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Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

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1956 Summer Olympics – Men's Football Qualifiers
Tournament details
Dates11–31 July 1956
Teams20
Tournament statistics
Matches played10
Goals scored46 (4.6 per match)
1960 →

The men's qualification for association football tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was the first time the qualifying round was done on a home-and-away basis.

Qualified teams

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† Withdrew after qualifying

Team Method of qualification Previous best performance
 Australia Hosts –
 Poland † Automatic qualification Fourth place (1952)
 Bulgaria Bulgaria v Great Britain winner Round of 16 (1924, 1952)
 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia v Romania winner Silver medal (1948, 1952)
 Hungary † Hungary v East Germany winner Gold medal (1952)
 Turkey † Turkey v West Germany winner Quarter-finals (1948, 1952)
 West Germany † Turkey v West Germany winner –
 Soviet Union Soviet Union v Israel winner First round (1952)
 Egypt † Ethiopia v Egypt winner Fourth place (1928)
 South Vietnam † South Vietnam v Cambodia winner –
 India India v Thailand winner First round (1948)
 Thailand India v Thailand winner –
 Japan Japan v South Korea winner Quarter-finals (1936)
 China † China v Philippines winner First round (1936, 1948)
 Indonesia Indonesia v Taiwan winner –
 United States United States v Mexico winner Silver medal (1904)
 United Team of Germany Formation by West Germany and East Germany Fourth place (1952)
 Great Britain Replacement by Poland Gold medal (1900, 1908, 1912)

Format

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The final tournament had 16 spots reserved with 28 countries initially showing interest in the tournament.

Automatic qualification was granted to  Australia (host),  Poland,  Turkey, and  United Team of Germany (originally as West Germany).

  • Europe: 4 places, contested by 8 teams (including Israel).
  • Africa: 1 place, contested by 2 teams.
  • Asia: 6 places, contested by 12 teams.
  • Americas: 1 place, contested by 2 teams.

Europe

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Further information: Football at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's European Qualifiers

Africa

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Ethiopia  3–9  Egypt 1–4 2–5

Asia

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
South Vietnam  9–5  Cambodia 5–2 4–3
Iran  n/p1  Afghanistan — —
India  bye2  Thailand — —
Japan  2–23  South Korea 2–0 0–2
China  w/o4  Philippines — —
Indonesia  w/o5  Republic of China — —

1 Both teams withdrew; the tie was scratched.
2 As the withdrawal of other teams left six winners, the tie was scratched and both teams qualified automatically.
3 Both matches were played in Japan due to the lack of a suitable stadium in South Korea; Japan advanced on the drawing of lots.
4 Philippines withdrew.
5 Republic of China withdrew after the organizing committee ruled they had to play under the FIFA flag during the first leg, due to concerns over social and political unrest in Indonesia relating to the use of the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag.[1]

Americas

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
United States  w/o1  Mexico — —

1 Mexico withdrew.

Notes on qualifying

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Before the official draw for the final tournament on September 1, 1956, Poland withdrew and was replaced by  Great Britain.

After the draw, Hungary also withdrew: its place was offered to South Korea, however South Korea declined due to financial reasons.

Subsequently, South Vietnam and Turkey both withdrew, while the People's Republic of China and Egypt boycotted the Olympics.

Qualifying Matches

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Ethiopia 1–4 Egypt
El-Fanagily 3', 31'
Ad-Diba 54'
Adam 60'
South Vietnam 5–2 Cambodia
Cambodia 3–4 South Vietnam
Japan 2–0 South Korea
Uchino 54'
Iwabuchi 77'		 Report
Attendance: 10,000
Japan 0–2 South Korea
Report ? 58'
 ? 64'
Attendance: 20,000

Japan advanced by the drawing of lots.

See also

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Further reading

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  • Guinness Record of World Soccer, by Guy Oliver (1st ed., Guinness Publishing, 1992)
  • The Times newspaper, various dates

References

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  1. ^ "'No Chinese Flag,' Rules Committee". The Singapore Free Press. 30 May 1956. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
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