemia both withdrew after the draw and appointment of referees, 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.
The match schedule of the tournament.[4]
| R1 | First round | SF | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Gold medal match |
| 19 Mon | 20 Tue | 21 Wed | 22 Thu | 23 Fri | 24 Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R1 | ½ | B | F |
| First round | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | ||||||||
| 19 October 1908 | ||||||||||
| Denmark | 9 | |||||||||
| 22 October 1908 | ||||||||||
 France B | 0 | |||||||||
| Denmark | 17 | |||||||||
 France | 1 | |||||||||
| France | 2 | |||||||||
| 24 October 1908 | ||||||||||
 Bohemia | 0 | |||||||||
| Denmark | 0 | |||||||||
| 20 October 1908 | ||||||||||
| Great Britain | 2 | |||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||
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: their opponents, the Netherlands and France respectively, were awarded a 2–0 victory.
First round
| Denmark | 9–0 | France B |
|---|---|---|
N. Middelboe  10', 49'Wolfhagen 15', 17', 67', 72'Bohr 25', 47'S. Nielsen 78' |
Report |
| 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' |
Semi-finals
| Great Britain | 4–0 | Netherlands |
|---|---|---|
| Stapley 37', 60', 64', 75' |
Report |
| 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' |
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 Hungary and Bohemia both withdrew, the first round was scratched on 15 October, with France B and Sweden qualifying for the semi-finals of the consolation tournament.
France B, Sweden and the two semi-final losers, France and the Netherlands, were scheduled to play the semi-finals on 23 October: the French teams were drawn against each other, and the Netherlands were drawn against Sweden, with the winners playing off in the bronze medal match prior to the gold medal match on 24 October.
However, both French teams had returned home immediately after their crushing defeats to Denmark on 19 October and 22 October: therefore, their semi-final and the 24 October bronze medal match were both scratched, with the Netherlands v Sweden semi-final becoming the bronze medal match.[7]
Gold medal match
| Great Britain | 2–0 | Denmark |
|---|---|---|
| Chapman 20' Woodward 46' |
Report |
| Team details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 |
Medalists
Complete list of medal winners:[11]
| 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 |
Goalscorers
- 11 goals
- 8 goals
- 6 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
Goalkeeping
| Place | Name | Team | Goals allowed | Games | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horace Bailey | Great Britain | 1 | 3 | 0.33 |
| 2 | Ludvig Drescher | Denmark | 3 | 3 | 1.00 |
| 3 | Reinier Beeuwkes | Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 2.00 |
| 4 | Oskar Bengtsson | Sweden | 14 | 2 | 7.00 |
| 5 | Fernand Desrousseaux | France B | 9 | 1 | 9.00 |
| 6 | Maurice Tillette | France | 17 | 1 | 17.00 |
- Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
- "Football at the 1908 London Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- Great Britain's first home Olympic football adventure by Jon Carter on ESPN, 26 July 2012
- "Match Schedule for Olympic Football Tournament London 1908". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
- Games of the IV. Olympiad - Football Tournament (London, England, October 19 - 24, 1908) by Lars Aarhus on the RSSSF
- Olympic Tournament - 1908 London on IFFHS
- "Consolation tournament (tournament for third place and bronze medals)". RSSSF. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- "Netherlands 2 Sweden 0 (Match summary)". www.footballdatabase.eu. 23 October 1908. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
- J.T. Hornsby was originally appointed as referee for this match, but withdrew due to illness and was replaced by Pearson.
- "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.
- "Footballers in London". Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2006.
- Those players were also in squad, but did not play any matches.
- (in Danish) Slutrundetrupper 1908-2004 at Danish Football Union Archived 9 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine