Football at the International Workers' Olympiads

Association football was included in every three editions of International Workers' Summer Olympiads in 1925, 1931 and 1937 as a men's competition sport. Tournaments were played as a single-elimination tournament. Countries were represented by selected teams of their workers' sports associations and the players were mostly amateurs. Exception was the Soviet team in 1937 as it was based mostly on the team of masters of Spartak sports society out of Moscow and participating in the recently established in the Soviet Union competitions of football teams of sports societies, Class A, a predecessor of the Soviet Top League.

The teams of Germany and Finland entering the field before the final of the 1925 Workers' Summer Olympiad in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt am Main 1925 edit

1925 Workers' Summer Olympiad was held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Participating teams in the football tournament were Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland.[1]

Group stage edit

Switzerland  beat  France
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main
Belgium  beat  Switzerland
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main
Germany  6–0  Switzerland
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main
Finland  4–2 [2]  Belgium
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main
Germany  3–1  Belgium
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

Semifinals edit

Germany  6–1  Czechoslovakia
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

Final edit

Germany  2–0  Finland

Vienna 1931 edit

1931 Workers' Summer Olympiad was held in Vienna, Austria and 16 teams took part at the football tournament.[4] Leading scorer was Erwin Seeler, the father of famous German striker Uwe Seeler. He scored seven goals on a quarterfinal match against Hungary as the German team beat the Hungarians 9–0.[5]

First round edit

Czechoslovakia  4–4
(Czechoslovakia qualified after drawing lots)
  Norway
Switzerland  3–0  Latvia
Austria  5–1  Finland
Poland  1–0  Estonia
Germany  8–1  Denmark

Quarterfinals edit

Belgium  5–0  France
Austria  8–1  Switzerland
Germany  9–0  Hungary
Poland  3–2  Czechoslovakia

Semifinals edit

Austria  3–1  Belgium
Germany  4–1  Poland

Final edit

Austria  3–2  Germany
Attendance: 65,000[4]

Consolation tournament edit

Norway  5–0  Estonia
Norway  6–3  Finland

Antwerp 1937 edit

1937 Workers' Summer Olympiad was held in Antwerp, Belgium. It was a joint event with the Spartakiads. Participating teams came from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Soviet Union, Spanish Republican faction and Switzerland.[6] A delegation from Soviet Union was competing at the Olympiads for the first time. German athletes did not participate since labor sports organisations were disbanded in Germany by the Nazi regime in 1933. The Soviet Union was represented by Spartak Moscow.

Note: the results are not complete.

First round edit

Quarterfinals edit

Norway  4–0  Switzerland

Semifinals edit

Norway  3–1  Czechoslovakia

Final edit

Spartak Moscow  2–0  Norway
Attendance: 25,000

Consolation tournament edit

Source:[6]

Finland  5–0
w.o. (1–1)
  Mandatory Palestine
England  2–1  Finland

Sources edit

References edit

  1. ^ Helsingin Jyry: "Reino Fri - viimeinen mohikaani" Archived 2012-06-28 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish). Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  2. ^ Finnish Workers' Association Yearbook 1925 Archived 2016-04-28 at the Wayback Machine (p. 35, in Finnish) Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  3. ^ Christian Koller & Fabian Brändle: "Fussball zwischen den Kriegen: Europa 1918-1939" (p. 49, in German). Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  4. ^ a b Christian Koller & Fabian Brändle: "Fussball zwischen den Kriegen: Europa 1918-1939" (p. 50-51, in German). Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Kein Spiel für Linksaußen" (in German). Zeit Online. 6 July 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  6. ^ a b History of Ponnistus Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 July 2013.