Sport in the Cold War

Dynamo Moscow play their first game against Chelsea starting a tour of the United Kingdom. On this goodwill tour, Dynamo Moscow becomes the first Soviet soccer club to visit and play and English side. 

At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the Soviets enter the Summer Games for the first time.

Hungary beats Yugoslavia 2-0 in the 1952 Olympic Soccer Gold Medal match in Helsinki. The Hungarian National Football Team, known as "The Golden Team," would go on to play what was known as the "Match of the Century" a year later against England in 1953, becoming the first national team to beat England on its home soil. 

In 1953, the Soviet Union hosts the European Basketball Championship tournament in Moscow. The Soviet Union's team, consisting mostly of Baltic players, beat the competition convincingly, solidifying the USSR's status as Europe's pre-eminent basketball power, at the time. 

New York Giants depart for a six-week exhibition tour of Japan. 

Hungary's "Golden Team," the top-ranked football team in the world at the time, becomes the first national team to defeat England on its own soil during a friendly match, billed as the "Match of the Century" by the British press. Hungary would defeat England 6-3, sending shockwaves through English football and leading English coaches and clubs to adopt Hungarian styles and tactics. 

Soviets win World Ice Hockey Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. 

West Germany defeats Hungary in the World Cup.

Spartak Moscow plays Arsenal in London.

West Germany's World Cup Soccer champions travel to Moscow to play the USSR, and mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nation.

The Brooklyn Dodgers, featuring Jackie Robinson, win the World Series of baseball against the New York Yankees

Vsevolod Bobrov of the USSR at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina-d'Ampezzo, Italy

The International Table Tennis Federation no longer recognizes the white-only South African Table Tennis Union, effectively becoming the first international sporting organization to ban a South African national sports organization from international competition

The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, begin in Melbourne, Australia.

USSR v. Hungary in water polo. Hungarian defections with involvement by Sports Illustrated and the CIA.

Several countries boycott after the crushing of the Hungarian uprising. Image Sven Johansson scoring Sweden's second goal against Eastern Germany in a preliminary match.

Soviets take part in soccer World Cup for the first time. Brazil triumphs at the final and celebrates their first World Cup championship with a victory lap around the field, while holding the Brazilian flag above their heads.

Initial USA-USSR dual track meets, with the first in Moscow.

Soviets penalized at World Basketball Championship after refusing to play Taiwan

After the initial meet in Moscow, the second half of the USA-USSR dual track meet is held in Philadelphia.

IOC President Avery Brundage presenting the silver medal to Rolf Ramgard of Sweden after the 30km cross country skiing at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics. In the background are the coat of arms or national emblems of the 30 countries which participated.

Soviet football national team beats Yugoslavia 2-1. 

USSR soccer team tours South America and defeats Chile 0:1 (11/22), Argentina 1:2 (11/18), and Uruguay 1:2 (11/29)

Started by Indonesia in late 1962 as a counter to the Olympic Games. Image GANEF Bronze medal for Argentinian Water Polo Team.

Spain defeats USSR in second European football championship final

Japan returns to international respectability. South Africa banned from the Olympic games because of Apartheid. Image 19 year old Japanese University student, Yoshinari Sakai, lights the Olympic Flame. He was born in Hiroshima on the day the atomic bomb dropped.

The match was played between England and West Germany on 30 July 1966 at Wembley Stadium. England won 4-2 after extra time

The first Super Bowl of American professional football rallies support for the Vietnam War

Gold and Bronze medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black gloved fists to bring attention to the Civil Rights Movement.

Czechoslovakia defeats USSR twice at the World Hockey Championships, causing riots back in Prague (USSR ends up winning the championship and Czechoslovakia takes 3rd)

Brazil's "beautiful team" beats Italy 4-1 for their third World Cup title, just one year after the military junta. This team is considered to be the best association football squad ever, nicknamed "the beautiful team"

Eleven Israeli athletes and officials taken hostage by the Palestinian group Black September. All of the hostages were killed following a failed rescue attempt. September 6th was declared as a day of mourning and, as IOC President Avery Brundage famously said, "The games must go on" and all events were resumed the following day. 

Paul Henderson scores the final winning goal in the 1972 Summit Series between the Soviet Union national team and a Canadian team of professional players. 

East Germany defeats West Germany in World Cup preliminary round, but West Germany goes on to win the final.

The struggle to exclude South Africa from global sport continues as the New Zealand Rugby Union tours South Africa, ignoring international calls for boycott.

Twenty-five African countries withdrew to protest the participation of New Zealand, whose rugby team toured South Africa that same summer

President Jimmy Carter announces that if Soviet troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan within one month, the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympics in summer 1980. 

The US national hockey team defeats the Soviet Union national team and goes to win the gold medal after winning the final match against Finland. 

United States Olympic Committee votes to go along with President Carter's call to boycott the Moscow Games if the USSR does not withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

USSR releases statement that due to the hostile conditions and "anti-Soviet hysteria" in the US  "the National Olympic Committee of the USSR is compelled to declare that participation of Soviet sportsmen in the Games is impossible."

The Summer Olympics open in Seoul, bringing attention to South Korea's fast-paced modernization and the comparative isolation of North Korea. In basketball semi-final, USSR defeats USA and then Yugoslavia in final (09/30). 

The "Unified Team" appears representing 12 former Soviet countries. The US sends its basketball "Dream Team." Rodney Smith, Bronze Medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, being declared the victor in match one against Pedro Villuela of Spain.