Football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Encyclopedia
The 1956 Olympic Games football tournament with just 11 competing nations suffered from cancellations. It was an undistinguished tournament that featured mis-matches and walkovers.

Background

Following 5 withdrawals, the tournament featured three Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

 teams and four from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 in a tournament that matched professionals against the amateurs required in Olympics. The other sides included in the draw were from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 (West and East united), Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 (rather than as separate nations as in FIFA football) and the hosts Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, featuring in their very first Olympic football tournament.

The ability to develop an "amateur" side around 2 or 3 long-term internationals could only be achieved by use of the tendency of Eastern bloc sides to provide state-funding for their athletes. This compared most favourably with the Australians who did not pay their footballers during the tournament; player income was supported by community fund-raising. http://www.ozfootball.net/museum/ronlord.html
In Melbourne's The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

 newspaper, Alex Barr wrote:
"The original [Australian] squad was not the best and four weeks of intensive training did nothing to improve the standard. Australian soccer has lost a wonderful chance to gain world prominence and the game has suffered a body blow."

First round

Five teams withdrew (Egypt, China, 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), which left only three games to play in the first round.

The tournament got under way with Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's 2-0 win over Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in front of just 3,500 people. In goal the Aussies were fielding Ron Lord
Ron Lord
Ron Lord was an Australian international football goalkeeper during the 1950s, appearing for the host nation in the 1956 Olympic Games staged in Melbourne....

, a later Soccer Australia Hall of Famer. They went ahead thanks to a 26th minute penalty before Frank Loughran
Frank Loughran
Frank Loughran was a Belfast-born footballer who was considered to be one of the pioneers of the sport in Australia...

's winner half-way through the second half settled matters.

Germany appeared in Olympics as United Team of Germany
United Team of Germany
The Unified Team of Germany , competed in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games as a united team of athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic...

 including East German athletes. The West German Amateur team (:de:Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft der Amateure) had been selected to represent Germany. It was not the favourite against the Soviets as even the proper semi-pro German squad, reigning 1954 FIFA World Cup
1954 FIFA World Cup
The 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fifth staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerland was chosen as hosts in July 1946. The tournament set a number of all-time records for goal-scoring, including the highest average goals scored per game...

 champions, had lost two games against them in 1955. Coached by Sepp Herberger
Sepp Herberger
Josef "Sepp" Herberger was a German football player and manager...

, the German side was defeated 1-2 by the eventual Gold medal winners, showing fighting spirit by scoring in the 89th minute, and hitting the post in the waning seconds. Just as the 1928 Summer Olympics
1928 Summer Olympics
The 1928 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Amsterdam had bid for the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, but had to give way to war-victim Antwerp, Belgium, and Pierre de...

 had introduced the world to the future World Champions, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

, so here the Soviets fielded the makings of a side that four years later would win the 1960 UEFA European Football Championship
1960 UEFA European Football Championship
The 1960 UEFA European Nations Cup was the first European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time....

 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In goal they played Lev Yashin
Lev Yashin
Lev Ivanovich Yashin nicknamed as "The Black Spider", was a Soviet-Russian football goalkeeper, considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the game. He was known for his superior athleticism in goal, imposing stature, amazing reflex saves and inventing the idea of...

. Their side was led by Igor Netto
Igor Netto
Igor Aleksandrovich Netto was a footballer from the Soviet Union, considered one of the greatest Soviet players ever. He started out as a left defender but, due to his offensive mentality, dribbling and technical abilities turned into a dynamic central midfielder...

, their left-half; the forward-line led by Torpedo Moscow's Valentin Kozmich Ivanov
Valentin Kozmich Ivanov
Valentin Kozmich Ivanov was a football winger/striker, co-leading scorer at the 1962 World Cup and co-1960 European Nations' Cup top scorer.Ivanov appeared 59 times for the Soviet Union, scoring 26 goals...

, father to the famous Russian referee Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov
Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov
Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov is a Russian international football referee and a former player. The son of two Olympic champions of 1956, Valentin Ivanov and Lidiya Ivanova, he lives in Moscow where he works as a teacher....

