{"history":[],"article":{"id":"bf31af7a-2376-4bf4-aaf1-548fe8b3a7f0","title":"Football at the 1952 Summer Olympics","slug":"football-at-the-1952-summer-olympics","content":":::summary\n![undefined](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Football///at///the///1952///Summer///Olympics///Finnish///stamp.jpg)\n**Country:** Finland \n**Dates:** 15 July – 2 August 1952 \n**Num Teams:** 25 \n**Confederations:** 5 \n**Venues:** 6 \n**Cities:** 5 \n**Champion Other:** 🇭🇺 [hungary](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary-national-football-team) (1st title) \n**Third Other:** 🇸🇪 [sweden](https://bliptext.com/articles/sweden-national-football-team) \n**Matches:** 26 \n**Goals:** 135 \n**Prevseason:** [1948](https://bliptext.com/articles/football-at-the-1948-summer-olympics) \n**Nextseason:** [1956](https://bliptext.com/articles/association-football-at-the-1956-summer-olympics) \n:::\n\n# \nThe [Football](https://bliptext.com/articles/association-football) tournament at the [1952 Summer Olympics](https://bliptext.com/articles/1952-summer-olympics) was won by [Hungary](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary-national-football-team).\nThe games signalled the arrival (to Western Europeans at least) of the [Hungarian national football team](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary-national-football-team) – the \"[Magical Magyars](https://bliptext.com/articles/golden-team)\".\n[Ferenc Puskás](https://bliptext.com/articles/ferenc-pusk-s) later said of the 1952 competition: \"It was during the Olympics that our football first started to flow with real power.\"\nIt was during the Games that [Stanley Rous](https://bliptext.com/articles/stanley-rous) of [English Football Association](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-football-association) invited the Hungarians to play a friendly at Wembley the following year.\n\n# Venues\n\n# Squads\n\n# Final tournament\n\n## Preliminary round\nThe preliminary round saw Hungary record a narrow victory against Romania, whilst there was an 8–0 victory for Italy against the United States, and a 5–1 victory for Brazil against The Netherlands.\nGreat Britain succumbed to Luxembourg 5–3, whilst Egypt defeated Chile 5–4.\nYugoslavia were drawn against the Indians and won 10–1.\n

\n\n## First round\nThe first round saw Scandinavian countries join the competition; the hosts Finland were beaten 3–4 by Austria, whilst Sweden defeated neighbours Norway 4–1.\nThe game of the round was between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union; Yugoslavia had been 5–1 ahead with 30 minutes of the match to go, only for the Soviet captain Bobrov to score a hat-trick and inspire his team to an eventual 5–5 draw.\nA replay resulted in a 3–1 victory for Yugoslavia; the Soviet side had been expected by Moscow to win the 1952 Games, and their defeat by Yugoslavia was not mentioned in the Soviet press until after Stalin's death the following year.\n

\n\n## Quarterfinals\nSweden defeated Austria to ensure a Scandinavian presence in the semifinals.\nGermany surprisingly beat Brazil 4–2 after extra time, whilst Yugoslavia won comfortably in a 5–3 defeat of Denmark.\nHungary demolished Turkey 7–1 to complete the four semifinalists.\n

\n\n## Semifinals\nIn the first semifinal, Hungary saw off Sweden with a comprehensive 6–0 victory, whilst Yugoslavia beat Germany 3–1 to set up a Hungary-Yugoslavia final.\n

\n\n## Bronze-medal match\nThere was some consolation for the Scandinavian countries as Sweden defeated Germany 2–0 in the third place play-off to secure the bronze medal.\n

\n\n## Gold-medal match\nTwo goals from Puskás and [Zoltán Czibor](https://bliptext.com/articles/zolt-n-czibor) saw Hungary beat Yugoslavia and take the gold medal.\n

