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

The 1955-1956 pre-Olympic football tournament selected 15 of the 16 nations that qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. This marked the first time the preliminary round was held before the Olympics. The overwhelming number of registrants exceeded the Olympic tournament’s capacity to be organized within the Olympic fortnight.

As long as the total number of registrants remained below 32, the Olympic tournament followed a consistent pattern since 1924. It involved a preliminary round to reduce the number of teams to sixteen, followed by the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal finals.

However, the first home-and-away Olympic football preliminary round was not yet assigned to the respective continental federations. Only 37 countries from five continents had registered.

An Olympic commission within FIFA, led by Dutchman Karel Lotsy, Englishman Stanley Rous, and Swiss Kurt Gassmann, supervised the pre-Olympic tournament. On June 13, 1955, a draw in Amsterdam determined the pairings, considering geographical regions. Australia, the organizing country, was automatically qualified. Poland, India, and Thailand received byes, while several nations withdrew, leaving 20 countries to compete in the qualifying matches from October 23, 1955, to July 31, 1956. The matches were distributed across four continents: 9 European, 1 American, 8 Asian, and 2 African teams.

A new draw at the end of May 1956 was necessary to ensure that the 15 qualifications required were obtained because, in the meantime, several countries had forfeited during the playoffs: Poland, although qualified directly by drawing lots, renounced participation in the Olympic tournament; Romania; Mexico; Afghanistan; Iran; the Philippines; and Taiwan. As a result, it was decided that the loser of the match between Bulgaria and Great Britain, in this case the latter, would also qualify.

Qualified teams Withdrew after qualifying

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

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

Automatic qualification was granted to (host), , , and (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

Africa

Asia

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.

Americas

1 Mexico withdrew.

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

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

Japan advanced by the drawing of lots.

See also Australian football at the 1956 Summer Olympics 1956 Summer Olympics

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

References

External links Russell Gerrard. Games of the XVI Olympiad. Football Qualifying Tournament. RSSSF. 20 September 1998.