1952 Summer Olympics / Soccer / Austria

This article deals with the Austrian national team in the soccer competition at the 1952 Olympic Games

At the XV. At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952, an Austrian Olympic team took part in the soccer competition for the fourth time. Although professional football had not yet been reintroduced in Austria since the country's resurrection after the Second World War and the amateur definition was largely left to the national associations themselves at that time, the ÖFB decided not to do with the national team like other countries , but with an amateur team, which mostly made up of players from the provincial teams that have since become socially acceptable in Austria .

Austria's amateur team achieved a respectable 7th place among the 25 participants, beating the hosts Finland 4: 3 in an exciting game. Although Austria took part in the qualification for soccer competitions at the Olympic Games several times, this was the country's last participation in an Olympic soccer tournament.

preparation

After its dissolution in 1937, the Austrian national soccer team of amateurs was brought back to life especially for the Olympic Games in Helsinki. The only preparation game took place on June 8, 1952 against the amateur team of the Federal Republic of Germany in Munich and ended with a 2-0 victory for the Germans. The Innsbruck player Finkbeiner caused a curiosity in the preparation . He completed all training courses and also the preparatory game against the amateurs of Germany before it turned out that he was a German citizen himself. Since Rudolf Wagner in the early days of football, no German had worn the dress of an Austrian national representation. Finkbeiner, who was the first German to play for Austria against his own home country, was of course not eligible to play in the Austrian selection at the Olympic tournament and was immediately dismissed from the squad.

So it came, especially in the Austrian storm, some changes before competing in Finland. Former national player Viktor Hierländer was given responsibility for the amateur team .

Austrian contingent

Surname		Association at the time	birthday	Sp.	goal	red
goal
	Fritz Nikolai	1. SVg Guntramsdorf	01. 09.1925	2
	Rudolf Krammer	Austria Salzburg	07. 03.1929
Defense
	Walter Kollmann	SC Wacker Vienna	June 17, 01932	2
	Anton Krammer	Union FC Salzburg	14. 03.1921	2
	Ernst Kolar	ASV Hohenau	07/20/1929
midfield
	Joschi Walter	First Vienna FC	October 27, 1925	2
	Anton Wolf	SK Sturm Graz	21. 04.1933	2
	Robert Fendler	Villacher SV	February 26, 1921	2	2
	Friedrich Csulem	Heiligenstadt SV
attack
	Erich Stumpf	SK Sturm Graz	22. 05.1927	2	1
	Hermann Hochleitner	Salzburg AK 1914	10/17/1925	2
	Herbert Grohs	Grazer SC	04 0May 1931	2	2
	Franz Feldinger	Austria Salzburg	22. 08.1928	2
	Otto Gollnhuber	Kapfenberger SV	09. 02.1924	2
	Harry Rauch	SK Sturm Graz
	Hermann Suehs	SV Gloggnitz
Trainer
	Viktor Hierländer

Note: Although the player Harry Rauch was part of the Austrian Olympic team, he never played in an international football match for Austria during his career. Date of birth Ernst Kolar according to the website of Kapfenberger SV in terms of honoring deserving athletes

Games

Preliminary round and first round

In the preliminary round Austria got a bye and was able to advance directly to the first round, the sixteenth finals. The Austrian amateur national team started the tournament with the big game against hosts Finland . The Austrians were considered a clear outsider against Finland, which competed with its national team. That even the ÖFB did not believe in the team, which at best was dismissed as the "third set", was proven by the fact that the association booked the return flight to Vienna before kick-off.

The home team received powerful support from over 70,000 fans and, as expected, went into halftime with a 3-2 lead. However, the Austrian Olympic team offered a great fighting performance in the second half and was able to turn the game around and bring the Finns down 4: 3 in the finish. The outstanding man in the red-white-red team was Otto Gollnhuber, who scored two goals. The other goals were contributed by Stumpf and Grohs. Stolpe (2) and Rytkönen met for the Finns.

Austria - Finland 4: 3 (2: 3)
Data	28th amateur international match on 19 July 1952 in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki
Austria	Nikolai - Kollmann, Krammer - Walter, Wolf, Fendler - Stumpf, Hochleitner, Grohs, Feldinger, Gollnhuber
Finland	Laaksonen - Lindman, Myntti - Asikainen, Valkama, Beijar - Aihela, Rytkönen, Rikberg, Lehtovirta, Stolpe
Gates	Gollnhuber (2), Grohs, Stumpf; Stolpe (2), Rytkönen

Quarter finals

In the quarter-finals, Austria met Sweden , who had previously prevailed against Norway 4-1. The Swedes, who also competed with their national team, were again considered a high favorite before the game. The red-white-red team appeared in the same line-up as against Finland and already took a sensational 1-0 lead in the first half thanks to a goal by Graz striker “Tscharry” Grohs. In the second half, however, the Swedes got stronger and attacked almost non-stop. The Austrians held the narrow lead up to the 80th minute, but had to accept a 3-1 defeat in the last ten minutes after three goals by Sandberg, Brodd and Rydell.

While the Austrian team, which was looking forward to meeting the Hungarian "miracle team" around Ferenc Puskás and Sándor Kocsis in the semifinals, only finished seventh, the Scandinavians secured the bronze medal in the further course of the tournament.

Austria - Sweden 1: 3 (1: 0)
Data	29th amateur international match on July 23, 1952 in Pallokenttä, Helsinki
Austria	Nikolai - Kollmann, Krammer - Walter, Wolf, Fendler - Stumpf, Hochleitner, Grohs, Feldinger, Gollnhuber
Sweden	Svensson - Samuelsson, Nilsson - Hansson, Gustavsson, Lindh - Bengtsson, Lofgren, Rydell, Brodd, Sandberg
Gates	Grohs; Sandberg, Brodd, Rydell

aftermath

Walter Kollmann, Herbert Grohs and Otto Gollnhuber from the Austrian Olympic team later made it to the professional national team . Kollmann even took part in two world championships for Austria. "Joschi" Walter later made a name for himself as a trainer and above all as an official of Wiener Austria . Some players came to the national league with their clubs or were signed by clubs from this league, the other footballers quickly disappeared from the public eye and are largely unknown in Austria today.

literature

• Karl Kastler: Football in Austria. From the beginning to the present. Trauner, Linz 1972, ISBN 3-85320-111-3 .