| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Germany |
| Dates | 3–15 August 1936 |
| Teams | 16 (from 4 confederations) |
| Venue | 4 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Italy (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Austria |
| Third place |  Norway |
| Fourth place |  Poland |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 78 (4.88 per match) |
| Attendance | 507,469 (31,717 per match) |
| Top scorer | Annibale Frossi (7 goals) |
←1928 1948 → | |
Football at the1936 Summer Olympics was won byItaly. This was the first Olympic football tournament after its prestige had been lessened by the1930 introduction of theWorld Cup and its absence from the1932 Olympics.
| Berlin | Berlin | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Stadium | Gesundbrunnen Stadium | ||
| Capacity:100,000 | Capacity:35,239 | ||
.jpg) |  | ||
| Berlin | Berlin | ||
| Post Stadium | Mommsen Stadium | ||
| Capacity:45,000 | Capacity:15,005 | ||
 |  | ||
The Italians, winners against the Austrians at the 1934 World Cup now found the Olympic side, with ten changes, a completely different proposition. TheAzzurri included players such asAlfredo Foni,Pietro Rava andUgo Locatelli, who would all play in their World Cup victory in Paris two years later. That they eventually prevailed was due to two incidents: the first when their bespectacled forward Frossi scored, the second when Weingartner, the German referee, was literally restrained from sending off Archille Piccini after fouling two Americans. Italian players held both his arms and covered his mouth in protest. Piccini stayed on the park, Italy won.[1] This was something more thanSweden managed in their tie withJapan the next day inBerlin. Two-nil up within 45 minutes, their loss was recorded by the Swedish commentator,Sven Jerring, calling "Japanese, Japanese, Japanese, Japanese all over" (Japaner, japaner, japaner, överallt japaner) during the final minutes as the Japanese defenders held out to run out as winners 3–2. It marked the first time an Asian side had participated in either the World Cup or Olympic Games football competition and the first time an Asian side emerged victorious. Their neighbours,China, lost 0–2 toGreat Britain on the next day. Otherwise there were wins forPeru and the hosts, 9–0 versusLuxembourg.
| Italy | 1–0 |  United States |
|---|---|---|
Frossi 58' | Report |
| Germany | 9–0 |  Luxembourg |
|---|---|---|
| Urban 16',54',75' Simetsreiter 32',48',74'Gauchel 49',89'Elbern 76' | Report |
Peru  | 7–3 |  Finland |
|---|---|---|
| Fernández 17',33',47',49',70' Villanueva 21',67' | Report | Kanerva 42' (pen.) Grönlund 75'Larvo 80' |
Italy defeated Japan after Pozzo's decision to include Biagi, who scored goals. The same day at thePoststadion, Berlin before a crowd that includedGoebbels,Göring,Hess andHitler, Germany were knocked out 2–0 byNorway. Goebbels wrote: "The Führer is very excited, I also can barely contain myself. A real bath of nerves." Norway went on to draw with Italy in the first round of the1938 FIFA World Cup. Germany lost 2–0 and Hitler, who had never seen a football match before, and had originally planned to watch the rowing, left early in a huff.[4]
The following day at theHertha Platz,Austriaplayed Peru. The match was highly contested, and the game went into overtime when the Peruvians drew with the Austrians after being two goals behind. Peru 'scored' five goals during extra time, of which three were disallowed by the referee, and won 4–2.[5][6] The Austrians demanded a rematch on the grounds that Peruvian fans had stormed the field, and because the field did not meet the requirements for a football game.[6][7] Austria further claimed that the Peruvian players had manhandled the Austrian players and that spectators, one holding a revolver, had "swarmed down on the field."[8] Peru was notified of this situation, and they attempted to go to the assigned meeting but were delayed by a German parade.[6] In the end, the Peruvian defence was never heard, and the Olympic Committee andFIFA sided with the Austrians. The rematch was scheduled to be replayed behind closed doors on 10 August, and later rescheduled to be taken on 11 August.[7][8]
As a sign of protest against these actions, which the Peruvians deemed as insulting and discriminatory, the complete Olympic delegations of Peru andColombia left Germany.[9][10] Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico expressed their solidarity with Peru.[8] Michael Dasso, a member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated: "We've no faith in European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants."[11] The game was awarded to Austria by default.[8] In Peru, angry crowds protested against the decisions of the Olympic Committee by tearing down an Olympic flag, throwing stones at the German consulate, refusing to load German vessels in the docks ofCallao, and listening to inflammatory speeches, which included PresidentOscar Benavides Larrea's mention of "the crafty Berlin decision."[8] To this day, it is not known with certainty what exactly happened at Germany, but it is popularly believed thatAdolf Hitler and theNazi authorities might have had some involvement in this situation.[10]
