Football at the 1908 Summer Olympics

The "Challenge Cup", awarded to the winning team
Tournament details
Host country	Great Britain
City	London
Dates	19–24 October 1908
Teams	6
Venue(s)	White City Stadium
Final positions
Champions	Great Britain (2nd title)
Runners-up	Denmark
Third place	Netherlands
Fourth place	Sweden
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	48 (8 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sophus Nielsen (11 goals)
← 1904 ( 1906) 1912 →

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, an official football tournament between national representative selections was contested for the first time; football had been played between club teams at the Games of 1900 and 1904. ^{[1] [2]}

There were eight entries, including two from France (the main team and a B team). ^[3] Hungary and Bohemia both withdrew after the draw and appointment of referees, leaving six teams to contest the tournament.

Great Britain won the gold medal representing the United Kingdom ( Great Britain and Ireland), although all the players were from England.

Sophus "Krølben" Nielsen of Denmark set a record by scoring 10 goals in a 17–1 win over France A. The famous mathematician Harald Bohr, brother of the even more famous Niels Bohr, also played for Denmark, who won the silver medal.

Competition schedule

The match schedule of the tournament. ^[4]

Legend

R1

First round

SF

Semi-finals

B

Bronze medal match

F

Gold medal match

19 Mon	20 Tue	21 Wed	22 Thu	23 Fri	24 Sat
R1	R1		½	B	F

Venue

Squads

Bracket

	First round				Semi-finals				Gold medal match
	19 October 1908
	Denmark	9
					22 October 1908
	France B	0
					Denmark	17
					France	1
	France	2
									24 October 1908
	Bohemia	0
									Denmark	0
	20 October 1908
									Great Britain	2
	Great Britain	12
					22 October 1908
	Sweden	1
					Great Britain	4
					Netherlands	0			Bronze medal match
	Netherlands	2
									23 October 1908
	Hungary	0
									Netherlands	2
									Sweden	0

Tournament

The matches: ^{[5] [6]}

With eight entries, the tournament draw had a full quarterfinal round of four matches.

However, after the draw and appointment of referees,   Hungary (on 12 October) and   Bohemia (on 14 October) were both forced to withdraw due to financial reasons: their opponents, the Netherlands and France respectively, were awarded a 2–0 victory.

First round

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Semi-finals

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Bronze medal match

Originally, all six teams eliminated before the final were to participate in a consolation tournament for the bronze medal, with two first-round matches to be played on 21 October between the four quarter-final losers.

After Hungary and Bohemia both withdrew, the first round was scratched on 15 October, with France B and Sweden qualifying for the semi-finals of the consolation tournament.

France B, Sweden and the two semi-final losers, France and the Netherlands, were scheduled to play the semi-finals on October 23: the French teams were drawn against each other, and the Netherlands were drawn against Sweden, with the winners playing off in the bronze medal match prior to the gold medal match on October 24.

However, both French teams had returned home immediately after their crushing defeats to Denmark on October 19 and October 22: therefore, their semi-final and the October 24 bronze medal match were both scratched, with the Netherlands v Sweden semi-final becoming the bronze medal match. ^[7]

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Gold medal match

Team details

Great Britain Denmark GK Horace Bailey RB Walter Corbett LB Herbert Smith RH Kenneth Hunt CH Frederick Chapman LH Robert Hawkes OR Arthur Berry IR Vivian Woodward CF Harold Stapley IL Clyde Purnell OL Harold Hardman Head Coach: Alfred Davis GK Ludvig Drescher RB Charles Buchwald LB Harald Hansen RH Harald Bohr CH Kristian Middelboe LH Nils Middelboe OR Oskar Nielsen-Norland IR August Lindgren CF Sophus Nielsen IL Vilhelm Wolfhagen OL Bjørn Rasmussen Head Coach: Charlie Williams Assistant referees: F. Styles (England) W. Woollett (England)

Medal summary

Medal table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Great Britain (H)	3	3	0	0	18	1	+17	6	Champions
2	Denmark	3	2	0	1	26	3	+23	4	Runners-up
3	Netherlands	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	2	Third place
4	Sweden	2	0	0	2	1	14	−13	0	Fourth place
5	France	1	0	0	1	1	17	−16	0	Eliminated in semi-finals
6	France B	1	0	0	1	0	9	−9	0	Eliminated in first round

Medalists

Complete list of medal winners: ^[11]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's tournament	Great Britain Horace Bailey Arthur Berry Frederick Chapman Walter Corbett Harold Hardman Robert Hawkes Kenneth Hunt Herbert Smith Harold Stapley Clyde Purnell Vivian Woodward George Barlow [12] Albert Bell Ronald Brebner W. Crabtree Walter Daffern Thomas Porter Albert Scothern	Denmark (DEN) [13] Peter Marius Andersen Harald Bohr Charles Buchwald Ludvig Drescher Johannes Gandil Harald Hansen August Lindgren Kristian Middelboe Nils Middelboe Sophus Nielsen Oskar Nørland Bjørn Rasmussen Vilhelm Wolfhagen Magnus Beck [12] Ødbert E. Bjarnholt Knud Hansen Einar Middelboe	Netherlands (NED) Reinier Beeuwkes Frans de Bruyn Kops Karel Heijting Jan Kok Bok de Korver Emil Mundt Louis Otten Jops Reeman Edu Snethlage Ed Sol Jan Thomée Caius Welcker Jan van den Berg [12] Lo la Chapelle Vic Gonsalves John Heijting Tonie van Renterghem

Statistics

Goalscorers

11 goals

8 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Goalkeeping

Place	Name	Team	Goals allowed	Games	GAA
1	Horace Bailey	Great Britain	1	3	0.33
2	Ludvig Drescher	Denmark	3	3	1.00
3	Reinier Beeuwkes	Netherlands	4	2	2.00
4	Oskar Bengtsson	Sweden	14	2	7.00
5	Fernand Desrousseaux	France B	9	1	9.00
6	Maurice Tillette	France	17	1	17.00

Bibliography

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.

References

51°30′49″N 0°13′39″E / 51.5136°N 0.2274°E / 51.5136; 0.2274