# Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics

The association football tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was won by the Soviet Union.
Defending champions Hungary were forced to withdraw due to the Soviet invasion of their country. This was the first Olympic football tournament where all the medalists were communist countries, with Yugoslavia and Bulgaria took silver and bronze respectively.

## Background

Following five withdrawals, the tournament featured three Eastern Bloc teams and four from Asia. The other sides included in the draw were the United States, the United Team of Germany (which was de facto West Germany), Great Britain and the hosts Australia, competing in their first Olympic football tournament.
The tendency of Eastern bloc countries to provide state-funding for their athletes put Western amateurs at a significant disadvantage. As a result, all Olympic football tournaments 1952 onwards were dominated by the Soviet Union and its satellites.

## Venues

Melbourne :
| Olympic Park Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 104,000 |
| Olympic Park StadiumMelbourne Cricket Ground ||

## Teams
### Qualification

* Australia (20)
* Bulgaria (15)
* United Team of Germany (15)
* Great Britain (16)
* India (18)
* Indonesia (20)
* Japan (18)
* Soviet Union (20)
* Thailand (13)
* United States (16)
* Yugoslavia (17)

### Squads
## First round

Hungary announced their withdrawal on August 31, a day before the draw. The draw was made with fifteen teams, India receiving a bye. Four more teams withdrew after the final draw: China (boycotted the Games to protest the reception of Taiwan), Egypt (withdrew due to Suez Crisis), Turkey and Vietnam.
Therefore, only three games were played in the first round: as China and Turkey had been drawn against each other, their match was scratched.
The Soviet Union defeated the United Team of Germany 2–1, Great Britain defeated Thailand 9–0, and Australia defeated Japan 2–0.
Byes: Bulgaria (drawn against Egypt, who withdrew), India, Indonesia (drawn against Vietnam, who withdrew), USA and Yugoslavia (drawn against each other: match was postponed to the quarter-finals).

## Quarter-finals

Yugoslavia defeated the United States 9–1.
Bulgaria led Great Britain 3–1 at half-time, when ratings from HMS Newcastle vaulted the fence and exhorted the team to show more grit, after which they were peacefully escorted off the field. The British team went on to lose 6–1.
The Soviet Union drew their game against Indonesia 0–0 and won 4–0 in the replay.
The Indians defeated Australia 4–2 with a hat trick by centre forward Neville D'Souza, the first by an Asian in the Olympics. Prior to the game there had been debate, once again, as to whether the Indians should be shod. Sir Stanley Rous respected their decision either way, although in the end, the Indians decided to wear boots.

## Semi-finals

Yugoslavia defeated India 4–1. It would be their third consecutive Olympic final, after losing both in 1948 and 1952.
The Soviets defeated Bulgaria 2–1. Normal time finished 0–0, and Bulgaria scored first in extra time before conceding two goals in the last six minutes of the game.

## Bronze medal match

Bulgaria took Bronze defeating India 3–0.

## Gold medal match

Yugoslavia were playing Red Star Belgrade's Dragoslav Šekularac in this tournament; he would feature in the 1960 European Nations' Cup final again versus the USSR. They lost 1–0 to a second half Anatoli Ilyin goal, with the Soviet Union winning the title.
Team details :
Soviet Union
Yugoslavia
GKLev Yashin
RBBoris Kuznetsov
LBAnatoli Bashashkin
RHMikhail Ogonkov
CHIgor Netto
LHAnatoli Maslenkin
ORBoris Tatushin
IRAnatoli Isayev
CFNikita Simonyan
ILSergei Salnikov
OLAnatoli Ilyin
Manager:
Gavriil Kachalin
GKPetar Radenković
RBMladen Koščak
LBNikola Radović
RHIvan Santek
CHLjubiša Spajić
LHDobroslav Krstić
ORDragoslav Šekularac
IRZlatko Papec
CFSava Antić
ILTodor Veselinović
OLMuhamed Mujić
Manager:
Aleksandar Tirnanić :