.

The Great Britain football team (like Germany of the time a team, which only appeared in Olympics as united) eliminated Thailand 9-0.
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1 Egypt, South Vietnam, and Hungary withdrew.

2 Both teams withdrew; the match was scratched.

3 As five of the original sixteen teams withdrew, the match was postponed to the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinals

The second round saw two Eastern Bloc teams decisively beating proud Western nations. Yugoslavia completely dominated the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 side in their 9-1 rout.

Elsewhere, Great Britain lost 6-1 to Bulgaria. Half way through the game, ratings from HMS Newcastle
HMS Newcastle (C76)
The seventh HMS Newcastle was a Town-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She belonged to the Southampton subclass. In the Second World War following extensive battle damage sustained in the Mediterranean, she spent some time being repaired in New York.She also saw action in the Korean...

 vaulted the fence and exhorted the team to show more grit. They were peacefully escorted off the field, just as peacefully as Great Britain were bundled out of the tournament.http://www.ozfootball.net/museum/1956olympics.html

The Soviets drew their game against Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 0-0 and were fortunate to get away with a 4-0 victory in the replay.

The Indians went one better defeating 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. During the game, Australia's own feet were tied by incomprehensible decisions by the Indonesian referee, refusing two first half goals. Bob Bignall the Australian captain unable to get an intelligible reply out of him during the break. FIFA's decision to oblige all match officials to speak English lay far into the future, with the 1966 World Cup final serving as example for the pressing need.
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Semifinals

D'Souza's would add another in the semi-final to put India one-up against Yugoslavia; another goalless first-half, another European team struggling against underestimated opponents. This time the Yugoslavs proved too strong in the second half; 4-1 winners. It would be their third consecutive Olympic final.

The Soviets defeated Bulgaria 2-1 after a thriller in the overtime. Although Bulgaria scored first and were the more aggressive team on the field, they allowed two goals in the last six minutes of the game.
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Finals

Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 were playing Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...

's Dragoslav Šekularac
Dragoslav Šekularac
Dragoslav Šekularac Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац) Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац) (born November 30, 1937 in Štip, Vardar Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia is a Serbian former football player and coach....

 in this tournament; he too would feature in the 1960 UEFA European Football Championship
1960 UEFA European Football Championship
The 1960 UEFA European Nations Cup was the first European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time....

 final. Once again, however, they would come unstuck at the altar; losing this time to a second half Anatoli Ilyin
Anatoli Ilyin
Anatoli Mikhaïlovitch Ilyin is a former Soviet Russian footballer.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962.* Soviet Top League runner-up: 1954, 1955.* Soviet Top League bronze: 1957, 1961....

 goal that presented the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 with a Gold medal and their first international title.

Bulgaria took Bronze defeating India 3-0.

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Medalists

Gold Silver Bronze
Lev Yashin
Lev Yashin
Lev Ivanovich Yashin nicknamed as "The Black Spider", was a Soviet-Russian football goalkeeper, considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the game. He was known for his superior athleticism in goal, imposing stature, amazing reflex saves and inventing the idea of...


Nikolai Tishchenko
Nikolai Tishchenko
Nikolai Ivanovich Tishchenko was a Soviet football player.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958....


Mikhail Ogonkov
Mikhail Ogonkov
Mikhail Pavlovich Ogonkov was a Russian footballer of the 1950s and 1960s. He played as a left-back for Spartak Moscow. According to the famous footballer Nikita Simonyan Mikhail Ogonkov was the best Soviet Full Back of all times...


Aleksei Paramonov
Aleksei Paramonov
Aleksei Aleksandrovich Paramonov is a retired Soviet football player and manager.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958.* Soviet Top League runner-up: 1954, 1955....


Anatoli Bashashkin
Anatoli Bashashkin
Anatoli Vasilievich Bashashkin was a Russian footballer in the 1940s and 1950s and a football coach later. He played as a central defender....


