Date | 26 July – 13 August 1948 | |
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Status | Olympic | |
Location | Empire Stadium, Wembley, London / Selhurst Park, South Norwood, London / Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London / Lynn Road Stadium, Ilford, London / Craven Cottage, Fulham, London / White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London / Champion Hill, East Dulwich, London / Griffin Park, Hounslow, London / Green Pond Road Stadium, Walthamstow, London / Goldstone Ground, Hove / Fratton Park, Portsmouth | |
Participants | 218 from 18 countries | |
Format | Single-elimination tournament. |
The 1948 tournament had two favourites for the title, Sweden and the home team. Great Britain had not played at the Olympics since their 1912 victory. Players from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales were selected by Matt Busby, the Manchester United manager (a position he held until 1969). Sweden, too was coached by a Briton, George Raynor. Britain could not impress during the Olympics, struggling past the Netherlands and France before being eliminated by Yugoslavia. Sweden, by contrast, breezed through the early rounds. In the quarter-finals, South Korea was butchered 12-0. The final saw the best play of the tournament, and Sweden won with a dominant second half, 3-1.
The victorious Swedish team featured three brothers, Bertil, Gunnar and Knut Nordahl. The most famous them was Gunnar, who played for AC Milan after the Olympics, joining fellow gold medallists Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm to form the Italian club’s feared “Gre-No-Li” attack line.
There were originally 23 nations entered. The final draw for the 1948 football tournament looked nothing like the original draw, because of withdrawals. The original draw for the preliminary round was as follows:
• Egypt vs. Denmark (moved to a first round match)
• Ireland vs. Netherlands (match was held)
• Burma (Myanmar) vs. India (Burma withdrew; match scheduled for 26 July at Woodside Road, Worthing, England)
• Yugoslavia vs. Pakistan (Pakistan withdrew; match scheduled for 27 July at Southend Stadium at Southend-on-Sea, England)
• Sweden vs. Austria (moved to a first round match)
• China vs. Turkey (moved to a first round match)
• Luxembourg vs. Afghanistan (match was held)
The scheduled matches for the first round were as follows:
• Poland vs. Egypt / Denmark winner (Poland withdrew, Egypt played Denmark)
• Great Britain vs. Ireland / Netherlands winner (match was held as GBR vs. IRL)
• France vs. Burma (Myanmar) / India winner (Burma withdrew France played India)
• Palestine vs. Yugoslavia / Pakistan winner (Palestine and Pakistan withdrew; Yugoslavia played Luxembourg in round one)
• United States vs. Sweden / Austria winner (Sweden played Austria in round one; United States played Italy in round one)
• Hungary vs. Italy (Hungary withdrew; Italy played United States in round one)
• Korea (South) vs. China / Turkey winner (China played Turkey in round one; Korea played Mexico in round one)
• Mexico vs. Luxembourg / Afghanistan winner (Luxembourg played Yugoslavia in round one; Mexico played Korea in round one)
Date | 26 July 1948 |
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Format | Single-elimination. |
Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
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Match #1 | 26 Jul | Luxembourg | LUX | 6 – 0 | Afghanistan | AFG | |
Match #2 | 26 Jul | Netherlands | NED | 3 – 1 | Ireland | IRL |
Date | 31 July – 2 August 1948 |
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Format | Single-elimination |
Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Match #1 | 31 Jul 18:30 | Denmark | DEN | 3 – 1 | Egypt | EGY | AET |
Match #2 | 31 Jul 18:30 | Great Britain | GBR | 4 – 3 | Netherlands | NED | AET |
Match #3 | 31 Jul 18:30 | France | FRA | 2 – 1 | India | IND | |
Match #4 | 31 Jul 18:30 | Yugoslavia | YUG | 6 – 1 | Luxembourg | LUX | |
Match #5 | 02 Aug 18:30 | Sweden | SWE | 3 – 0 | Austria | AUT | |
Match #6 | 02 Aug 18:30 | Republic of Korea | KOR | 5 – 3 | Mexico | MEX | |
Match #7 | 02 Aug 18:30 | Italy | ITA | 9 – 0 | United States | USA | |
Match #8 | 02 Aug 18:30 | Turkey | TUR | 4 – 0 | China | CHN |
Date | 5 August 1948 |
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Format | Single-elimination. |
Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Match #1 | 05 Aug 18:30 | Sweden | SWE | 12 – 0 | Republic of Korea | KOR | |
Match #2 | 05 Aug 18:30 | Denmark | DEN | 5 – 3 | Italy | ITA | |
Match #3 | 05 Aug 18:30 | Yugoslavia | YUG | 3 – 1 | Turkey | TUR | |
Match #4 | 05 Aug 18:30 | Great Britain | GBR | 1 – 0 | France | FRA |
Date | 10 – 11 August 1948 |
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Format | Single-elimination. |
Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Match #1 | 10 Aug 18:30 | Sweden | SWE | 4 – 2 | Denmark | DEN | |
Match #2 | 11 Aug 18:30 | Yugoslavia | YUG | 3 – 1 | Great Britain | GBR |
Date | 13 August 1948 |
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Format | Medal round. |
Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Match 1/2 | 13 Aug 18:30 | Sweden | SWE | 3 – 1 | Yugoslavia | YUG | |
Match 3/4 | 13 Aug 14:00 | Denmark | DEN | 5 – 3 | Great Britain | GBR |