1920 Summer Olympics / Football

Football at the 1920 Summer Olympics
information
venue	Antwerp , Brussels , Ghent
Competition venue	Olympic Stadium , Stadium Broodstraat , Duden Park Stadium , Jules Otten Stadium
Teams	14th
Nations	14th
Athletes	190 (190 )
date	August 28 to September 5, 1920
decisions	1
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A men's football tournament was held at the VII Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 . The venues in Antwerp were the Olympic Stadium , which hosted ten games, and the Broodstraat stadium , which hosted four games. In addition, three games were played in Brussels in Park Duden and one game in Ghent in the AA Gent stadium.

14 nations took part in this tournament (Switzerland canceled shortly before the start of the tournament), including Egypt, a non-European country for the first time. Twelve teams started in the round of 16, the six winners moved into the quarter-finals, in which only European teams stood for the last time, with France, which got through the withdrawal of Switzerland without a fight and Belgium, which had a bye.

In the final, Belgium defeated Czechoslovakia 2-0. The Czechoslovak team, which had been very successful up to then, behaved unsportingly. After protesting in vain against the Belgians' second goal, as they did with the first goal, the team closed after 38 minutes of play due to dissatisfaction with the decisions of English referee John Lewis (according to other sources in the 43rd minute) . Then Belgium was declared the winner and the Czechoslovak team disqualified.

Germany , Austria and Hungary were not allowed to play.

mode

Initially, it was decided that the tournament would be held according to the so-called Bergvall System . The Bergvall system is a modified variant of the knockout system and tries to minimize its weaknesses. Since in a pure knockout system only the first placed can be reliably determined, in the Bergvall system all teams that lose against the winner should get a second chance and play for second place. The teams that are defeated by the runner-up should again play out third place. This is to ensure that the final placements are closer to the actual performance ratios.

However, the exact implementation of this mode was dropped before the tournament, as the participants - according to the regulations, only amateurs - could not be expected to stay that long. Therefore, the system was modified a little: the losing teams of the quarter-finals should compete against each other. The winners of the two matches play against each other to determine the first participant who is in the semi-finals of the round for 2nd and 3rd place. In addition, the opponents of the tournament winner from the final, semi-finals and round of 16 should complete the field. These four teams were to play the silver and bronze medals in a simple knockout system.

The tournament

Olympic football tournament 1920
Number of nations	14  (of 15 applicants)
Olympic champion	Belgium (1st title)
venue	Antwerp ( Brussels , Ghent )
Opening game	August 28, 1920
Endgame	September 2, 1920
Games	18th
Gates	76  (⌀: 4.22 per game)
spectator	141,100  (⌀: 7,839 per game)
Top scorer	Herbert Karlsson (7 goals)
References	2  (⌀: 0.11 per game)

Round of 16

28 August 1920 in Antwerp (Broodstraat Stadium)
Czechoslovakia	-	Yugoslavia	7: 0 (3: 0)
August 28, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium) *
Norway	-	Great Britain	3: 1 (1: 1)
28 August 1920 in Gent (AA Gent Stadium)
Italy	-	Egypt	2: 1 (1: 1)
August 28, 1920 in Brussels (Park Duden) *
Spain	-	Denmark	1: 0 (0: 0)
August 28, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium) *
Sweden	-	Greece	9: 0 (6: 0)
August 28, 1920 in Brussels (Park Duden) *
Netherlands	-	Luxembourg	3: 0 (1: 0)
0
France	-	Switzerland**	(without a fight)

** Canceled participation shortly before the tournament for financial reasons.

Quarter finals

29 August 1920 in Antwerp (Broodstraat Stadium)
Netherlands	-	Sweden	5: 4 n.V. (4: 4, 2: 3)
August 29, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium) *
France	-	Italy	3: 1 (2: 1)
29 August 1920 in Brussels (Park Duden)
Czechoslovakia	-	Norway	4: 0 (2: 0)
August 29, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium) *
Belgium	-	Spain	3: 1 (1: 0)

Semifinals

August 31, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium) *
Czechoslovakia	-	France	4: 1 (1: 0)
August 31, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium) *
Belgium	-	Netherlands	3: 0 (0: 0)

* Double events in each case.

final

September 2, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium)
Belgium	-	Czechoslovakia	2: 0 (2: 0) **

** Canceled in the 39th minute of the game.

Some decisions of the 65-year-old referee John Lewis were incomprehensible to the Czechoslovaks and so their captain Karel "Káďa" protested repeatedly. In the 39th minute of the game, the left defender of Czechoslovakia was sent off. Since renewed protests by the Czechoslovaks at the English referee had no effect, Karel "Káďa" also left the pitch and the remaining nine Czechoslovak players followed their captain, whereupon the referee broke off the game. After the game was abandoned, the spectators streamed onto the pitch. In this way the Olympic final of 1920 ended with a scandal .