Igor Netto
Igor Netto
Igor Aleksandrovich Netto was a footballer from the Soviet Union, considered one of the greatest Soviet players ever. He started out as a left defender but, due to his offensive mentality, dribbling and technical abilities turned into a dynamic central midfielder...


Boris Tatushin
Boris Tatushin
Boris Georgiyevich Tatushin was a Soviet football player and manager.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1953, 1956, 1958.-International career:...


Anatoli Isayev
Anatoli Isayev
Anatoli Konstantinovich Isayev is a retired Soviet football player and Soviet and Russian coach.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962.* Soviet Cup winner: 1958....


Eduard Streltsov
Eduard Streltsov
Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov was a Soviet footballer who represented Torpedo Moscow as a forward. Joining Torpedo at the age of 16 from the Fraser factory team in 1953, Streltsov made his international debut two years later and played a key role in winning the gold medal for the Soviet national...


Valentin Kozmich Ivanov
Valentin Kozmich Ivanov
Valentin Kozmich Ivanov was a football winger/striker, co-leading scorer at the 1962 World Cup and co-1960 European Nations' Cup top scorer.Ivanov appeared 59 times for the Soviet Union, scoring 26 goals...


Vladimir Ryzhkin
Vladimir Ryzhkin
Vladimir Alekseyevich Ryzhkin was a Soviet football player. He was born in Moscow.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1954, 1955, 1957.* Soviet Cup winner: 1953....


Boris Kuznetsov
Iosif Betsa
Sergei Salnikov
Sergei Salnikov
Sergei Sergeyevich Salnikov was a Soviet football player and manager.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1954, 1956, 1958....


Boris Razinsky
Boris Razinsky
Boris Davidovich Razinsky is a retired Soviet Russian football player and manager. He played both as a goalkeeper and as a striker...


Anatoli Maslenkin
Anatoli Ilyin
Anatoli Ilyin
Anatoli Mikhaïlovitch Ilyin is a former Soviet Russian footballer.-Honours:* Olympic champion: 1956.* Soviet Top League winner: 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1962.* Soviet Top League runner-up: 1954, 1955.* Soviet Top League bronze: 1957, 1961....


Nikita Simonyan
Yuriy Belaev
Anatoli Porkhunov
Anatoli Porkhunov
Anatoli Nikolayevich Porkhunov was a Soviet football player.-International career:Porkhunov made his debut for USSR on August 21, 1955 in a friendly against West Germany.-External links:...

Sava Antić
Sava Antic
Sava Antić was a Serbian football player and manager.He won the Yugoslav Cup 3 times, in 1953, 1955, and 1962, being the scorer in all the 3 cup finals. He started his career as a football player in FK Brodarac in 1945. In 1948 he moved to Red Star where he played 36 games and scored 22 goals...


Ibrahim Biogradlić
Ibrahim Biogradlic
Ibrahim "Ibro" Biogradlić is a retired Bosnian defender who played at 1956 Summer Olympics for SFR Yugoslavia.-External links:*...


Mladen Koščak
Mladen Koščak
Mladen Koščak was a Croatian footballer. Born in Zagreb, Koščak joined the youth academy of local side Dinamo Zagreb, with whom he spent his entire career. He started playing at full professional level in the 1955–56 season...


Dobroslav Krstić
Luka Liposinović
Luka Lipošinovic
Luka Lipošinović is a former Yugoslavian football player. He got 13 caps for Yugoslavia....


Muhamed Mujić
Muhamed Mujic
Muhamed Mujić is a Bosnian striker who played at FIFA World Cup 1962 for SFR Yugoslavia.-External links:*...


Zlatko Papec
Zlatko Papec
Zlatko Papec is a former Croatian footballer.He began his career playing as a left winger at Zagreb's Lokomotiva, at the time when the club was a regular member of the Yugoslav First League, and was part of the greatest attacking lineup in the history of the club, alongside Josip Odžak, Vladimir...


