Date | 26 July – 13 August 1948 | |
---|---|---|
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.
Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | W | T | L | Pts | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sweden | ![]() | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 22–3 | Gold | |||||||||
2 | Yugoslavia | ![]() | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 13–6 | Silver | |||||||||
3 | Denmark | ![]() | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 15–11 | Bronze | |||||||||
4 | Great Britain | ![]() | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9–11 | ||||||||||
=5 | France | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2–2 | ||||||||||
=5 | Italy | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 12–5 | ||||||||||
=5 | Republic of Korea | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5–15 | ||||||||||
=5 | Turkey | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5–3 | ||||||||||
=9 | Austria | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0–3 | 1 | |||||||||
=9 | China | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0–4 | ||||||||||
=9 | Egypt | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1–3 | ||||||||||
=9 | India | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1–2 | 2 | |||||||||
=9 | Luxembourg | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7–6 | 3 | |||||||||
=9 | Mexico | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3–5 | ||||||||||
=9 | Netherlands | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6–5 | 4 | |||||||||
=9 | United States | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0–9 | ||||||||||
=17 | Afghanistan | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0–6 | ||||||||||
=17 | Ireland | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1–3 | 5 |
Single-elimination.
Match #1 | 26 Jul | ![]() | 6 – 0 | ![]() |
Match #2 | 26 Jul | ![]() | 3 – 1 | ![]() |
Single-elimination
Match #1 | 31 Jul 18:30 | ![]() | 3 – 1 AET | ![]() |
Match #2 | 31 Jul 18:30 | ![]() | 4 – 3 AET | ![]() |
Match #3 6 | 31 Jul 18:30 | ![]() | 2 – 1 | ![]() |
Match #4 8 | 31 Jul 18:30 | ![]() | 6 – 1 | ![]() |
Match #5 | 02 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 3 – 0 | ![]() |
Match #6 | 02 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 5 – 3 | ![]() |
Match #7 | 02 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 9 – 0 | ![]() |
Match #8 | 02 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 4 – 0 | ![]() |
Single-elimination.
Match #1 | 05 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 12 – 0 | ![]() |
Match #2 | 05 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 5 – 3 | ![]() |
Match #3 | 05 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 3 – 1 | ![]() |
Match #4 | 05 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 1 – 0 | ![]() |
Single-elimination.
Match #1 | 10 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 4 – 2 | ![]() |
Match #2 | 11 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 3 – 1 | ![]() |
Medal round.
Match 1/2 | 13 Aug 18:30 | ![]() | 3 – 1 | ![]() |
Match 3/4 | 13 Aug 14:00 | ![]() | 5 – 3 | ![]() |