Tournament for 2nd and 3rd place

First round

31 August 1920 in Antwerp (Broodstraat Stadium)
Italy	-	Norway	2: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1, 0: 1)
September 1, 1920 in Antwerp (Broodstraat Stadium)
Spain	-	Sweden	2: 1 (0: 1)

Second round

September 2, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium)
Spain	-	Italy	2: 0 (1: 0)

Third round

The third round caused all kinds of confusion in later publications. Since Belgium had a bye in the round of 16, there was no team that could occupy the place of the first round loser. Whether the French were offered this free seat and the French had to cancel because part of the team had already left, or whether the alleged abandonment of the game stems from the lack of knowledge of the exact mode (which did not provide for any further pairing for the semi-final opponent of the losing finalist ), cannot be said with absolute certainty.

Spain also received a bye, as the Czechoslovak team was disqualified after the game was abandoned in the final and the place remained vacant.

4th September 1920
Netherlands	-	(France?)	without a fight
4th September 1920
Spain	-	Czechoslovakia	without a fight

Game for 2nd and 3rd place

5th September 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium)
Spain	-	Netherlands	3: 1 (2: 0)

Consolation round

September 3, 1920 in Antwerp (Olympic Stadium)
Egypt	-	Yugoslavia	4: 2 (1: 0)

The game between Egypt and Yugoslavia is often referred to as a placement game and counted as part of a consolation round that was not included in the official program. All other teams that were eliminated in the first round did not play another game at the Olympics, this game is also played as a friendly game by contemporary Antwerp newspapers. It was not until the official report published in 1957 that the game was included in the Olympic competition.

Medal ranks

rank	Medalist
Gold Belgium	Jan De Bie (TW), Félix Balyu , Désiré Bastin , Mathieu Bragard , Robert Coppée , André Fierens , Emile Hanse , Georges Hebdin , Henri Larnoe , Joseph Musch , Fernand Nizot , Armand Swartenbroeks , Louis Van Hege , Oscar Verbeeck Trainer: William Maxwell
Silver Spain	Domingo Gómez-Acedo , Patricio Arabolaza , Juan Artola , Mariano Arrate , José María Belausteguigoitia , Sabino Bilbao , Ramón Eguiazábal , Ramón Gil , Silverio Izaguirre , Pedro Vallana Jeanguenat , Luis Otero , Francisco Pagazaurtundua , Pichichi , Josep Samitier , Agustín Sancho , Félix Sesúmaga , Joaquín Vázquez , Ricardo Zamora (TW) Coach: Francisco Bru
Bronze Netherlands	Arie Bieshaar , Leo Bosschart , Evert Bulder , Jaap Bulder , Jan van Dort , Henri Dénis , Ber Groosjohan , Felix von Heijden , Frits Kuipers , Jan de Natris , Dick MacNeill (TW), Oscar van Rappard , Henk Steeman , Ben Verweij Trainers: Fred Warburton

Best goal scorers

rank	player	Gates
1	Herbert Karlsson	7th
2	Antonín Janda	6th
3	About Groosjohan	5
4th	Robert Coppée	4th
	Félix Sesúmaga	4th
	Jan Vaník	4th
7th	Einar Gundersen	3
	Otakar Mazal	3
	Albin Dahl	3
	Albert Olsson	3

literature

• Jürgen Buschmann, Karl Lennartz : The Olympic Football Tournaments - Volume 3: The Scandal at the Final - Antwerp 1920 . Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 2002, ISBN 3-89784-161-4 .
• International Federation of Football History & Statistics : Olympic Football Tournaments [1] . Wiesbaden 2000.

Web links

• Official website of FIFA
• Information on the 1920 tournament at iffhs.de
• Study by Juan Fauria Garcia (English / French) (PDF; 23 kB)