1900 Summer Olympics / Football

Football at the 1900 Olympic Games
information
venue	Paris
Competition venue	Velodrome Jacques-Anquetil
Teams	3
Nations	3
Athletes	35 (35 )
date	September 20-23, 1900
decisions	1
St. Louis 1904 →

The international competitions for physical exercise and sport (Concours Internationaux d'Exercices Physiques et de Sports) held in the French capital Paris as part of the World Exhibition (Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris) also included football matches . The International Olympic Committee (IOC) assigned these games to the program of the 1900 Olympic Games (Games of the Second Olympiad) . Three teams only played two games, which is why the competition had no tournament character. Neither national football champions nor national football teams were represented.

Teams

The management of the world exhibition had planned four football matches. A Swiss , a German , a Belgian and a British team should each play against the same French team. In the organizers' deliberations, it was not a question of a tournament , but of four equal-ranking games with their own prizes.

The German Football Association (DFB) dispatched contrary to initial plans due to lack of available funds , bad experiences you've done in terms of athletic Sports in Paris and set up difficulties, a suitable team no team. Switzerland did not provide a team either. The Austrian Empire , which was originally supposed to send a team, announced early on that it would not take part.

At that time, team competitions were generally advertised as competitions between club or association teams. In international competitions, they usually represented the country in which the club or association was based. The French association Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), which was supposed to delegate a team, had initially planned to report the reigning champions Le Havre AC . However, the team had several British in their ranks, which ultimately led to the fact that the runner-up Club Français Paris was sent, which accepted only French in its club.

The British team consisted of the London club team Upton Park FC , which produced four England internationals and participated in the first edition of the FA Cup . Many teams from England were not eligible to start due to their professional status, and the interest among English clubs in a trip to France was clearly limited. With Upton Park came a team that was not very successful and was not one of the strongest British teams at the time.

The reigning champions Racing Club de Bruxelles was invited from Belgium , but they also declined. The attempt to put together a league selection failed due to the lack of interest. It was only after a public announcement that a team, consisting largely of students from Brussels and Liège , was able to be set up for the tournament. Among the players was a Dutchman in Hendrik van Heuckelum and an Englishman in Eric Thornton. The player Eugène Neffs was the eleventh man to be "committed" shortly before the game.

Games

Scene from the game of the British team (white shorts) against the French team (black shorts)

The French game against the British took place on September 20 and against the Belgians on September 23. The venue for both games was the Vélodrome Municipal on the grounds of the World Exhibition in Vincennes .

The British team easily won their game against the French 4-0 (half-time 2-0) *. The goals were scored by Nicolas (2), Turner and Zealey. Only 500 spectators watched the game. The second game also gave a clear result, this time the French won 6-2 against the Belgian selection, although they were 2-1 behind after the first half. Only the goal scorers of the first half are known: Peltier scored for France, Spannoghe and van Heuckelum for Belgium. 1500 spectators followed this game.

* The standard work on the history of French football gives the final score 4: 1, which is historically incorrect.

September 20th	Club Français Paris	-	Upton Park FC	0: 4 (0: 2)
September 23rd	Club Français Paris	-	Belgian selection	6: 2 (1: 2)

Medal ranks

Due to the lack of character of a tournament and the equal treatment of both games with award ceremony and prizes, the classification of the results in a ranking of the three teams involved is fundamentally impracticable and was never intended by the organizers. Nevertheless, the IOC subsequently determined a final ranking and assigned the medal ranks, which, as shown, is also reflected in the medal table.

In some publications you will find two first ranks and two second ranks, the statistics and the medal table have changed accordingly.

The French team of the USFSA

rank	player
Great Britain	Upton Park FC Claude Buckenham , TE Burridge , Alfred Chalk , William Grosling , Henry Haslam , James Jones (goalkeeper) , John Nicholas , William Quash , Fred Spackman , Richard Turner , James Zealey
France	Club Français Paris Pierre Allemane , Louis Bach , Alfred Bloch , Fernand Canelle , R. Duparc , Eugène Fraysse , Virgile Gaillard , Georges Garnier , René Grandjean , Lucien Huteau (goalkeeper) , Marcel Lambert , Maurice Macaire , Gaston Peltier
Belgium	Belgian selection Marius Delbecque , Hendrik van Heuckelum ( ) , René Kelecom , Marcel Leboutte (goalkeeper) , Lucien Londot , Ernest Moreau de Melen , Eugène Neefs , Gustave Pelgrims , Alphonse Renier , Hilaire Spannoghe , Eric Thornton ( )

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle I. Athens 1896 - Berlin 1936. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00715-6 .
• Karl Lennartz , Walter Teutenberg: II. Olympic Games 1900 in Paris. Presentation and sources. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1995, ISBN 3-928562-20-7 .
• Bill Mallon : The 1900 Olympic Games . McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina 1998, ISBN 0-7864-0378-0 .
• IFFHS : Book Series Olympic Football Tournaments. Volume 1, p. 9.
• Jürgen Buschmann, Karl Lennartz: The Olympic Football Tournaments. Volume 1: First shot attempts 1896–1908. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-89784-159-2 , pp. 44-72.

Web links

• Information and details on 1900 at iffhs.de
• Tournament dates 1900 on rsssf.com (engl.)