| | Event type

Football, Men

Date	19 – 24 October 1908
Status	Olympic
Location	White City Stadium, London
Participants	72 from 5 countries
Format	Single-elimination tournament.

Hungary and Bohemia were the only world class soccer nations who did not take part in the 1908 Games. Their late withdrawal reduced the number of competing teams to six and the Official Report gives the reason for their absence as “political troubles in the Balkans” though newspaper reports in their countries site “financial reasons”. This was a rather laconic way of describing the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria, an action which ultimately led to the outbreak of World War I six years later. It was suggested that the Austrian government put political pressure on them to withdraw although the two nations were widely represented in other sports in London.

Similar to hockey, each country was allowed to field four separate teams. This was seen as a way of encouraging the host nation to field teams for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Membership of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) was not required to enter the Olympic tournament - only that the nation had a functioning Football Association. France had left FIFA earlier in the year but entered three teams and fielded two in London. Scotland, Ireland and Wales declined to participate so England were left to carry British hopes alone.Denmark, Holland and Sweden completed the entries.

The early rounds produced some high scoring matches and with their 17-1 defeat of France A, Denmark set an Olympic scoring record which has never beaten. The Danish centre-forward, Sofus Nielsen, also set an Olympic record by individually scoring 10 of the goals in Denmark’s overwhelming victory.

Before a crowd of 8,000, Great Britain met Denmark in the final. In a classic match, Britain scored a goal in each half to give them a 2-0 victory but the Danes were highly praised for their skill and commitment. In a playoff match for third place Holland beat Sweden 2-0. Great Britain and Denmark maintained their pre-eminent position in world soccer and met again in the 1912 Olympic final when Britain were again the winners (4-2).

Six Danes and two Britons played in both the 1908 and 1912 finals and as the Danish players, Charles Buchwald and Oscar Nielsen, had also played in the 1906 final they became the only male players in history to take part in three Olympic soccer finals.

Pos	Number	Team	NOC	Goals	Yellow Cards	Red Cards	Penalty Kicks	Shots	Shots on Goal	Corner Kicks	Free Kicks	Offsides	Fouls Committed
1	–	Great Britain	GBR	18	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Gold
	–	Horace Bailey		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Walter Corbett		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Herbert Smith		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Kenneth Hunt		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Frederick Chapman		2	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Bob Hawkes		2	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Arthur Berry		1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Vivian Woodward		3	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Harry Stapley		6	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Clyde Purnell		4	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Harold Hardman		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Ronald Brebner DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	George Barlow DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Bill Bayley DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Albert Bell DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Arthur Bell DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	John Charnley DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Wilfrid Crabtree DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	William Daffern DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	P. Hayden DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Willie Jordan DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Lionel Louch DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Eversley Mansfield DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Charles Pearce DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Arthur Prest DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Chris Porter DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	John Prosser DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Ernest Proud DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	James Raine DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Albert Scothern DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Harold Uren DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Ernest Williams DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Edward Wright DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Alfred Davis
2	–	Denmark	DEN	26	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Silver
	–	Ludwig Drescher		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Charles Buchwald		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Harald Hansen		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Harald Bohr		2	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Kristian Middelboe		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Nils Middelboe		3	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Oscar Nielsen		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	August Lindgren		2	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Sophus Nielsen		11	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Vilhelm Wolfhagen		8	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Bjørn Rasmussen		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Marius Andersen		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Johannes Gandil		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Magnus Bæch DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Ødbert Bjarnholt DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Knud Hansen DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Einar Middelboe DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Charlie Williams
3	–	Netherlands	NED	2	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	Bronze
	–	Reinier Beeuwkes		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Karel Heijting		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Lou Otten		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Eetje Sol		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Bok de Korver		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Miel Mundt		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jan Kok		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Caius Welcker		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Edu Snethlage		1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jops Reeman		1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jan Thomée		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Frans de Bruijn Kops		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jack Akkersdijk DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Tok Begeer DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Kees Bekker DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jan Brutel de la Riviere DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Vic Gonsalves DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Wim Groskamp DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jur Haak DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	John Heijning DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	E. Jacobi DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Lo la Chapelle DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Hendrik Linthout DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	F. G. Pluim DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Noud Stempels DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jan van den Berg DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Toine van Renterghem DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	S.D.J. Veen DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	H. L. Visman DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Willem Boerdam DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Edgar Chadwick
4	–	Sweden	SWE	1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Oscar Bengtsson		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Åke Fjästad		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Teodor Malm		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Nils Andersson		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Sven Olsson		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Hans Lindman		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Olle Ohlsson		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Walter Lidén		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Sune Almkvist		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Gustaf Bergström		1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Sven Ohlsson		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Karl Ansén		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Arvid Fagrell		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Karl Gustafsson		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Erik Bergström DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	K. Borjeson DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Thor Ericsson DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	G. T. Lindblom DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	G. J. Mellin DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Anton Johanson
=5	–	France A	FRA	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	René Fenouillière		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Gaston Cyprès		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	André François		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Georges-Henri Albert		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Émile Sartorius		1	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Georges Bayrou		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Louis Schubart		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Charles Renaux		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jean Dubly		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Ursule Wibaut		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Maurice Tilliette		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Pierre Allemane DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Oscar Desaulty DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Marius Royet DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jean Zimmermann DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jules Signoret DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Gabriel Hanot DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Albert Dubly DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Julien du Rhéart DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		?
=5	–	France B	FRA	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Adrien Filez		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Paul Mathaux		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Henri Holgard		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Albert Jenicot		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Pierre Six		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Sadi Dastarac		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Raoul Gressier		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Justin Vialaret		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Jules Verlet		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Charles Bilot		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Fernand Desrousseaux		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Georges Prouvost DNS		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Albert Schaff DNS		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Victor Denis DNS		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Robert Eucher DNS		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Étienne Morillon DNS		0	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		?
DNS	–	Hungary	HUN	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		?
DNS	–	Bohemia	BOH	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		?

Round One

Date	19 – 20 October 1908
Format	Single-elimination

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	19 Oct 15:00	Denmark	DEN	9 – 0	France B	FRA
Match #2	20 Oct 15:00	Great Britain	GBR	12 – 1	Sweden	SWE
Match #3		Netherlands	NED	–	Hungary	HUN	walkover
Match #4		France A	FRA	–	Bohemia	BOH	walkover

Semi-Finals

Date	22 October 1908
Format	Single-elimination.

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	22 Oct 13:00	Denmark	DEN	17 – 1	France A	FRA
Match #2	22 Oct 15:00	Great Britain	GBR	4 – 0	Netherlands	NED

Final Round

Date	23 – 24 October 1908
Format	Medal round.

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match 1/2	24 Oct 15:00	Great Britain	GBR	2 – 0	Denmark	DEN
Match 3/4	23 Oct 15:00	Netherlands	NED	2 – 0	Sweden	SWE