Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics

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. The tournament was contested between 11 nations, all of them from Europe, with Great Britain[2] winning the gold medals (the IOC accredits Great Britain and Ireland with the medal). Replicating the 1908 tournament, Denmark won silver medals and the Netherlands won bronze medals.[3][4]

Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Illustration from the Official Report
Tournament details
Host countrySweden
Dates29 June – 4 July
Teams11
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 played11
Goals scored93 (8.45 per match)
Top scorer(s) Gottfried Fuchs (10 goals)

Just as the Football Association had organised the 1908 Olympic football competition in London, the Swedish Football Association ran the 1912 event.

The games took place in three different stadiums from June 29 to July 5, 1912. From the eleven games of the main tournament, two were played at Tranebergs Idrottsplats in a suburb of Stockholm, five games including the bronze medal match took place at Råsunda Idrottsplats also outside Stockholm, while four games including the final were held at the Olympiastadion.

Venues

Stockholm
Stockholm Olympic Stadium


Stockholm area with location in Sweden inserted

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

Participants

The tournament attracted a record 11 entries, all of them from Europe: The Football Association entered a Great Britain national amateur team to represent the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

France and Belgium also entered, but they withdrew shortly before the draw was made, while the entry of Bohemia was rejected, as only nations or associations affiliated to FIFA were allowed to enter the competition.

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

Course of the tournament

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 the extra time of the English referee. 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, the 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 with 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 one player less from the 30th minute of the game, when Charles Buchwald was injured.

A consolation tournament run, 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.[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, a record that stood until 2001.

Bracket

 
First roundSecond roundSemi-finalsFinal
 
              
 
 
 
 
 Great Britain
 
June 30 - Olympiastadion
 
bye
 
 Great Britain 7
 
 
 
 Hungary 0
 
 Hungary
 
July 2 - Olympiastadion
 
bye
 
 Great Britain 4
 
June 29 - Tranebergs Idrottsplats
 
 Finland 0
 
 Italy 2
 
June 30 - Tranebergs Idrottsplats
 
 Finland (a.e.t.)3
 
 Finland 2
 
 
 
 Russia 1
 
 Russia
 
July 4 - Olympiastadion
 
bye
 
 Great Britain 4
 
 
 
 Denmark 2
 
 Denmark
 
June 30 - Råsunda Idrottsplats
 
bye
 
 Denmark 7
 
 
 
 Norway 0
 
 Norway
 
July 2 - Olympiastadion
 
bye
 
 Denmark 4
 
June 29 - Olympiastadion
 
 Netherlands 1 Third place
 
 Netherlands (a.e.t.)4
 
June 30 - Råsunda IdrottsplatsJuly 4 - Råsunda Idrottsplats
 
 Sweden 3
 
 Netherlands 3  Netherlands 9
 
June 29 - Råsunda Idrottsplats
 
 Austria 1  Finland 0
 
 Austria 5
 
 
 Germany 1
 

Match details

First round

Finland 32 (a.e.t.) Italy
Öhman  2'
E. Soinio  40'
Wiberg  105'
Report Bontadini  10'
Sardi  25'
Attendance: 600
Referee: Hugo Meisl (Austria)

Austria 51 Germany
Merz  75', 81'
Studnicka  58'
Neubauer  62'
Cimera  89'
Report Jäger  35'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Humbert Willing (Netherlands)

Sweden 34 (a.e.t.) Netherlands
Swensson  3', 80'
E. Börjesson  62' (pen)
Report Bouvy  28', 52'
Vos  43', 91'
Attendance: 14,000
Referee: George Wagstaffe (England)

Quarter-finals

Finland 21 Russia
Wiberg  30'
Öhman  80'
Report Butusov  72'
Attendance: 200
Referee: Per Sjoblom (Sweden)

Great Britain 70 Hungary
Walden  21', 23', 49', 53', 55', 85'
Woodward  45'
Report
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

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

Netherlands 31 Austria
Bouvy  8'
ten Cate  12'
Vos  30'
Report Müller  41'
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: David Philip (Scotland)

Semi-finals

Great Britain 40 Finland
Holopainen  2' (og)
Walden  7', 77'
Woodward  82'
Report
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Ruben Gelbord (Sweden)

Denmark 41 Netherlands
Olsen  14', 87'
Jørgensen  7'
P. Nielsen  37'
Report H. Hansen  85' (og)
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: Ede Herczog (Hungary)

Bronze Medal match

Netherlands 90 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

Great Britain 42 Denmark
Hoare  22', 41',
Walden  10'
Berry  43'
Report Olsen  27', 81'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

Final summary

Rank Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Great Britain 3300152+136
 Denmark 3201135+84
 Netherlands 4301178+96
4  Finland 4202516-114
5  Austria 210164+22
6  Russia 100112-10
7  Hungary 100107-70
8  Norway 100107-70
9  Sweden 100134-10
10  Italy 100123-10
11  Germany 100115-60

Medallists

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

First round

Austria 10 Norway
Neubauer  2' Report
Attendance: 200
Referee: Per Sjoblom (Sweden)

Germany 160 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 10 Sweden
Bontadini  30' Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Herbert Willing (Netherlands)

Semi-finals

Hungary 31 Germany
Schlosser  3', 39', 82' Report Förderer  56'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Christiaan Groothoff (Netherlands)

Austria 51 Italy
Müller  30'
Grundwald  40', 89'
Hussak  49'
Studnicka  65'
Report Berardo  81'
Attendance: 3,500
Referee: Herbert Willing (Netherlands)

Final

Hungary 30 Austria
Schlosser  32'
Pataki  63'
Bodnar  72'
Report
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Herbert Willing (Netherlands)

Statistics

Goalscorers

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

  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

  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 2008-11-24.
  3. Stockholm, 1912 on FIFA.com
  4. Games of the V. Olympiad at the RSSSF
  5. 1912 Stockolm on the IFFHS (archived, 9 May 2011)
  6. International Olympic Committee medal database
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