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 represented by Spartak Moscow.

Frankfurt am Main 1925

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

July 24–26, 1925
Switzerland Switzerland beat France France
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

July 24–26, 1925
Belgium Belgium beat Switzerland Switzerland
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

July 24–26, 1925
Germany Germany 6–0 Switzerland Switzerland
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

July 24–26, 1925
Finland Finland 4–2 [2] Belgium Belgium
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

July 24–26, 1925
Germany Germany 3–1 Belgium Belgium
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

Semifinals

July 27, 1925
Germany Germany 6–1 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Waldstadion football grounds, Frankfurt am Main

Final

July 28, 1925
Germany Germany 2–0 Finland Finland

Vienna 1931

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

July 22, 1931
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 4–4
(Czechoslovakia qualified after drawing lots)
Norway Norway

July 22, 1931
Switzerland Switzerland 3–0 Latvia Latvia

July 22, 1931
Austria Austria 5–1 Finland Finland

July 23, 1931
Hungary Hungary 3–1 Mandatory Palestine

July 23, 1931
Poland Poland 1–0 Estonia Estonia

July 23, 1931
Germany Germany 8–1 Denmark Denmark

Quarterfinals

July 24, 1931
Belgium Belgium 5–0 France France

July 24, 1931
Austria Austria 8–1 Switzerland Switzerland

July 24, 1931
Germany Germany 9–0 Hungary Hungary

July 24, 1931
Poland Poland 3–2 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia

Semifinals

July 24, 1931
Austria Austria 3–1 Belgium Belgium

July 24, 1931
Germany Germany 4–1 Poland Poland

Final

July 26, 1931
Austria Austria 3–2 Germany Germany
Praterstadion, Vienna
Attendance: 65,000[4]

Consolation tournament

July 23, 1931
Norway Norway 5–0 Estonia Estonia

July 24, 1931
Norway Norway 6–3 Finland Finland

Antwerp 1937

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. Soviet Union was represented by Spartak Moscow.

Note: the results are not complete.

First round

July, 1937
Spartak Moscow Soviet Union 8–0 Denmark Denmark

July, 1937
Switzerland Switzerland 3–2 Finland Finland

Quarterfinals

July, 1937
Spanish Republicans Second Spanish Republic 2–0 Belgium Belgium

July, 1937
Spartak Moscow Soviet Union 7–1 France France

July, 1937
Norway Norway 4–0 Switzerland Switzerland

Semifinals

July 31, 1937
Norway Norway 3–1 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia

Final

August 1, 1937
Spartak Moscow Soviet Union 2–0 Norway Norway
Olympic Stadium, Antwerp
Attendance: 25,000

Consolation tournament [6]

July, 1937
England England 2–1 Finland Finland

Sources

References

  1. Helsingin Jyry: "Reino Fri - viimeinen mohikaani" (in Finnish). Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  2. Finnish Workers' Association Yearbook 1925 (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. 1 2 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. 1 2 History of Ponnistus (in Finnish). Retrieved 14 July 2013.
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