## Bracket

| First round | First round | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| Yugoslavia | | | | | | | |
| Yugoslavia | | November – Olympic Park | November – Olympic Park | | | | |
| bye | | November – Olympic Park | November – Olympic Park | | | | |
| bye | | Yugoslavia | 9 | | | | |
| | | United States | 1 | | | | |
| United States | | United States | 1 | | | | |
| United States | | | | December – MCG | December – MCG | | |
| bye | | | | December – MCG | December – MCG | | |
| bye | | | | Yugoslavia | 4 | | |
| November | November | | | Yugoslavia | 4 | | |
| November | November | | | India | 1 | | |
| Australia | 2 | | | India | 1 | | |
| Australia | 2 | December – MCG | December – MCG | | | | |
| Japan | 0 | December – MCG | December – MCG | | | | |
| Japan | 0 | Australia | 2 | | | | |
| | | India | 4 | | | | |
| India | | India | 4 | | | | |
| India | | | | | | December – MCG | December – MCG |
| bye | | | | | | December – MCG | December – MCG |
| bye | | | | | | Yugoslavia | 0 |
| | | | | | | Soviet Union | 1 |
| Indonesia | | | | | | Soviet Union | 1 |
| Indonesia | | December – Olympic Park | December – Olympic Park | | | | |
| bye | | December – Olympic Park | December – Olympic Park | | | | |
| bye | | Indonesia | 0 | | | | |
| November | November | Indonesia | 0 | | | | |
| November | November | Soviet Union | 4 | | | | |
| Soviet Union | 2 | Soviet Union | 4 | | | | |
| Soviet Union | 2 | | | December – Olympic Park | December – Olympic Park | | |
| United Team of Germany | 1 | | | December – Olympic Park | December – Olympic Park | | |
| United Team of Germany | 1 | | | Soviet Union (a.e.t.) | 2 | | |
| | | | | Bulgaria | 1 | | |
| Bulgaria | | | | Bulgaria | 1 | | |
| Bulgaria | | December – MCG | December – MCG | | | | |
| bye | | December – MCG | December – MCG | | | | |
| bye | | Bulgaria | 6 | | | | |
| November | November | Bulgaria | 6 | | | December – MCG | December – MCG |
| November | November | Great Britain | 1 | | | December – MCG | December – MCG |
| Great Britain | 9 | Great Britain | 1 | | | India | 0 |
| Thailand | 0 | | | | | Bulgaria | 3 |

## Goalscorers

There were 53 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 4.42 goals per match.
4 goals
* Neville D'Souza
* Todor Veselinović
* Dimitar Milanov
3 goals
* Ivan Petkov Kolev
* Jack Laybourne
* Muhamed Mujić
* Zlatko Papec
2 goals
* Bruce Morrow
* Todor Diev
* George Bromilow
* Jim Lewis
* Charlie Twissell
* Sergei Salnikov
* Eduard Streltsov
* Sava Antić
1 goal
* Frank Loughran
* Graham McMillan
* Georgi Dimitrov
* Ernst-Günter Habig
* Laurie Topp
* Kittu
* Anatoli Ilyin
* Anatoli Isayev
* Valentin Ivanov
* Igor Netto
* Boris Tatushin
* Al Zerhusen
1 own goal
* Muhamed Abdus Salam

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Bulgaria |
| Lev Yashin Nikolai Tishchenko Mikhail Ogonkov Aleksei Paramonov Anatoli Bashashkin Igor Netto Boris Tatushin Anatoli Isayev Eduard Streltsov Valentin Ivanov Vladimir Ryzhkin Boris Kuznetsov Iosif Betsa Sergei Salnikov Boris Razinsky Anatoli Maslenkin Anatoli Ilyin Nikita Simonyan Yury Belyayev Anatoli Porkhunov | Sava Antić Ibrahim Biogradlić Mladen Koščak Dobroslav Krstić Luka Liposinović Muhamed Mujić Zlatko Papec Petar Radenković Nikola Radović Ivan Santek Dragoslav Šekularac Ljubiša Spajić Todor Veselinović Blagoja Vidinić | Stefan Bozhkov Todor Diev Georgi Dimitrov Milcho Goranov Ivan Petkov Kolev Nikola Kovachev Manol Manolov Dimitar Milanov Georgi Naydenov Panayot Panayotov Kiril Rakarov Gavril Stoyanov Krum Yanev Yordan Yosifov Pavel Vladimirov Iliya Kirchev |