Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Summary

Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics was one of the 102 events at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.[1] It was the fourth time that football was on the Olympic schedule.

Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Illustration from the Official Report
Tournament details
Host countrySweden
Dates29 June – 4 July 1912
Teams12
Venue(s)3 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Great Britain (3rd title)
Runners-up Denmark
Third place Netherlands
Fourth place Finland
Tournament statistics
Matches played17
Goals scored96 (5.65 per match)
Top scorer(s)German Empire Gottfried Fuchs (10 goals)
1908
1920

Great Britain[2] won the gold medals, representing the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (whom the IOC credits). Replicating the 1908 tournament, Denmark won silver medals and the Netherlands won bronze medals.[3][4]

The Swedish Football Association ran the tournament, just as the English Football Association had organised the 1908 Olympic football competition in London, England. Three stadiums hosted the eleven matches of the main tournament from 29 June to 4 July 1912. Two were played at Tranebergs Idrottsplats in a suburb of Stockholm, five including the bronze medal match took place at Råsunda Idrottsplats, also outside Stockholm, and four including the final match were held at the Olympiastadion.

Seven teams were eliminated in two rounds ending with the quarterfinal matches, 30 June, and these teams played off in a consolation tournament from 1 July to 5 July, comprising six matches at the same three stadiums. Hungary won the consolation tournament.

Competition schedule edit

Venues edit

Stockholm
Stockholm Olympic Stadium


Stockholm area with location in Sweden inserted

Capacity: 33,000
 
Råsunda IP
Capacity: —
 
Tranebergs Idrottsplats
Capacity: —
 

Participants edit

The tournament saw a record 14 teams enter, all of them from Europe: however, the entry of Bohemia was rejected as their association had been voted out of FIFA in 1908, while Belgium withdrew two weeks before the draw due to a lack of players being available to travel. Subsequently, France withdrew three days after the draw: their opponents, Norway, were awarded a 2–0 victory.

The Football Association entered a Great Britain national amateur team to represent the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Ireland).

A total of 135+28 footballers from 11 nations competed at the Stockholm Games:[note 1]

Course of the tournament edit

In the first round of the tournament, the hosts from Sweden went out in the opening match against the Netherlands. Fighting back from a 1–3 deficit with half an hour to go, Sweden only lost 4–3 on a goal scored by Dutch player Jan Vos in extra time. At Tranebergs Idrottsplats, Austrian football pioneer Hugo Meisl was the referee as Finland beat Italy, also in extra time.

In the second round, Finland won again, this time beating Russia, who had received a bye in the first round. By this stage, Great Britain team entered the contest, drawn to play against Hungary at Olympiastadion. Great Britain was captained by Vivian Woodward, a record-scoring centre-forward from Chelsea, who had formed part of Great Britain's gold medal winning side of the 1908 Summer Olympics. Led by forward Harold Walden, who scored six goals, Great Britain defeated Hungary by 7–0.

In the semi-final round, Walden scored all four goals as Great Britain defeated Finland 4–0. In the other semi-final Denmark beat the Netherlands 4–1; the Dutch consolation goal put behind goalkeeper Sophus Hansen by Danish defender Harald Hansen. For the second successive time, the final would pair Great Britain with Denmark, and like in 1908, the team representing Great Britain would win gold medals, although this game would be closer than the 4–2 score-line suggested. With no rule allowing substitutions, Denmark played with ten men after the 30th minute when Charles Buchwald was injured and had to be taken from the pitch on a stretcher.

A consolation tournament ran conjunctively with the tournament proper paired the losers of the first and second rounds, and was eventually won by Hungary,[5] although no medals were awarded for the top three finishers in that tournament.[3]

German player Gottfried Fuchs equalled the record for most goals in an international (set by Dane Sophus Nielsen in the 1908 Olympics) with 10 goals for Germany against Russia; this record stood until 2001.

Bracket edit

 
First roundSecond roundSemi-finalsGold medal match
 
              
 
 
 
 
30 June – Stockholm
 
 
  Great Britain7
 
 
  Hungary 0
 
 
2 July – Stockholm
 
 
  Great Britain 4
 
29 June – Stockholm
 
  Finland 0
 
  Italy 2
 
30 June – Stockholm
 
  Finland (a.e.t.)3
 
  Finland 2
 
 
  Russia 1
 
 
4 July – Stockholm
 
 
  Great Britain 4
 
 
  Denmark 2
 
 
30 June – Stockholm
 
 
  Denmark 7
 
29 June
 
  Norway 0
 
  Norway 2
 
2 July – Stockholm
 
  France 0
 
  Denmark 4
 
29 June – Stockholm
 
  Netherlands 1 Bronze medal match
 
  Sweden 3
 
30 June – Stockholm4 July – Stockholm
 
  Netherlands (a.e.t.)4
 
  Netherlands 3   Netherlands 9
 
29 June – Stockholm
 
  Austria 1   Finland 0
 
  Austria 5
 
 
  Germany 1
 

Match details edit

First round edit

Finland  3–2 (a.e.t.)  Italy
Öhman   2'
E. Soinio   40'
Wiberg   105'
Report Bontadini   10'
Sardi   25'
Attendance: 600
Referee: Hugo Meisl (Austria)

Austria  5–1  Germany
Merz   75', 81'
Studnicka   58'
Neubauer   62'
Cimera   89'
Report Jäger   35'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Humbert Willing (Netherlands)

