Football at the 1908 Summer Olympics

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, an official football tournament was contested for the first time. Eight teams entered (two from France), although Hungary and Bohemia withdrew before the start. England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales had the option to each enter their own team for the competition (as all four did in the field hockey competition. Only the English FA took up the opportunity so Great Britain was represented by the England national amateur team. Denmark's Sophus "Krølben" Nielsen set a record by scoring 10 goals in a 17-1 win against France.

Medal table

Great Britain || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 Denmark || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 Netherlands || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1 France || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 Sweden || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

Position	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total

Medal summary

Great Britain Denmark Netherlands

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's tournament

Team rosters

Great Britain

Great Britain was represented by the England national amateur football team.

Denmark

Denmark was represented by the Denmark national football team.

Netherlands

The Netherlands was represented by the Netherlands national football team.

Sweden

Sweden was represented by the Sweden national football team.

France

France was represented by the France national football team, divided into two squads.

France A

France B

Results

Matches

First round


October 19	Denmark	9	-	0	France B	Shepherd's Bush (att. 2,000)
	N. Middleboe 2, Wolfhagen 4, Bohr 2, S. Nielsen	(4	-	0)
October 20	Great Britain	12	-	1	Sweden	White City (att. 2,000)
	Hawkes 2, Chapman, Berry, Woodward 2, Stapley 2, Purnell 4	(7	-	0)	Bergstrom

Semifinals


October 22	Great Britain	4	-	0	Netherlands	White City (att. 6,000)
	Stapley 4	(1	-	0)
October 22	France A	1	-	17	Denmark	Shepherd's Bush (att. 1,000)
	Sartorius	(1	-	6)	S. Nielsen 10, Lindgreen 2, N. Middleboe, Wolfhagen 4

Bronze medal match

This match is not listed in the official report. The appearance of Sweden in the game is also odd, as France A had been the team that lost to Denmark in the semifinals. Sweden had lost in the first round. A possible explanation is that the football tournament used a similar repechage system to that used in Fencing at the 1908 Summer Olympics, in which the first-round loser to the eventual champion was relegated but the semifinal loser to the eventual loser of the final was eliminated.


October 23	Netherlands	2	-	0	Sweden	Shepherd's Bush (att. 1,000)
	Reeman, Snethlage	(1	-	0)

Final


October 24	Great Britain	2	-	0	Denmark	White City (att. 8,000)
	Chapman, Woodward	(1	-	0)

Statistics

Scoring

15 footballers scored over the course of the tournament. Nielsen, with 10 goals in one game and 11 over the full event, set a pair of daunting records.

Denmark ||align=center| 11 Denmark ||align=center| 8 Great Britain ||align=center| 6 Great Britain ||align=center| 4 Denmark ||align=center| 3 Great Britain ||align=center| 3 Denmark ||align=center| 2 Great Britain ||align=center| 2 Great Britain ||align=center| 2 Denmark ||align=center| 2 Sweden ||align=center| 1 Great Britain ||align=center| 1 Netherlands ||align=center| 1 France ||align=center| 1 Netherlands ||align=center| 1

Place	Name	Nation	Goals

Goalkeeping

Great Britain || 1 || 3 || 0.33 Denmark || 3 || 3 || 1.00 Netherlands || 4 || 2 || 2.00 Sweden || 14 || 2 || 7.00 France || 9 || 1 || 9.00 France || 17 || 1 || 17.00

Place	Name	Nation	Goals allowed	Games	GAA

Sources

Football at the Olympics | 1908 Summer Olympics

Olympische Sommerspiele 1908/Fußball | Fútbol en los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 1908 | Calcio alle olimpiadi estive 1908 | Olympische Zomerspelen 1908/Voetbal | 1908年のオリンピックサッカー競技

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