Football at Summer Olympics

We wrote about which big stars we will see at the Summer Olympics in Paris, and on this occasion we will pay attention to the history of the football tournament at the Summer Olympics. This tournament used to be very important, but it has been in limbo for years because the world’s biggest stars mostly do not perform at it.

Football at Summer Olympics – Hungarians and British are the most successful

The first modern Summer Olympics were held in 1896 in the city where the Olympic Games themselves originated, Athens. At the first games, football was not played because the sport was still in its infancy, but already at the next Summer Olympics, a football tournament was held. At that time, teams from several countries participated, not national teams, and the tournament was not recognized by FIFA. The same thing happened in the next tournament, and for the first time we saw national teams at the Summer Olympics in 1908, and that tradition was maintained until 1968.

From then until 1980, amateur national teams performed at the Summer Olympics. At the Summer Olympics 1984-1988, we again watched the national teams with certain restrictions from UEFA and CONMEBOL. Since 1992, the practice of players under the age of 23 playing at the Summer Olympics has been introduced, with the fact that four years later, national teams were allowed to invite three players above that age limit. Great Britain was dominant in the beginning and won all three titles in the period from 1900 to 1912. That is not so surprising when you know that football was born on the island.

Great Britain won the first two official football tournaments at the Summer Olympics held in 1908 and 1912, both times with this national team. Over the next 110 years Great Britain did not win a single gold medal in a football tournament but because of the distinction made between professionals and amateurs the FA refused to send players to the Olympics except in 2012 when Great Britain was the host. The football tournament at the Summer Olympics, as you can guess, was held long before the first World Cup.

The first World Cup was held until 1930, and that tournament was held in the country that was dominant in those years, which is Uruguay. This national team was the best at the Summer Olympics in 1924 and 1928, and then the World Cup was two years late. At the 1924 Summer Olympics, Uruguay conceded only one goal and in the final it was convincing against Switzerland. Four years later, Uruguay beat Argentina 2-1 in the final. The football tournament at the 1932 Summer Olympics was not held because all the focus of FIFA was on the promotion of the first World Cup.

At the controversial 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, football made a comeback. The tournament was marked by the fact that the referee was intimidated by Italy, who ended up beating Austria 2-1. By the way, Austria was defeated by Peru in the semi-finals, but they asked for the game to be repeated, which FIFA approved, but Peru did not accept it and withdrew from the games. Over time, the difference between the World Cup and the Olympics was getting bigger as football became more and more professional, which led to amateur players taking part in the Summer Olympics.

They took full advantage of that from Eastern Europe, which sponsored their best players who kept their amateur status. In the period from 1948 to 1980, as many as 23 out of 28 medals in the football tournament at the Summer Olympics were won by countries from the Soviet Union and countries close to them. During the fifties and sixties of the last century, Yugoslavia and Hungary were great because both national teams played in the finals of the football tournament at the Summer Olympics four times.

Hungary had more success and is still the record holder with three titles won in 1952, 1964 and 1968. From 1948 to 1960, Yugoslavia played in four consecutive finals, but it only reached the gold medal in 1960, when it was in the final with 3-1. better than Denmark. FIFA allowed professionals to compete in the 1984 and 1988 tournaments, but with certain restrictions. National teams that were not members of UEFA and CONMEBOL could send the strongest teams, while national teams from these confederations could invite players who did not participate in the World Cup to the Summer Olympics.

Both times the final was played by Brazil, but both times it was defeated by France and the Soviet Union. Since 1992, an age limit for players has been introduced in the football tournament at the Olympic Games. Only players under the age of 23 could participate in the games. Then Spain did the best, beating Poland 3-2 in the final at home. The same result was seen in the final four years later, when Nigeria defeated Argentina. From the Olympic Games held in Atlanta in 1996 until today, national teams can invite three players who are older than 23 years.

The African national teams made the best use of that in the beginning, so after Nigeria, four years later, Cameroon also won the title. What is particularly interesting is that no European team has won a medal in this century. First, Argentina was the Olympic champion twice, and then Brazil played three tied finals with two titles won, and once the Olympic champion was Mexico. That unpleasant tradition for the Europeans could be interrupted in Paris, considering that France has perhaps the best team of all national teams.