Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

The men's qualification for association football tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was the first time the qualifying round was done on a home-and-away basis.

Qualifications

The final tournament had 16 spots reserved with 28 countries initially showing interest in the tournament.

Automatic qualification was granted to  Australia (host),  Poland,  Turkey, and  United Team of Germany (originally as West Germany).

• Europe: 4 places, contested by 8 teams (including Israel).
• Africa: 1 place, contested by 2 teams.
• Asia: 6 places, contested by 12 teams.
• Americas: 1 place, contested by 2 teams.

Europe

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bulgaria	5–3	Great Britain	2–0	3–3
Yugoslavia	w/o1	Romania	—	—
Hungary	w/o2	East Germany	—	—
Soviet Union	7–1	Israel	5–0	2–1

¹ Romania withdrew.
² As East and West Germany agreed to compete together at the 1956 Olympics, East Germany withdrew. However, after an agreement for a combined football team fell through, a solely West German one was fielded.

Africa

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ethiopia	3–9	Egypt	1–4	2–5

Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
South Vietnam	9–5	Cambodia	5–2	4–3
Iran	n/p1	Afghanistan	—	—
India	bye2	Thailand	—	—
Japan	2–23	South Korea	2–0	0–2
China	w/o4	Philippines	—	—
Indonesia	w/o5	Republic of China	—	—

¹ Both teams withdrew; the tie was scratched.
² As the withdrawal of other teams left six winners, the tie was scratched and both teams qualified automatically.
³ Both matches were played in Japan due to the lack of a suitable stadium in South Korea; Japan advanced on the drawing of lots.
⁴ Philippines withdrew.
⁵ Republic of China withdrew after the organizing committee ruled they had to play under the FIFA flag during the first leg, due to concerns over social and political unrest in Indonesia relating to the use of the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag.^[1]

Americas

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
United States	w/o1	Mexico	—	—

¹ Mexico withdrew.

Notes on qualifying

Before the official draw for the final tournament on September 1, 1956, Poland withdrew and was replaced by  Great Britain.

After the draw, Hungary also withdrew: its place was offered to South Korea, however South Korea declined due to financial reasons.

Subsequently, South Vietnam and Turkey both withdrew, while The People's Republic of China and Egypt boycotted the Olympics.

Qualifying Matches

23 October 1955

Bulgaria	2–0	Great Britain

12 May 1956

Great Britain	3–3	Bulgaria

Both Bulgaria and Great Britain advanced.

11 July 1956

Soviet Union	5–0	Israel
Tatushin 2' Ivanov 26', 71' Simonyan 45', 78'	Report (ru)

Dynamo Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 54,000

Referee: Sandy Griffiths (Wales)

31 July 1956

Israel	1–2	Soviet Union
Stelmach 64'	Report (ru)	Tatushin 59' Ilyin 79'

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Francesco Liverani^[2] (Italy)

Soviet Union advanced.

11 July 1956

Ethiopia	1–4	Egypt
		El-Fanagily 3', 31' Ad-Diba 54' Adam 60'

Haile Selassie Stadium, Addis Ababa

31 July 1956

Egypt	5–2	Ethiopia
Saleh Ateya El-Far Ad-Diba

Al Ahly Stadium, Cairo

3 June 1956

South Vietnam	5–2	Cambodia

10 June 1956

Cambodia	3–4	South Vietnam

3 June 1956

Japan	2–0	South Korea
Uchino 54' Iwabuchi 77'	Report

Korakuen Velodrome, Tokyo

Attendance: 10,000

10 June 1956

Japan	0–2	South Korea
	Report	? 58'  ? 64'

Korakuen Velodrome, Tokyo

Attendance: 20,000

Japan advanced by the drawing of lots.

See also

• Australian football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• 1956 Summer Olympics

Further reading

• Guinness Record of World Soccer, by Guy Oliver (1st ed., Guinness Publishing, 1992)
• The Times newspaper, various dates

References

External links

• Russell Gerrard. Games of the XVI Olympiad. Football Qualifying Tournament. RSSSF. 20 September 1998.

This page was last edited on 29 December 2023, at 10:05