For the first time a German team, the national team of the GDR, won the Olympic gold medal. In the final, Poland, the third place in the World Cup in 1974, in whose ranks many World Cup players, u. a. the World Cup top scorer, Grzegorz Lato , stood, defeated 3-1. For the first time since 1928, a South American team, Brazil, was able to reach the semi-finals.
The three qualified African teams did not take part because of the Olympic boycott of the African states. The amateur team of the DFB was eliminated in the first qualifying round against Spain. After there was an intermediate round at the 1972 tournament after the group phase, this time the game was played again from the quarter-finals in the knockout system . In addition to the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the venues were the Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Lansdowne Park in Ottawa and the Municipal Stadium in Sherbrooke .
Except for the injured Gerd Weber from Dresden, the GDR selection was able to compete with the best cast. Thanks to the early goals by Schade and Hoffmann, the team quickly gained security, which came mainly from goalkeeper Croy and Libero Dörner. Dörner carefully organized the defense; in addition, he was able to support the attack game with frequent advances. The Poles, who had slept through the first quarter of an hour, couldn't find their rhythm later on either. In contrast, the GDR team succeeded in designing the game according to their concept on the slippery ground; especially after the break, all parts of the team harmonized. Your midfield determined the action for almost the entire duration of the game; Löwe, with his great running quota, and the fast as an arrow Riediger whirled the Polish defense upside down at will. Due to the many scoring chances, the GDR could have led more clearly at half time. Instead, the Poles found hope when their right-winger Lato scored the next goal fourteen minutes after the restart. Poland then had its strongest phase, forced its attacking game. The GDR defense initially saved itself by simply knocking the ball away over time, until the entire team got the game under control again. When Häfner fooled the Polish goalkeeper five minutes before the end after going it alone and scored the 3-1 with a low shot, the game was decided.
GDR coach Georg Buschner then commented on the game: “We were superior to our Polish friends in teamwork. We were already able to adapt to the Polish tactics against the USSR, which is playing similarly. "
Montreal , Toronto , Ottawa , Sherbrooke ,
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DDR (1st title)
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Andrzej Szarmach (6 goals)
yellow cards
Red cards
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Brazil
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Spain
Nigeria (withdrawn)
France
Israel
Mexico
Guatemala
Iran
Cuba
Ghana (withdrawn)
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Soviet Union
North Korea
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Zambia (withdrawn)
1: 0 Schade (7th) 
