The Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 kicks off on 24 July. As we count down to the start of the competition, FIFA relives ten great moments in its illustrious history.
After the first two editions of the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament, contested in 1900 and 1904, featured club sides that represented nations (and Great Britain), London 1908 featured a full national team line-up for the first time.
It was though still quite different from how things look today, with only eight teams entering, including a full France selection as well as a France ‘B’ selection. With an additional two teams withdrawing before things got underway, it left just half a dozen sides to jostle for the podium.
While Great Britain triumphed on home soil, it was runners-up Denmark who were the entertainers of the tournament, with both French sides enduring the devastating Danes’ goalscoring prowess.
The Scandinavians issued a clear message of intent in their curtain-raiser, brushing the French B-team aside with consummate ease in a 9-0 pummelling. In their next outing, the Danes, coached by Englishman Charlie Williams, put France A to the sword in merciless fashion. The 17-1 annihilation remains the highest-scoring match in Men’s Olympic Football Tournament history and the joint-highest winning margin. However, that is not the only record that the goal-getting Nordics claimed at the London extravaganza.
The Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 kicks off on 24 July. As we count down to the start of the competition, FIFA relives ten great moments in its illustrious history.
After the first two editions of the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament, contested in 1900 and 1904, featured club sides that represented nations (and Great Britain), London 1908 featured a full national team line-up for the first time.
It was though still quite different from how things look today, with only eight teams entering, including a full France selection as well as a France ‘B’ selection. With an additional two teams withdrawing before things got underway, it left just half a dozen sides to jostle for the podium.
While Great Britain triumphed on home soil, it was runners-up Denmark who were the entertainers of the tournament, with both French sides enduring the devastating Danes’ goalscoring prowess.
The Scandinavians issued a clear message of intent in their curtain-raiser, brushing the French B-team aside with consummate ease in a 9-0 pummelling. In their next outing, the Danes, coached by Englishman Charlie Williams, put France A to the sword in merciless fashion. The 17-1 annihilation remains the highest-scoring match in Men’s Olympic Football Tournament history and the joint-highest winning margin. However, that is not the only record that the goal-getting Nordics claimed at the London extravaganza.
In Denmark’s tournament opener at London 1908, the Great Dane bagged a brace, the first of which was the maiden goal scored by an official national team in Olympic history, while he became his nation’s first ever goalscorer in the process.
Despite their record-breaking exploits, the free-scoring Danes were made to settle for silver after falling at the final hurdle at both the 1908 and 1912 editions of the Games. They suffered showpiece heartbreak in a 2-0 loss at the hands of Great Britain in London, before the same conquerors inflicted a 4-2 defeat on them on Swedish soil four years down the line.
The Danes did, however, exact some revenge when the Olympics returned to London in 1948, running out 5-3 winners over the hosts in the bronze medal match. Fast-forward to Rome 1960 and the perennial bridesmaids failed to shake off their unwanted tag, ending up on the wrong side of a 3-1 scoreline against Yugoslavia that yielded the team’s third silver medal.
Five highest-scoring matches in Men’s Olympic Football Tournament history
France 1-17 Denmark
Semi-finals | London 1908
Germany 16-0 Russia
Consolation tournament, first round | Stockholm 1912
Italy 11-3 Egypt
Bronze medal match | Amsterdam 1928
Great Britain 12-1 Sweden
First round | London 1908
Argentina 11-2 USA
Round of 16 | Amsterdam 1928
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