\n# [1952 Miss Universe Armi Kuusela awarding the Hungarian team | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Kuusela///Hungary///1952.jpg]\n\n# Bracket\n\n# Medalists\n\n# Goalscorers\n\n# Soviet Union vs Yugoslavia\nThe first meeting between the [Soviet Union](https://bliptext.com/articles/soviet-union-national-football-team) and [Yugoslavia](https://bliptext.com/articles/yugoslavia-national-football-team) is still the most famous one.\nOn the political level, the Soviet leader [Joseph Stalin](https://bliptext.com/articles/joseph-stalin) and the Yugoslav leader [Josip Broz Tito](https://bliptext.com/articles/josip-broz-tito) [split in 1948](https://bliptext.com/articles/tito-stalin-split), which resulted in [Yugoslavia](https://bliptext.com/articles/socialist-federal-republic-of-yugoslavia) being excluded from the [Communist Information Bureau](https://bliptext.com/articles/informbiro-period).\nThe origin of the conflict was Tito's refusal to submit to Stalin's interpretations and visions of politics and in process becoming a Soviet [satellite state](https://bliptext.com/articles/satellite-state).\nBefore the match, both Tito and Stalin sent telegrams to their national teams, which showed just how important it was for the two head of states.\nYugoslavia led 5–1, but a Soviet comeback in the last 15 minutes resulted in a 5–5 draw.\nThe match was replayed, Yugoslavia winning 3–1.\nThe defeat to their archrivals hit Soviet football hard, and after just three games played in the season, [CDKA Moscow](https://bliptext.com/articles/pfc-cska-moscow), who had made up most of the USSR squad, was forced to withdraw from the [league](https://bliptext.com/articles/soviet-top-league) by Joseph Stalin and later disbanded.\nFurthermore, [Boris Arkadiev](https://bliptext.com/articles/boris-arkadiev), who coached both USSR and CDKA, was stripped of his [Merited Master of Sports](https://bliptext.com/articles/unified-sports-classification-system-of-the-ussr-and-russia) of the USSR title.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T08:20:17.312Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T08:20:17.312Z","search_vector":"'1952':4 'footbal':1 'olymp':6 'summer':5","search_content":" \n \n**Country:** Finland \n**Dates:** 15 July – 2 August 1952 \n**Num Teams:** 25 \n**Confederations:** 5 \n**Venues:** 6 \n**Cities:** 5 \n**Champion Other:** 🇭🇺 [hungary](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary-national-football-team) (1st title) \n**Third Other:** 🇸🇪 [sweden](https://bliptext.com/articles/sweden-national-football-team) \n**Matches:** 26 \n**Goals:** 135 \n**Prevseason:** [1948](https://bliptext.com/articles/football-at-the-1948-summer-olympics) \n**Nextseason:** [1956](https://bliptext.com/articles/association-football-at-the-1956-summer-olympics) \n \n\n# \nThe [Football](https://bliptext.com/articles/association-football) tournament at the [1952 Summer Olympics](https://bliptext.com/articles/1952-summer-olympics) was won by [Hungary](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary-national-football-team).\nThe games signalled the arrival (to Western Europeans at least) of the [Hungarian national football team](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary-national-football-team) – the \"[Magical Magyars](https://bliptext.com/articles/golden-team)\".\n[Ferenc Puskás](https://bliptext.com/articles/ferenc-pusk-s) later said of the 1952 competition: \"It was during the Olympics that our football first started to flow with real power.\"\nIt was during the Games that [Stanley Rous](https://bliptext.com/articles/stanley-rous) of [English Football Association](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-football-association) invited the Hungarians to play a friendly at Wembley the following year.\n\n# Venues\n\n# Squads\n\n# Final tournament\n\n## Preliminary round\nThe preliminary round saw Hungary record a narrow victory against Romania, whilst there was an 8–0 victory for Italy against the United States, and a 5–1 victory for Brazil against The Netherlands.\nGreat Britain succumbed to Luxembourg 5–3, whilst Egypt defeated Chile 5–4.\nYugoslavia were drawn against the Indians and won 10–1.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n## First round\nThe first round saw Scandinavian countries join the competition; the hosts Finland were beaten 3–4 by Austria, whilst Sweden defeated neighbours Norway 4–1.\nThe game of the round was between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union; Yugoslavia had been 5–1 ahead with 30 minutes of the match to go, only for the Soviet captain Bobrov to score a hat-trick and inspire his team to an eventual 5–5 draw.\nA replay resulted in a 3–1 victory for Yugoslavia; the Soviet side had been expected by Moscow to win the 1952 Games, and their defeat by Yugoslavia was not mentioned in the Soviet press until after Stalin's death the following year.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n## Quarterfinals\nSweden defeated Austria to ensure a Scandinavian presence in the semifinals.\nGermany surprisingly beat Brazil 4–2 after extra time, whilst Yugoslavia won comfortably in a 5–3 defeat of Denmark.\nHungary demolished Turkey 7–1 to complete the four semifinalists.\n \n \n \n \n\n## Semifinals\nIn the first semifinal, Hungary saw off Sweden with a comprehensive 6–0 victory, whilst Yugoslavia beat Germany 3–1 to set up a Hungary-Yugoslavia final.\n \n \n\n## Bronze-medal match\nThere was some consolation for the Scandinavian countries as Sweden defeated Germany 2–0 in the third place play-off to secure the bronze medal.\n \n\n## Gold-medal match\nTwo goals from Puskás and [Zoltán Czibor](https://bliptext.com/articles/zolt-n-czibor) saw Hungary beat Yugoslavia and take the gold medal.\n \n \n# [1952 Miss Universe Armi Kuusela awarding the Hungarian team | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Kuusela///Hungary///1952.jpg]\n\n# Bracket\n\n# Medalists\n\n# Goalscorers\n\n# Soviet Union vs Yugoslavia\nThe first meeting between the [Soviet Union](https://bliptext.com/articles/soviet-union-national-football-team) and [Yugoslavia](https://bliptext.com/articles/yugoslavia-national-football-team) is still the most famous one.\nOn the political level, the Soviet leader [Joseph Stalin](https://bliptext.com/articles/joseph-stalin) and the Yugoslav leader [Josip Broz Tito](https://bliptext.com/articles/josip-broz-tito) [split in 1948](https://bliptext.com/articles/tito-stalin-split), which resulted in [Yugoslavia](https://bliptext.com/articles/socialist-federal-republic-of-yugoslavia) being excluded from the [Communist Information Bureau](https://bliptext.com/articles/informbiro-period).\nThe origin of the conflict was Tito's refusal to submit to Stalin's interpretations and visions of politics and in process becoming a Soviet [satellite state](https://bliptext.com/articles/satellite-state).\nBefore the match, both Tito and Stalin sent telegrams to their national teams, which showed just how important it was for the two head of states.\nYugoslavia led 5–1, but a Soviet comeback in the last 15 minutes resulted in a 5–5 draw.\nThe match was replayed, Yugoslavia winning 3–1.\nThe defeat to their archrivals hit Soviet football hard, and after just three games played in the season, [CDKA Moscow](https://bliptext.com/articles/pfc-cska-moscow), who had made up most of the USSR squad, was forced to withdraw from the [league](https://bliptext.com/articles/soviet-top-league) by Joseph Stalin and later disbanded.\nFurthermore, [Boris Arkadiev](https://bliptext.com/articles/boris-arkadiev), who coached both USSR and CDKA, was stripped of his [Merited Master of Sports](https://bliptext.com/articles/unified-sports-classification-system-of-the-ussr-and-russia) of the USSR title.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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