Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics

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.

Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Sweden, gold medal winners
Tournament details
Host country	Great Britain
Dates	26 July – 13 August 1948
Teams	18 (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 played	18
Goals scored	102 (5.67 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Gunnar Nordahl John Hansen (7 goals)
← 1936 1952 →

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	Empire Stadium Arsenal Stadium Champion Hill Craven Cottage Green Pond Road Griffin Park Lynn Road Selhurst Park White Hart Lane London   Fratton Park Goldstone Ground 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

Participating nations

•  Afghanistan (16)
•  Austria (21)
•  Republic of China (18)
•  Denmark (22)
•  Egypt (22)
•  France (21)
•  Great Britain (22)
•  India (18)
•  Ireland (18)
•  Italy (18)
•  South Korea (16)
•  Luxembourg (22)
•  Mexico (17)
•  Netherlands (19)
•  Sweden (18)
•  Turkey (21)
•  United States (15)
•  Yugoslavia (22)

Squads

Main article: Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's team 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.

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

26 July 1948

18:00

Goldstone Ground, Brighton

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: A.C. Williams (Great Britain)

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Netherlands	3–1	Ireland
Wilkes 1', 74' Roosenburg 11'	Report	Smith[3] 52'

26 July 1948

18:00

Fratton Park, Portsmouth

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'

31 July 1948

18:30

Craven Cottage, Fulham

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

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Denmark	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Egypt
K. Hansen 82', 95' Pløger 119' (pen.)	Report	El Guindy 83'

31 July 1948

18:30

Selhurst Park, South Norwood

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)

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Great Britain	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands
McBain 22' Hardisty 58' Kelleher 77' McIlvenny 111'	Report	Appel 20', 63' Wilkes 81'

31 July 1948

18:30

Arsenal Stadium, Highbury

Attendance: 21,000

Referee: Vald Laursen (Denmark)

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

31 July 1948

18:30

Lynn Road, Ilford

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: Gunnar Dahlner (Sweden)

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

2 August 1948

18:30

Green Pond Road, Walthamstow

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Johann Beck (Austria)

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Sweden	3–0	Austria
G. Nordahl 2', 10' Rosen 71'	Report

2 August 1948

18:30

White Hart Lane, Tottenham

Attendance: 9,514

Referee: William Ling (Great Britain)

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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'

2 August 1948

18:30

Champion Hill, Dulwich

Attendance: 6,500

Referee: Leo Lemešić (Yugoslavia)

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Italy	9–0	United States
Pernigo 2', 57', 88', 90' Stellin 25' (pen.) Turconi 46' Cavigioli 72', 87' Caprile 90'	Report

2 August 1948

18:30

Griffin Park, Brentford

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'

5 August 1948

18:30

Lynn Road, Ilford

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Victor Sdez (France)

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Sweden	12–0	South Korea
Liedholm 11', 62' G. Nordahl 25', 40', 78', 80' Gren 27' Carlsson 61', 64', 82' Rosén 72', 85'	Report

5 August 1948

18:30

Selhurst Park, South Norwood

Attendance: 7,110

Referee: Giuseppe Carpani (Italy)

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Great Britain	1–0	France
Hardisty 29'	Report

5 August 1948

18:30

Craven Cottage, Fulham

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Karel van der Meer (Netherlands)

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Denmark	5–3	Italy
John Hansen 30', 53', 74', 82' Pløger 84'	Report	Cavigioli 49' Caprile 67' Pernigo 81'

5 August 1948

18:30

Arsenal Stadium, Highbury

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'

10 August 1948

18:30

Empire Stadium, Wembley

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Stanley Boardman (Great Britain)

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Great Britain	1–3	Yugoslavia
Donovan 20'	Report	Bobek 19' Wölfl 24' Mitić 48'

11 August 1948

18:30

Empire Stadium, Wembley

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'

13 August 1948

14:00

Empire Stadium, Wembley

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'

13 August 1948

18:30

Empire Stadium, Wembley

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: William Ling (England)

