Football at the Summer Olympics
| Football at the Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
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| Governing body | FIFA |
| Events | 2 (men: 1; women: 1) |
| Games | |
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| Tournaments (men ・ women) | |
| Founded | 1900 |
|---|---|
| Region | International (FIFA) |
| Number of teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) |
| Current champions |
 Brazil(1st title) |
| Most successful team(s) |
 Great Britain Hungary(3 titles each) |
 2016 Summer Olympics
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| Founded | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Region | International (FIFA) |
| Number of teams | 12 (from 6 confederations) |
| Current champions |
 Germany(1st title) |
| Most successful team(s) |
 United States(4 titles) |
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2016 Summer Olympics
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Association football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 and 1932. Women's football was added to the official program in 1996.
Football was not included on the program at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, as international football was in its infancy at the time. However, sources claim that an unofficial football tournament was organized during the first competition, in which an Athens XI lost to a team representing Smyrna (Izmir), then part of the Ottoman Empire. According to a source, this is an error which has been perpetuated in multiple texts".
Tournaments were played at the 1900 and 1904 games and the Intercalated Games of 1906, but these were contested by various clubs and scratch teams. Although the IOC considers the 1900 and 1904 tournaments to be official Olympic events, they are not recognized by FIFA; neither recognizes the Intercalated Games today. In 1906 teams from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and France withdrew from an unofficial competition and left Denmark, Smyrna (one Armenian, two Frenchmen and eight Britons), Athens and Thessaloniki to compete. Denmark won the final against Athens 9–0.
In the London Games of 1908 a proper international tournament was organised by the Football Association, featuring just six teams. The number of teams rose to eleven in 1912, when the competition was organised by the Swedish Football Association. Many of these early matches were unbalanced, as evidenced by high scoring games; two players, Sophus Nielsen in 1908 and Gottfried Fuchs in 1912, each scored ten goals in a single match. All players were amateurs, in accordance with the Olympic spirit, which meant that some countries could not send their full international team. The National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Ireland asked the Football Association to send an English national amateur team. Some of the English members played with professional clubs, most notably Derby County's Ivan Sharpe, Bradford City F.C. Harold Walden and Chelsea's Vivian Woodward. England won the first two official tournaments convincingly, beating Denmark both times.
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Wikipedia