1956 Summer Olympics / Football / Qualification

A qualification tournament was necessary for the first time for the 1956 Olympic football tournament . In addition to hosts Australia, Turkey, Poland and the all-German team were qualified by a bye as four of sixteen planned participants.

Canceled games

The following scheduled games did not even take place due to cancellations, the teams that had not canceled and were therefore qualified are shown in bold.

Yugoslavia	-	Romania
Hungary	-	GDR (1)
Iran	-	Afghanistan (2)
India	-	Thailand (3)
People's Republic of China	-	Philippines
Indonesia	-	Taiwan
United States	-	Mexico

⁽¹⁾The GDR's NOK was not recognized by the IOC, GDR athletes took part in the all-German team .

⁽²⁾ Both teams resigned.

⁽³⁾ Both teams got byes due to the cancellations.

Qualification tournament

pairing			First leg	Return leg	total
Bulgaria	-	United Kingdom	2-0	3: 3	5: 3
Soviet Union	-	Israel	5-0	2: 1	7: 1
Ethiopia	-	Egypt	1: 4	2: 5	3: 9
South Vietnam	-	Cambodia	5: 2	4: 3	9: 5
Japan	-	South Korea	2-0	0: 2	2: 2 ( 4 )

⁴ Japan won by drawing of lots.

Cancellation of qualified nations

At first Poland canceled the tournament and was replaced by Great Britain. When Hungary then canceled due to the suppression of the strike, the South Koreans who were eliminated by drawing lots were invited to the tournament, but they canceled. After Egypt, Vietnam, China and Turkey also canceled due to the distance to Australia and for financial reasons, the Olympic tournament could only take place with eleven teams.