In the last of the quarter-finals Poland, assisted by their forward,Hubert Gad, played out a nine-goal party to defeat the British side; at one time they were 5–1 to the better. TheCasual'sBernard Joy scored two as Britain fought back gamely but they ran out of time. Prior to the GamesDaniel Pettit received a letter fromthe Football Association which dealt mostly with the uniform he would wear. As he explained to the academicRachel Cutler there was a handwritten PS that said: 'As there is a month to go before we leave for Berlin kindly take some exercise.' Pettit ran around his local park.[4]
Walkover for Austria.
In the final, Italy overcame Austria in a match refereed byPeco Bauwens. Frossi scored again for the Azzurri. Kainberger equalised for Austria before Frossi got the winner for Italy just as extra time got underway.
| Team details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| 4 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Germany | 9 | |||||||||||||
| 7 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Luxembourg | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Germany | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 3 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Norway | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Norway | 4 | |||||||||||||
| 10 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
 Turkey | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Norway | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 3 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Italy (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Italy | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 7 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| United States | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Italy | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 4 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
 Japan | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Japan | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 15 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
 Sweden | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Italy (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 6 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Austria | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Peru | 7 | |||||||||||||
| 8 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Finland | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Peru | ||||||||||||||
| 5 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Austria | w/o | |||||||||||||
| Austria | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 11 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
 Egypt | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Austria | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 5 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
| Poland | 1 | Third place | ||||||||||||
| Poland | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 8 August –Berlin | 13 August –Berlin | |||||||||||||
 Hungary | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Poland | 5 | Norway | 3 | |||||||||||
| 6 August –Berlin | ||||||||||||||
 Great Britain | 4 | Poland | 2 | |||||||||||
| Great Britain | 2 | |||||||||||||
 China | 0 | |||||||||||||
Annibale Frossi (Italy)
Teodoro Fernández (Peru)Arne Brustad (Norway)Gerard Wodarz (Poland)Carlo Biagi (Italy)Alejandro Villanueva (Peru)Hubert Gad (Poland)Klement Steinmetz (Austria)Wilhelm Simetsreiter (Germany)Adolf Urban (Germany)Karl Kainberger (Austria)Adolf Laudon (Austria)Josef Gauchel (Germany)Bernard Joy (Great Britain)Magnar Isaksen (Norway)Alf Martinsen (Norway)Erik Persson (Sweden)Franz Mandl (Austria)Walter Werginz (Austria)Abdel-Karim Sakr (Egypt)Ernst Grönlund (Finland)William Kanerva (Finland)Pentti Larvo (Finland)Franz Elbern (Germany)Bertram Clements (Great Britain)John Dodds (Great Britain)Lester Finch (Great Britain)Edgar Shearer (Great Britain)Giulio Cappelli (Italy)Alfonso Negro (Italy)Taizo Kawamoto (Japan)Akira Matsunaga (Japan)Tokutaro Ukon (Japan)Reidar Kvammen (Norway)Jorge Alcalde (Peru)Teodor Peterek (Poland)Ryszard Piec (Poland)
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| General |  | ||||
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| Tournaments |
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| Qualifications |
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| Finals |
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| Squads |
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| Related topics | |||||