Petar Radenković
Petar Radenkovic
Petar Radenković is a Serbian football goalkeeper who played for SFR Yugoslavia.His younger brother Milan Radenković was a famous musician in the United States.-References:**...


Nikola Radović
Nikola Radović
Nikola Radović was a Montenegrin footballer.Radović began his career at Budućnost Titograd before moving to BSK Belgrade where he started to play professionally in 1952. After two seasons with BSK, with whom he won the 1953 Yugoslav Cup, he joined Hajduk Split where he spent the bulk of his career...


Ivan Santek
Ivan Šantek
Ivan Šantek is a former Croatian football player.On the national level he played for Yugoslavia national team , and was a participant at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.- References :...


Dragoslav Šekularac
Dragoslav Šekularac
Dragoslav Šekularac Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац) Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац) (born November 30, 1937 in Štip, Vardar Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia is a Serbian former football player and coach....


Ljubiša Spajić
Ljubiša Spajic
Ljubomir "Ljubiša" Spajić was a Serbian footballer who was part of Yugoslavia national football team at the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He later became a manager.-External links:*...


Todor Veselinović
Blagoja Vidinić
Blagoja Vidinic
Blagoje Vidinić was a Macedonian football coach, former player, and former Olympic participant of Serbian origin....

Stefan Bozhkov
Stefan Bozhkov
Stefan Bozhilov Stefanov is a former Bulgarian football player and coach.During his club career he played for PFC CSKA Sofia. Bozhkov won the top Bulgarian league, the A PFG, a ten times , as well as the Bulgarian Cup, three times...


Todor Diev
Todor Diev
Todor Nedyalkov Diev is a former Bulgarian football player.Diev was Born in Plovdiv. He played 308 games for Spartak Plovdiv and scored 146 goals. He was also capped 55 times for the Bulgaria national team and scored 16 goals.-References:...


Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov (footballer)
Georgi Dimitrov is a former Bulgarian football defender. He was capped 77 times for Bulgaria, scoring 6 goals.-External links:* *...


Milcho Goranov
Ivan Petkov Kolev
Ivan Petkov Kolev
Ivan Petkov Kolev is a former Bulgarian football player and coach.He represented Bulgaria at the FIFA World Cups in 1962 and 1966, He also played for...


Nikola Kovachev
Nikola Kovachev
Nikola Dimitrov Kovachev was a Bulgarian football player and manager.Kovachev played for Bulgaria at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics.- References :...


Manol Manolov
Manol Manolov
Manol Manolov was a football defender and manager.For the Bulgaria national football team Manolov featured in 57 games and won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics. Between 1948 and 1962 he played in 239 matches and scored 8 goals for CSKA Sofia...


Dimitar Milanov
Dimitar Milanov
Dimitar Milanov Stoyanov was a Bulgarian international footballer who played as a striker for CSKA Sofia. Milanov earned 39 caps for Bulgaria, scoring 20 goals, between 1948 and 1959, and he competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics and 1956 Summer Olympics.-References:...


Georgi Naydenov
Georgi Naydenov (footballer)
Georgi Spirov Naydenov is a former Bulgarian football goalkeeper and former manager. He is considered the greatest Bulgarian goalkeeper for all time. Between 1955 and 1965 he played in 176 matches for CSKA Sofia. He was honoured as Bulgarian Footballer of the Year in 1961...


Panayot Panayotov
Panayot Panayotov
Panayot Panayotov is a Bulgarian football forward who played for Bulgaria in the 1962 FIFA World Cup. He also played for CDNA.-External links:*...


Kiril Rakarov
Kiril Rakarov
Kiril Manolov Rakarov was a former Bulgarian football player.He represented Bulgaria at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1962 FIFA World Cup.-References:...


Gavril Stoyanov
Krum Yanev
Yordan Yosifov
Iliya Kirchev
Iliya Kirchev
Iliya Kirchev is a retired Bulgarian football player. Kirchev was a central defender. He played with PFC Spartak Varna and earned 286 caps in Bulgarian first division. For the Bulgaria national football team Kirchev featured in 7 games and won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He died...

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