Football at the 1906 Intercalated Games

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Football at the 1906 Intercalated Games
Tournament details
Host countryGreece
CityAthens
Dates23–25 April
Teams4
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Denmark (2nd title)
Runners-up Mixed team (Smyrna)
Third placeGreece Thessaloniki
Tournament statistics
Matches played4
Goals scored23 (5.75 per match)
1904
1908

At the 1906 Summer Olympics in Athens (often referred to as the "Intercalated Games"), an unofficial football event was held. Only four teams competed, with three of them being clubs from Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Medal tables list the gold medalist as Denmark, with the silver medals given to a mixed team from Smyrna, and the bronze medalists from Thessaloniki listed as Greece.[1] Both were cities in the Ottoman Empire at the time.

Denmark were awarded the gold medal after the Athens team failed to appear for the second half of the final. The Athens team were subsequently invited to play off in a three-team tournament to decide second place, but refused and were promptly ejected from the competition,[2] leaving Smyrna and Thessaloniki to play off for the silver and bronze medals.

The Thessaloniki team composition was Greek from the group of "Friends of the Arts" (Omilos Philomuson, later Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C.).[2] The Smyrna (former name of Turkish city İzmir), a team consisted of English, French and Armenian players, was also part of the competition. The Danish team was a selection of players from the Copenhagen Football Association. As this competition was not an official Olympic football tournament, no national football teams participated.[2][3]

All the matches were played at Podilatodromio, which was originally a velodrome. [3]

Venue[edit]

The 'Podilatodromio' in Athens, venue for the tournament, as seen in 1896

All the matches were hosted at "Neo Phaliron Velodrome" (or "Podilatodromio"), originally a velodrome and sports arena in the Neo Faliro District of Piraeus. This venue had been used for the track cycling events at the Athens 1896 Olympics also held in Athens.[4]

This venue was then demolished to built the Karaiskakis Stadium, a football stadium with capacity for 32,000.[5][6]

Squads[edit]

Medallists[edit]

Medallists
Denmark
Smyrna
Thessaloniki

Results[edit]

Semi-finals[edit]

Athens Greece5–0Greece Thessaloniki
Report
Referee: Carl Andersen (Denmark) [7]

Denmark 5–1 Smyrna
Report
Attendance: 3000
Referee: Gösta Drake (Sweden) [8]

Final[edit]

Denmark 9–0
Awarded
Greece Athens
1' 7' 19' 22' 24' 26' 27' 34' 40' Report
Referee: Gösta Drake (Sweden)

The match was abandoned at half-time and Denmark were awarded the gold medal after Athens failed to appear for the second half.

Second place match[edit]

Following Athens' failure to appear for the second half of the final, the tournament organisers ordered Athens, Smyrna and Thessalonki to play off for second place: Athens refused, and were ejected from the competition.

Smyrna 12–0Greece Thessaloniki
Report
Referee: Carl Andersen (Denmark) [9]

Tournament ranking[edit]

Pos. Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Denmark (DEN) 2 2 0 0 14 1 +13 4
2 Smyrna 2 1 0 1 13 5 +8 2
3 Greece Thessaloniki 2 0 0 2 0 17 -17 0
DSQ Greece Athens 2 1 0 1 5 9 -4 2

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Football: 1906 Intercalated Games Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Intermediate Games of the IV. Olympiad - Football Tournament by Søren Elbech and Karel Stokkermans at the RSSSF
  3. ^ a b 1906 - Athens at the IFFHS (archived)
  4. ^ 1896 Summer Olympics official report
  5. ^ Επίσημα στοιχεία ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ Σ.Φ.Π. 2018-19 (in Greek). superleaguegreece.net. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Seating Plan" (in Greek). olympiacos.org. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  7. ^ Per RSSSF; some sources give the referee as Gösta Drake of Sweden.
  8. ^ Per RSSSF; some sources give the referee as Alexandros Merkati of Greece.
  9. ^ Per RSSSF; some sources give the referee as Gösta Drake of Sweden.