Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics

The association football tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was won by the Soviet Union.[2]

Not to be confused with Australian football at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Tournament details
Host countryAustralia
DatesNovember 24 – December 8
Teams11
Final positions
Champions Soviet Union (1st title)
Runners-up Yugoslavia
Third place Bulgaria
Fourth place India
Tournament statistics
Matches played12
Goals scored53 (4.42 per match)
Attendance194,333 (16,194 per match)
Top scorer(s) Neville D'Souza
Todor Veselinović
Dimitar Milanov
(4 goals each)[1]

Background

Following five withdrawals, the tournament featured three Eastern bloc teams and four from Asia. The other sides included in the draw were from the United States, Germany (West and East united), Great Britain and the hosts Australia, competing in their first Olympic football tournament.

The tendency of Eastern bloc countries to provide state-funding for their athletes put Western amateurs at a significant disadvantage. As a result, all Olympic football tournaments 1952 onwards were dominated by the Soviet Union and its satellites.[3]

Venues
Melbourne
Olympic Park Stadium Melbourne Cricket Ground
Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 104,000

Final tournament

First round
German players Rudi Hoffmann (left) and Max Schwall (right)

Five teams withdrew (Egypt, China (withdrew in protest of the participation of Taiwan), Turkey, South Vietnam, and the football team of Hungary, a nation that was cheered in other Olympic contests due to the ongoing suppression by Soviet troops) before the final draw, which left only three games to play in the first round (China and Turkey were drawn against each other, so their match was scratched).

The Soviet Union defeated Germany 2–1, Great Britain defeated Thailand 9–0, and Australia defeated Japan 2–0.

Soviet Union 2–1 Germany
Isayev  23'
Streltsov  86'		 Report Habig  89'
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Robert Mann (Great Britain)
Great Britain 9–0 Thailand
Twissell  12'  20'
Lewis  21' (p.k.)
Laybourne  30'  82'  85'
Bromilow  75'  78'
Topp  90'		 Report
Attendance: 3,693
Australia 2–0 Japan
McMillan  26' (p.k.)
Loughran  61'		 Report
Attendance: 3,568
Referee: Reginald Lund (New Zealand)

Byes: Bulgaria  (drawn against Egypt, who withdrew), India  (drawn against Hungary, who withdrew), Indonesia  (drawn against South Vietnam, who withdrew), United States  and  Yugoslavia (match postponed to quarter-finals after five of the original sixteen teams withdrew).

Quarter-finals

Yugoslavia defeated the United States 9–1.

Great Britain lost 6–1 to Bulgaria, and at half-time, ratings from HMS Newcastle vaulted the fence and exhorted the team to show more grit, after which they were peacefully escorted off the field.[4]

The Soviets drew their game against Indonesia 0–0 and won 4–0 in the replay.

The Indians defeated Australia 4–2 with a hat trick by centre forward Neville D’Souza, the first by an Asian in the Olympics. Prior to the game there had been debate, once again, as to whether the Indians should be shod. Sir Stanley Rous respected their decision either way, although in the end, the Indians decided to wear boots. The Indonesian referee disallowed two first half goals. Bob Bignall the Australian captain was unable to get an intelligible reply out of him during the break.

Yugoslavia 9–1 United States
Veselinović  10'  84'  90'
Antić  12'  73'
Mujić  16'  35'  56'
Papec  20'		 Report Zerhusen  42'
Attendance: 5,292
Referee: Maurice Swain (New Zealand)
Soviet Union 0–0 (a.e.t.) Indonesia
Report
Attendance: 3,228
Soviet Union 4–0 Indonesia
Salnikov  17'  59'
Ivanov  19'
Netto  43'		 Report
Attendance: 6,735
Referee: Reginald Lund (New Zealand)
Bulgaria 6–1 Great Britain
Dimitrov  6'
Kolev  40'  85'
Milanov  45'  75'  80'		 Report Lewis  30'
Attendance: 6,748
Referee: Ron Wright (Australia)
Australia 2–4 India
Morrow  17'  41' Report D'Souza  9'  33'  50'
Kittu  80'
Attendance: 7,413
Referee: Chris Wensveen (Indonesia)

Semi-finals

Yugoslavia defeated India 4–1. It would be their third consecutive Olympic final, after losing both in 1948 and 1952.