Sweden  3–4 (a.e.t.)  Netherlands
Swensson   3', 80'
E. Börjesson   62' (pen.)
Report Bouvy   28', 52'
Vos   43', 91'
Attendance: 14,000
Referee: Wagstaffe Simmons (England)

Norway  2–0
Awarded
  France

Quarter-finals edit

Finland  2–1  Russia
Wiberg   30'
Öhman   80'
Report Butusov   72'
Attendance: 200
Referee: Per Sjoblom (Sweden)

Great Britain  7–0  Hungary
Walden   21', 23', 49', 53', 55', 85'
Woodward   45'
Report
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

Denmark  7–0  Norway
Olsen   4', 70', 88'
S. Nielsen   60', 85'
Wolfhagen   25'
Middelboe   37'
Report
Attendance: 700
Referee: Ruben Gelbord (Sweden)

Netherlands  3–1  Austria
Bouvy   8'
ten Cate   12'
Vos   30'
Report Müller   41'
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: David Philip (Scotland)

Semi-finals edit

Great Britain  4–0  Finland
Holopainen   2' (o.g.)
Walden   7', 77'
Woodward   82'
Report
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Ruben Gelbord (Sweden)

Denmark  4–1  Netherlands
Olsen   14', 87'
Jørgensen   7'
P. Nielsen   37'
Report H. Hansen   85' (og)
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: Ede Herczog (Hungary)

Bronze Medal match edit

Netherlands  9–0  Finland
Vos   29', 43', 46', 74', 78'
van der Sluis   24', 57'
de Groot   28', 86'
Report
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Per Sjoblom (Sweden)

Final edit

Great Britain  4–2  Denmark
Hoare   22', 41',
Walden   10'
Berry   43'
Report Olsen   27', 81'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

Final summary edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
    Great Britain 3 3 0 0 15 2 +13 6
    Denmark 3 2 0 1 13 5 +8 4
    Netherlands 4 3 0 1 17 8 +9 6
4   Finland 4 2 0 2 5 16 −11 4
5   Austria 2 1 0 1 6 4 +2 2
6   Russia 1 0 0 1 1 2 −1 0
7   Hungary 1 0 0 1 0 7 −7 0
8   Norway 1 0 0 1 0 7 −7 0
9   Sweden 1 0 0 1 3 4 −1 0
10   Italy 1 0 0 1 2 3 −1 0
11   Germany 1 0 0 1 1 5 −4 0
Source: FIFA

Medallists edit

The database of the International Olympic Committee lists only the eleven players as medalists for each nation, who played in the first match for their nation.[6] The following list contains these eleven players, as well as all other players who made at least one appearance for their team during the tournament.

 
 
(Left): Great Britain, Gold Medal; (right): Denmark team, Silver Medal winner
 
The Netherlands team, Bronze Medal
Gold Silver Bronze
  Great Britain
Arthur Berry
Ronald Brebner
Thomas Burn
Joseph Dines
Edward Hanney
Gordon Hoare
Arthur Knight
Henry Littlewort
Douglas McWhirter
Ivan Sharpe
Harold Stamper
Harold Walden
Vivian Woodward
Gordon Wright
  Denmark
Paul Berth
Charles Buchwald
Hjalmar Christoffersen
Harald Hansen
Sophus Hansen
Emil Jørgensen
Ivar Lykke
Nils Middelboe
Oskar Nielsen
Poul Nielsen
Sophus Nielsen
Anthon Olsen
Axel Petersen
Axel Thufason
Vilhelm Wolfhagen
  Netherlands
Piet Bouman
Joop Boutmy
Nico Bouvy
Huug de Groot
Bok de Korver
Nico de Wolf
Constant Feith
Ge Fortgens
Just Göbel
Dirk Lotsy
Caesar ten Cate
Jan van Breda Kolff
Jan van der Sluis
Jan Vos
David Wijnveldt

Consolation tournament edit

First round edit

Austria  1–0  Norway
Neubauer   2' Report
Attendance: 200
Referee: Per Sjoblom (Sweden)

Germany  16–0  Russia
Fuchs   2', 9', 21', 28', 34', 46', 51', 55', 65', 69'
Förderer   6', 27', 53', 66'
Burger   30'
Oberle   58'
Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

Italy  1–0  Sweden
Bontadini   30' Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Herbert Willing (Netherlands)

Semi-finals edit

Hungary  3–1  Germany
Schlosser   3', 39', 82' Report Förderer   56'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

Austria  5–1  Italy
Müller   30'
Grundwald   40', 89'
Hussak   49'
Studnicka   65'
Report Berardo   81'
Attendance: 3,500
Referee: Herbert Willing (Netherlands)

Final edit

Hungary  3–0  Austria
Schlosser   32'
Pataki   63'
Bodnar   72'
Report
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Herbert Willing (Netherlands)

Statistics edit

Goalscorers edit

 
German player Gottfried Fuchs was the topscorer of the tournament with 10 goals
10 goals
9 goals
8 goals
7 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goals

Notes edit

  1. ^ 135 players took part in the main tournament, and another 28 players only played in the consolation tournament. Also there are 33 reserve players known, which are not included.

References edit

  1. ^ "Football at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  2. ^ "Britain's Olympic past". Barber, David; The Football Association, 3 March 2004. Retrieved on 24 November 2008.
  3. ^ a b Stockholm, 1912 on FIFA.com
  4. ^ Games of the V. Olympiad at the RSSSF
  5. ^ 1912 Stockholm on the IFFHS (archived, 9 May 2011)
  6. ^ International Olympic Committee medal database