Team details

Sweden Yugoslavia GK Torsten Lindberg RB Knut Nordahl LB Erik Nilsson RH Birger Rosengren CH Bertil Nordahl LH Sune Andersson OR Kjell Rosén IR Gunnar Gren CF Gunnar Nordahl IL Henry Carlsson OL Nils Liedholm Manager: George Raynor GK Ljubomir Lovrić RB Miroslav Brozović LB Branko Stanković RH Zlatko Čajkovski CH Miodrag Jovanović LH Aleksandar Atanacković OR Zvonimir Cimermančić IR Rajko Mitić CF Stjepan Bobek IL Željko Čajkovski OL Bernard Vukas Manager: Milorad Arsenijević

Bracket

Preliminary round

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finals

Afghanistan

0

Luxembourg

6

Yugoslavia

6

Luxembourg

1

Yugoslavia

bye

Yugoslavia

3

Turkey

1

Turkey

bye

Turkey

4

Republic of China

0

Republic of China

bye

Yugoslavia

3

Great Britain

1

Netherlands

6

Republic of Ireland

1

Great Britain (a.e.t.)

4

Netherlands

3

Great Britain

bye

Great Britain

1

France

0

France

bye

France

2

India

1

India

bye

Yugoslavia

1

Sweden

3

Sweden

bye

Sweden

3

Austria

0

Austria

bye

Sweden

12

South Korea

0

South Korea

bye

South Korea

5

Mexico

3

Mexico

bye

Sweden

4

Denmark

2

Bronze Medal match

Denmark

bye

Denmark (a.e.t.)

3

Great Britain

3

Egypt

1

Denmark

5

Egypt

bye

Denmark

5

Italy

3

Italy

bye

Italy

9

United States

0

United States

bye

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

• John Hansen (Denmark)
• Gunnar Nordahl (Sweden)

5 goals

• Francesco Pernigo (Italy)
• Henry Carlsson (Sweden)
• Kjell Rosén (Sweden)

4 goals

• Stjepan Bobek (Yugoslavia)

3 goals

• Bob Hardisty (Great Britain)
• Emidio Cavigioli (Italy)
• Servaas Wilkes (Netherlands)
• Gunnar Gren (Sweden)
• Željko Čajkovski (Yugoslavia)

2 goals

• Karl Aage Hansen (Denmark)
• Johannes Pløger (Denmark)
• Emilio Caprile (Italy)
• Julien Gales (Luxembourg)
• Marcel Paulus (Luxembourg)
• Fernand Schammel (Luxembourg)
• Bram Appel (Netherlands)
• Chung Kook-chin (South Korea)
• Nils Liedholm (Sweden)
• Gündüz Kılıç (Turkey)
• Rajko Mitić (Yugoslavia)
• Franjo Wölfl (Yugoslavia)

1 goal

• Karl Aage Præst (Denmark)
• Holger Seebach (Denmark)
• Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (Denmark)
• El Din El Guindy (Egypt)
• René Courbin (France)
• René Persillon (France)
• Andy Aitken (Great Britain)
• Bill Amor (Great Britain)
• Frank Donovan (Great Britain)
• Dennis Kelleher (Great Britain)
• Douglas McBain (Great Britain)
• Harry McIlvenny (Great Britain)
• Sarangapani Raman (India)
• Bobby Smith (Ireland)
• Adone Stellin (Italy)
• Angelo Turconi (Italy)
• Nicolas Kettel (Luxembourg)
• Raúl Cárdenas (Mexico)
• Antonio Figueroa (Mexico)
• José Ruiz (Mexico)
• Andre Roosenburg (Netherlands)
• Bai Chon-go (South Korea)
• Chung Nam-sik (South Korea)
• Choi Song-gon (South Korea)
• Şükrü Gülesin (Turkey)
• Lefter Küçükandonyadis (Turkey)
• Huseyin Saygun (Turkey)
• Prvoslav Mihajlović (Yugoslavia)
• Branko Stanković (Yugoslavia)