| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Greece |
| City | Athens |
| Dates | 12 April 1896 |
| Teams | 2 |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Denmark XI |
| Runners-up |  Podilatikos Syllogos Athinon |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 1 |
| Goals scored | 15 (15 per match) |
1900 → | |
At the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, an unofficial football event was held on 12 April between two representative teams of Greece and Denmark at the Podilatodromio.[1] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognize the existence of an official football tournament at the 1896 Olympics and the majority of works devoted to the 1896 Olympic Games do not actually mention a football competition; however, there is incontrovertible evidence that the aforementioned match was played as either a part of the (unofficial) programme, or as a "demonstration sport" during the Olympic Games.[2]
The reason why this match was more or less ignored was because of a recommendation from Crown Prince Constantine, the chairman of the 1896 Olympic Organizing Committee, who publicly said that the sports which were not part of the official Olympic programme should not be mentioned, and thus, due to its unofficial classification, the football match was forbidden to be reported anywhere, neither by the local or the national press.[1][2][3] As a result, the final score of the game remains uncertain with various sources agreeing it was either a 9–0 or a 15–0 victory for the Danish, who were later awarded bronze medals by the local organizing committee.[1] Remarkably, it was Prince Constantine's younger brother, George, Prince of both Greece and Denmark, who refereed the football match.[1]
- ^ a b c d "Games of the I. Olympiad". RSSSF. 3 February 2022. Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
- ^ a b "Olympic Football: 1896 Demonstration Match between Denmark and Greece". www.topendsports.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
- ^ "What was the first Football World Championship?". atletifo.com. 27 September 2021. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.