Football at the 1920 Summer Olympics

The football at the 1920 Summer Olympics, was one of the 154 events at the 1920 Summer Olympics, held in Antwerp. It was the fifth time football (soccer) was on the olympic schedule. The tournament was contested by 14 teams, with host country Belgium winning the gold medals. Spain won silver, while the Netherlands won bronze medals.

Course of the tournament

14 teams entered the competition which was organized on a knockout basis. 12 teams entered the first round, with the 6 winners joining the host nation, Belgium, and France, in the quarter-finals. Czechoslovakia, participating in their first international tournament, cruised to the final, inflicting heavy defeats on Yugoslavia, Norway, and France. Belgium beat a talented Spain and then Netherlands on their way to the final.

Results

First Round
Aug 28	Czechoslovakia	7	-	0	Yugoslavia	Bosuil, Antwerp (att. 600)
	Janda 3, Vaník 3, Sedláček	(3	-	0)
Aug 28	Great Britain	1	-	3	Norway	Olympic Stadium, Antwerp (att. 5,000)
	Nicholas	(1	-	1)	Gundersen 2, Wilhelms
Aug 28	Egypt	1	-	2	Italy	La Gantoise, Ghent (att. 2,000)
	Zaki Osman	(0	-	1)	Balonceri, Brezzi
Aug 28	Luxembourg	0	-	3	Netherlands	La Butte, Brussels (att. 3,000)
		(0	-	1)	Groosjohan 2, Jaap Bulder
Aug 28	Greece	0	-	9	Sweden	Olympic Stadium, Antwerp (att. 5,000)
		(0	-	6)	Karlsson 5, Olsson 2, Wicksell, Dahl
Aug 28	Denmark	0	-	1	Spain	La Butte, Brussels (att. 3,000)
		(0	-	0)	Patricio
Quarter Finals
Aug 29	Czechoslovakia	4	-	0	Norway	La Butte, Brussels (att. 4,000)
	Janda 3, Vaník	(2	-	0)
Aug 29	France	3	-	1	Italy	Olympic Stadium, Antwerp (att. 10,000)
	Bard 2, Boyer	(2	-	1)	Brezzi
Aug 29	Netherlands	5	-	4	Sweden	Bosuil, Antwerp (att. 5,000)
	Groosjohan 2, Jaap Builder 2, de Natris	(2	-	3)	Karlsson 2, Olsson, Dahl
Aug 29	Belgium	3	-	1	Spain	Olympic Stadium, Antwerp (att. 18,000)
	Coppee 3	(1	-	0)	Arrate
Semi Finals
Aug 31	Czechoslovakia	4	-	1	France	Olympic Stadium (att. 12,000)
	Mazal 3, Steiner	(1	-	0)	Boyer
Aug 31	Belgium	3	-	0	Netherlands	Olympic Stadium, Antwerp (att. 22,000)
	Larnoe, Van Hege, Bragard	(0	-	0)
Final
Sep 2	Belgium	2	-	0	Czechoslovakia	Olympic Stadium, Antwerp (att. 35,000)
	Coppee, Larnoe	(2	-	0)		Czechoslovakia walked off after 43 minutes in protest at the refereeing and were disqualified

Final

The final was highly controversial and remains the only occasion in which an international final has had to have been abandoned. Belgium was awarded the gold medal by default after Czechoslovakia walked off the field in the 43rd minute of the final. They were unhappy with the performance of the 72 year-old English referee, John Lewis and one of the English linesmen (Charles Wreford-Brown and A. Knight) who had allowed a contentious second Belgian goal in the 31st minute (that Henri Larnoe had converted) and had sent off Karel Steiner, the Czech left-back in the 43rd minute. Lewis had already refereed the Belgian semi-final victory over the Netherlands, a match observed by the Czechs (it had taken place on the same day and in the same stadium as their own victory against France).

The Czech's protested the result of the final. Their protests, translated from the original French, were as follows:

"1. We were allocated an English linesman, which is in contradiction with the rules which state that each participating nation has the right to one of both linesman. This violation of the rules was prejudicial to us during the game, because the English linesman was not impartial and this is why we seek the cancellation of the match. Immediately after the game we brought this notice to the attention of M. Rodolphe Seeldrayers

2. The majority of the decisions of the referee Mr. Lewis were wrong and it was obvious that it gave the public the wrong impression about our game. Also both Belgian goals were the result of incorrect decisions of the referee and we seek a rigorous investigation on that point.

3. During the match, Belgian soldiers were introduced to the crowd until they circled the pitch and because of their provocative presence our players were unable to play their normal game. As a result of the very regrettable incident at the end of the match when there was a pitch invasion lead by the soldiers and our national flag was insulted we will not participate until we have received an apology from the (Belgian) soldiers.

Czechoslovakia's protests were dismissed, and after much debate, they were disqualified from the tournament.

Medal summary

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Belgium Jean De Bie Armand Swartenbroeks Oscar Verbeeck Joseph Musch Emile Hanse André Fierens Louis Van Hege Henri Larnoe Mathieu Bragard Robert Coppee Désiré Bastin Félix Balyu Fernand Nisot Georges Hebdin Coach: Raoul Daufresne	Spain Ricardo Zamora Pedro Vallana Jeanguenat Mariano Arrate Juan Artola Agustín Sancho Ramón Eguiazábal Francisco Pagazaurtundúa Félix Sesúmaga Patricio Arabolaza Rafael Moreno Domingo Gómez-Acedo José María Belauste Josep Samitier Luis Otero Joaquín Vázquez Sabino Bilbao Ramón "Moncho" Gil Silverio Izaguirre Coach: Francisco Bru	Netherlands Arie Bieshaar Leo Bosschart Evert Bulder Jaap Bulder Jan de Natris Harry Dénis Ber Groosjohan Frits Kuipers Dick MacNeill Henk Steeman Jan van Dort Oscar van Rappard Ben Verweij Felix von Heijden

Consolation tournament

In light of the regulations of the tournament, it was clear that a consolation tournament had already been organized to decide the Bronze medalist. Now, with Czechoslovakia disqualified, it would be organized to decide both the Silver and Bronze medalists. In this the beaten semi-finalists, France, had already returned home, so the beaten quarter-finalists played-off for the right to play the other beaten semi-finalist, Netherlands. Spain emerged triumphant overcoming Sweden 2-1 , Italy 2-0 and then Netherlands 3-1 in the silver medal final.

External links

• RSSSF - 1920 Olympic Games