Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host country | Australia |
Dates | November 24-December 8 |
Teams | 11 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Soviet Union (1st title) |
Runners-up | Yugoslavia |
Third place | Bulgaria |
Fourth place | India |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 12 |
Goals scored | 53 (4.42 per match) |
Attendance | 194,333 (16,194 per match) |
Top scorer(s) |
Neville D'Souza Todor Veselinović Dimitar Milanov (4 goals each)[1] |
The Football tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was won by the Soviet Union.
Background
Following five withdrawals, the tournament featured three Eastern bloc teams and four from Asia in a tournament that matched professionals against the amateurs required in Olympics. The other sides included in the draw were from the United States, Germany (West and East united), Great Britain and the hosts Australia, featuring in their very first Olympic football tournament.
The ability to develop an "amateur" side around two or three long-term internationals could only be achieved by use of the tendency of Eastern bloc sides to provide state-funding for their athletes. This compared most favourably with the Australians who did not pay their footballers during the tournament; player income was supported by community fund-raising.[2]
Of the Australian squad, in Melbourne's The Age newspaper, Alex Barr wrote:
- "The original [Australian] squad was not the best and four weeks of intensive training did nothing to improve the standard. Australian soccer has lost a wonderful chance to gain world prominence and the game has suffered a body blow."
Some of the players selected in the 1956 Australian squad included the following Football Hall of Fame inductees:
Hall of Champions → Bob Bignall and Ron Lord
Medal of Excellence → Frank Loughran
Award of Distinction → William Henderson, Graham McMillan, Bruce Morrow and Cliff Sander
Venues
Melbourne | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Olympic Park Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||
Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 104,000 | |||
Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics (Melbourne) |
Final tournament
First round
Five teams withdrew (Egypt, China, Turkey, South Vietnam, and the football team of Hungary, a nation that was cheered in other Olympic contests due to the ongoing suppression by Soviet troops), which left only three games to play in the first round.
The tournament got under way with the match Soviet Union against Germany. Germany appeared in Olympics as United Team of Germany including East German athletes. The West German Amateur team (de:Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft der Amateure) had been selected to represent Germany. It was not the favourite against the Soviets as even the proper semi-pro German squad, reigning 1954 FIFA World Cup champions, had lost two games against them in 1955. Coached by Sepp Herberger, the German side was defeated 1-2 by the eventual Gold medal winners. Just as the 1928 Summer Olympics had introduced the world to the future World Champions, Uruguay, so here the Soviets fielded the makings of a side that four years later would win the 1960 UEFA European Football Championship in France. In goal they played Lev Yashin. Their side was led by Igor Netto, their left-half; the forward-line led by Torpedo Moscow's Valentin Kozmich Ivanov, father to the Russian referee Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov.
The Great Britain football team eliminated Thailand 9-0, and Australia defeated Japan 2-0.
November 26, 1956 12:00 |
Great Britain | 9–0 | Thailand |
---|---|---|
Twissell 12' 20' Lewis 21' (p.k.) Laybourne 30' 82' 85' Bromilow 75' 78' Topp 90' |
Report |
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Referee: Latyshev (USSR) |
November 27, 1956 12:00 |
Australia | 2–0 | Japan |
---|---|---|
McMillan 26' (p.k.) Loughran 61' |
Report |
Melbourne Cricket Ground Referee: R.Lund (NZL) |
1 Egypt, South Vietnam, and Hungary withdrew.
2 Both teams withdrew; the match was scratched.
3 As five of the original sixteen teams withdrew, the match was postponed to the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals
Yugoslavia defeated the United States 9-1.
Great Britain lost 6-1 to Bulgaria. Halfway through the game, ratings from HMS Newcastle vaulted the fence and exhorted the team to show more grit. They were peacefully escorted off the field.
The Soviets drew their game against Indonesia 0-0 and won 4-0 in the replay.
The Indians defeated Australia 4-2 with a hat trick by centre forward Neville D’Souza - the first by an Asian in the Olympics. Prior to the game there had been debate, once again, as to whether the Indians should be shod. Sir Stanley Rous respected their decision either way, although in the end, the Indians decided to wear boots. The Indonesian referee disallowed two first half goals. Bob Bignall the Australian captain was unable to get an intelligible reply out of him during the break.
