Skip to main content

The Boycotts, and team withdrawals in Football at the Olympics

Image
By

 

Boycotts and team withdrawals for political or other reasons used to occur frequently in Olympic football.

The Olympic Games have historically been fraught with political issues. Previously, there had been boycotts, team withdrawals, and even a tragic one, such as the 1972 massacre in Munich by the terrorists affiliated by Palestinian militant group. During that incident, 17 people were killed, including one West German police officer and 11 athletes and coaches included in Israeli Olympic team.

Political issues frequently resulted in boycotts and team withdrawals. This primarily occurred after World War II and during the Cold War era. The latter one even triggered such boycotts and withdrawals in three Olympics editions, Melbourne 1956, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984. Fortunately, the 1984 was the last one to date. No more of such which had stained the spirit of fair play and respect in sport event. Here are the list of each and every of such which also impacted the contestants in football at the Olympics.

Olympic editions

Withdrawn teams - reason

Other fun facts in football

Athens 1896

(no football)

-

-

Paris 1900

-

-

St.Louis 1904

-

-

London 1908

Hungary & Bohemia (Czechia today) – financial reasons

France sent two teams (First team and reserve team)

Stockholm 1912

Belgium – lack of available players

France – reason unknown

Bohemia was rejected as their association was voted out of FIFA in 1908

Antwerp 1920

Czechoslovakia – protesting the referee’s decision in the middle of the final (they left the game in the 39th minute leading to abandoning the match. Belgium was consequently awarded the gold medal)

-          Central Power countries from WW1 (Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey and Austria) weren’t invited.

-          England, Scotland and Ireland withdrew from FIFA since request to FIFA for central-powers countries’ expulsion was rejected.

-          Egypt became the first non-European team to compete

Paris 1924

Great Britain & Denmark – protesting regarding the lack of clarity on amateur player status.

The first edition with participants from four continent.

Uruguay became the first participant from CONMEBOL.

Amsterdam 1928

-

-

Los Angeles 1932

(no football)

-

-

Berlin 1936

-

The first edition Asian teams participated (represented by Japan and China)

London 1948

-

The first ever football international tournament was broadcast on TV

Helsinki 1952

-

-

Melbourne 1956

Hungary – Soviet invasion in their territory

Egypt – protesting Israeli, British and French invasion

China – protesting the reception of Taiwan

Turkey, South Vietnam

The last edition with direct knockout round

Roma 1960

-

The first edition with group stages.

Tokyo 1964

Italy – disqualified due to fielding non amateur players

North Korea – six of their players did not get immigration clearance

Poland was expected to take Italy place but refused due to the lack of preparation time.

Mexico City 1968

-

Japan became the first Asian team to win medal in football (bronze)

Munich 1972

-

-          The second group stage in the second round was used

-          USSR and East Germany shared the bronze medal after their match was proven to be fixed.

Montreal 1976

Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia – protesting the participation of New Zealand (their rugby team had a tour in South Africa despite the Soweto uprising which had 176 children as the main casualties)

Uruguay – reason unknown

Uruguay was replaced by Cuba after Argentina declined the opportunity.

The second round group stage was no longer used.

Moscow 1980

Ghana, Egypt, Iran, Argentina, Norway, Malaysia and USA (protesting the USSR invasion to Afghanistan)

Nigeria, Zambia, Syria, Venezuela, Finland, Iraq, and Cuba replaced them respectively.

Los Angeles 1984

USSR, East Germany and Czechoslovakia – Warsaw-pact boycott

West Germany, Norway and Italy replaced them respectively.

Seoul 1988

-

-

Barcelona 1992

 

Back pass rule was firstly introduced

Atlanta 1996

-

 

Sydney 2000

-

 

Athens 2004

-

 

Beijing 2008

-

 

London 2012

-

 

Rio de Janeiro 2016

-

 

Tokyo 2020

-

 

Paris 2024

-

 

 

 

 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

U20 World Cup 1997: The First with 24 Teams

By
  The 1997 U20 World Cup in Malaysia marked a new era for FIFA’s youth showpiece, with a significant expansion in the number of participants.   For the first time, the tournament grew from 16 to 24 teams, a format that remains to this day. It also meant the knockout stages began in the round of 16, with the four best third-placed sides joining the top two from each group. The 1997 Tournament in Numbers   * Played between 16 June and 5 July. * Six host cities: Shah Alam, Kuantan, Kangar, Johor Bahru, Alor Setar and Kuching. * With the exception of UEFA, every confederation was handed more slots. Asia, Africa and CONCACAF doubled their representation from two to four, while South America gained one extra spot. Oceania, meanwhile, received an automatic berth. * Four debutants made the stage: Belgium, South Africa, the UAE and hosts Malaysia. Argentina Won Back-to-Back Argentina followed in the footsteps of Brazil and Portugal by becoming just the third nat...
Post a Comment
Read more

1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup: The Emergence of Portugal

By
  The 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup marked the dawn of Portugal’s resurgence in world football, as a new generation delivered the nation’s first international title. Portugal had enjoyed a golden period in the mid-1960s, when Eusébio inspired them to the World Cup semi-finals in 1966, but the national side then faded from prominence. A revival began in the 1980s at club level, with Benfica and Porto reaching European finals—Porto famously winning the European Cup in 1987. The national team also showed promise at Euro 1984, reaching the semi-finals, before suffering a humiliating collapse at the 1986 World Cup amid the “Saltillo scandal.” Failure to qualify for Euro 1988 left Portuguese football in crisis. Against that backdrop, the triumph of Carlos Queiroz’s promising young squad in Saudi Arabia offered a glimpse of a brighter future for the Seleção das Quinas. Key Facts – 1989 Tournament   The 1989 edition carried several notable features: * Held from 16 February to 3 Mar...
Post a Comment
Read more

1991 FIFA U-20 World Cup: A One-of-a-Kind Edition

By
  The 1991 FIFA U-20 World Cup was unlike any other, marked by unique circumstances surrounding the host nation and the wider historical events of the era. Unprecedented factors defined the tournament: the surprising performance of teams from Oceania and Asia, extraordinary political developments, and, most notably, the appointment of defending champions Portugal as hosts. To this day, they remain the only reigning champions to have staged the U-20 World Cup—or any FIFA World Cup.  Originally, Nigeria had been awarded hosting rights, but the country was stripped of the tournament after being found guilty of age falsification involving three players at the 1988 Olympic Games. FIFA suspended Nigeria for two years, removing them from international football and transferring hosting rights to Portugal. Key Facts – 1991 Tournament * Held from 14 to 30 June, with 16 teams split into four groups. * Matches were staged in Porto, Lisbon, Braga, Guimarães and Faro. * For the fi...
Post a Comment
Read more