The Soviets defeated Bulgaria 2–1. Bulgaria scored first and conceded two goals in the last six minutes of the game.

Yugoslavia 4–1 India
Papec  54'  65'
Veselinović  57'
Salam  78' (o.g.)		 Report D'Souza  52'
Attendance: 16,626
Soviet Union 2–1 (a.e.t.) Bulgaria
Streltsov  112'
Tatushin  116'		 Report Kolev  95'
Attendance: 21,079
Referee: Robert Mann (Great Britain)

Finals

Yugoslavia were playing Red Star Belgrade's Dragoslav Šekularac in this tournament; he would feature in the 1960 European Nations' Cup final. They lost 1–0 to a second half Anatoli Ilyin goal.

Bulgaria took Bronze defeating India 3–0.

Bronze Medal match
Bulgaria 3–0 India
Diev  37'  60'
Milanov  42'		 Report
Attendance: 21,236

Gold Medal match
Soviet Union 1–0 Yugoslavia
Ilyin  48' Report
Attendance: 86,716
Referee: Ron Wright (Australia)

Bracket
Indian team at a tussle against Bulgaria in the bronze-medal match.
First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
   Yugoslavia
November – Olympic Park
  bye
  Yugoslavia 9
  United States 1
   United States
December – MCG
  bye
  Yugoslavia 4
November
  India 1
  Australia 2
December – MCG
  Japan 0
  Australia 2
  India 4
   India
December – MCG
  bye
  Yugoslavia 0
  Soviet Union 1
   Indonesia
December – Olympic Park
  bye
  Indonesia 0
November
  Soviet Union 4
  Soviet Union 2
December – Olympic Park
  Germany 1
  Soviet Union 2 (a.e.t.)
  Bulgaria 1
   Bulgaria
December – MCG
  bye
  Bulgaria 6
November December – MCG
  Great Britain 1
  Great Britain 9   India 0
  Thailand 0   Bulgaria 3

Goalscorers
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goals

Medalists
Gold Silver Bronze
 Soviet Union  Yugoslavia  Bulgaria
Lev Yashin
Nikolai Tishchenko
Mikhail Ogonkov
Aleksei Paramonov
Anatoli Bashashkin
Igor Netto
Boris Tatushin
Anatoli Isayev
Eduard Streltsov
Valentin Ivanov
Vladimir Ryzhkin
Boris Kuznetsov
Iosif Betsa
Sergei Salnikov
Boris Razinsky
Anatoli Maslenkin
Anatoli Ilyin
Nikita Simonyan
Yury Belyayev
Anatoli Porkhunov		 Sava Antić
Ibrahim Biogradlić
Mladen Koščak
Dobroslav Krstić
Luka Liposinović
Muhamed Mujić
Zlatko Papec
Petar Radenković
Nikola Radović
Ivan Santek
Dragoslav Šekularac
Ljubiša Spajić
Todor Veselinović
Blagoja Vidinić		 Stefan Bozhkov
Todor Diev
Georgi Dimitrov
Milcho Goranov
Ivan Petkov Kolev
Nikola Kovachev
Manol Manolov
Dimitar Milanov
Georgi Naydenov
Panayot Panayotov
Kiril Rakarov
Gavril Stoyanov
Krum Yanev
Yordan Yosifov
Pavel Vladimirov
Iliya Kirchev

See also

References
  1. Olympic Football Tournament Melbourne 1956 – Top goalscoring players. FIFA.com
  2. "Football at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2006-11-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "News .....taken from "The Socceroos and their Opponents" by Laurie Schwab". Australian Online Soccer Museum. Australian Soccer Preservation Society. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006.
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