November 28, 1956 12:00 |
Yugoslavia | 9–1 | United States |
---|---|---|
Veselinović 10' 84' 90' Antić 12' 73' Mujić 16' 35' 56' Papec 20' |
Report | Zerhusen 42' |
November 30, 1956 12:00 |
Bulgaria | 6–1 | Great Britain |
---|---|---|
Dimitrov 6' Kolev 40' 85' Milanov 45' 75' 80' |
Report | Lewis 30' |
Semifinals
Yugoslavia defeated India 4-1. It would be their third consecutive Olympic final.
The Soviets defeated Bulgaria 2-1. Bulgaria scored first and conceded two goals in the last six minutes of the game.
December 4, 1956 12:00 |
Yugoslavia | 4–1 | India |
---|---|---|
Papec 54' 65' Veselinović 57' Salam 78' (o.g.) |
Report | D'Souza 52' |
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Referee: Latyshev (USSR) |
December 5, 1956 12:00 |
Soviet Union | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Bulgaria |
---|---|---|
Streltsov 112' Tatushin 116' |
Report | Kolev 95' |
Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne Referee: R.H. Mann (GBR) |
Finals
Yugoslavia were playing Red Star Belgrade's Dragoslav Šekularac in this tournament; he would feature in the 1960 UEFA European Football Championship final. They lost 1-0 to a second half Anatoli Ilyin goal. This was the first international tournament win for the Soviet Union.
Bulgaria took Bronze defeating India 3-0.
Bronze Medal match
December 7, 1956 14:15 |
Bulgaria | 3–0 | India |
---|---|---|
Diev 37' 60' Milanov 42' |
Report |
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Referee: Latyshev (USSR) |
Gold Medal match
December 8, 1956 14:15 |
Soviet Union | 1–0 | Yugoslavia |
---|---|---|
Ilyin 48' | Report |
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Referee: R. Wright (AUS) |
Bracket
First Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
United States | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
India | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Japan | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Australia | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Australia | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
India | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
India | w/o | |||||||||||||||||
Hungary | ||||||||||||||||||
Yugoslavia | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
South Vietnam | ||||||||||||||||||
Indonesia | w/o | |||||||||||||||||
Indonesia | 0-0 | |||||||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 0-4 | |||||||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Germany | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 2 (AET) | |||||||||||||||||
Bulgaria | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Bulgaria | w/o | |||||||||||||||||
Egypt | ||||||||||||||||||
Bulgaria | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Great Britain | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Great Britain | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
Thailand | 0 |
Goalscorers
- 4 goals
- Neville D'Souza (India)
- Todor Veselinović (Yugoslavia)
- Dimitar Milanov (Bulgaria)
- 3 goals
- Ivan Petkov Kolev (Bulgaria)
- Jack Laybourne (Great Britain)
- Muhamed Mujić (Yugoslavia)
- Zlatko Papec (Yugoslavia)
- 2 goals
- Bruce Morrow (Australia)
- Todor Diev (Bulgaria)
- George Bromilow (Great Britain)
- Jim Lewis (Great Britain)
- Charlie Twissell (Great Britain)
- Sergei Salnikov (Soviet Union)
- Eduard Streltsov (Soviet Union)
- Sava Antić (Yugoslavia)
- 1 goal
- Frank Loughran (Australia)
- Graham McMillan (Australia)
- Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
- Ernst-Günter Habig (Germany)
- Laurie Topp (Great Britain)
- Krishna Kittu (India)
- Anatoli Ilyin (Soviet Union)
- Anatoli Isayev (Soviet Union)
- Valentin Kozmich Ivanov (Soviet Union)
- Igor Netto (Soviet Union)
- Boris Tatushin (Soviet Union)
- Al Zerhusen (United States)
- Own goals
Medalists
See also
- Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads
- Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification
References
- ↑ Olympic Football Tournament Melbourne 1956 - Top goalscoring players. FIFA.com
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2006-11-03.