Japan Women's National Football Team / Olympic Games

Japan
Nihon-koku / Nippon-koku

OS record goal scorer :	Yūki Ōgimi (4)
OS record player:	Homare Sawa (17)
Rank :	8th
Balance sheet
18 OS games 6 wins 3 draws 9 defeats 22:26 goals
statistics
First OS game Japan 2: 3 Germany Birmingham ( USA ); July 21, 1996
Highest OS victory Japan 5: 1 Norway Shanghai ( CHN ); August 12, 2008
Biggest OS defeat Japan 0-4 Norway Washington, DC ( USA ); July 25, 1996
successes
Olympic games:
Participation in the finals	4 ( first : 1996 )
Best results	Silver medal ( 2012 )
(As of August 20, 2016 )

The article provides a detailed account of the Japan women's national soccer team at the Olympic Games . Japan was able to take part in four of the six women's tournaments so far at the Olympic Games and to reach the final once, but lost it to the record Olympic champions USA. Japan, which was runner-up at the 2015 World Cup, was unable to qualify for 2016. In the medal table, Japan ranks fifth, along with the People's Republic of China and Sweden . As the host of the 2020 Games, Japan is already the automatically qualified host for this tournament.

The national team at the Olympic Games

Overview

Olympic Games in	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
Atlanta 1996	Preliminary round	Brazil , Germany , Norway	-	Eiji Ueda
Sydney 2000	not qualified		-		Not qualified because of the preliminary round at the 1999 World Cup
Athens 2004	Quarter finals	United States	-	Eiji Ueda
Beijing 2008	3rd place match	Germany	4th Place	Norio Sasaki
London 2012	final	United States	Silver medal	Norio Sasaki
Rio de Janeiro 2016	not qualified				Japan will meet Australia, China, North and South Korea and Vietnam in qualifying for the two Asian starting positions
Tokyo 2020	qualified				Automatically qualifies as a host.

The tournaments

Olympia 1996 in Atlanta

By reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in 1995, the Japanese were qualified for the first Olympic women's football tournament. They started with a 2: 3 against Germany , then lost with 0: 2 against Brazil and the last game with 0: 4 against world champions Norway , whereby they were eliminated from the tournament as bottom group.

Olympia 2000 in Sydney

The Japanese could not qualify for the second Olympic tournament because they were eliminated in the preliminary round at the 1999 World Cup.

Olympia 2004 in Athens

For the third Olympic women's football tournament, the Japanese qualified second in a qualifying tournament that was held in Japan in April 2004 . They defeated Vietnam 7-0 in the group stage and then Thailand 6-0. With a 3-0 in the semi-finals against North Korea , the qualification succeeded. The final, which is no longer decisive for the qualification, was lost 1-0 to the People's Republic of China .

In one of two groups of three they won their opening game against Sweden 1-0 and thus for the first time a game at the Olympic Games. In the second game they lost 1-0 to Nigeria , which in turn lost 2-1 to Sweden. This gave the three teams three points each, Sweden and Nigeria but 2-2 goals and Japan finished third with 1-1 goals. But all three reached the quarter-finals, which were held for the first time. Here Japan met the USA and lost 2-1.

2008 Olympics in Beijing

Osaka had also applied for the 2008 games , but had already failed in the first round of voting. For the tournament in Beijing , the Japanese therefore had to qualify in games against South Korea , Thailand and Vietnam, which were played in two-way and two-way games in everyone-against-everyone mode. Japan only gave up a point in a 2-2 win in South Korea and qualified as group winners.

At the start of the tournament in the People's Republic of China , it was enough against New Zealand after a 2-2 deficit only to a 2-2. They then lost 1-0 to defending champions USA. With a 5-1 win against Norway after a 0-1 deficit, they were second in the group and met hosts China in the quarter-finals and won 2-0. In the semifinals they met the USA again. Shinobu Ōno brought the Japanese into the lead in the 17th minute, but shortly before the break the US girls were able to turn the game around and take a 2-1 lead for their part. They then increased this result to 4: 1 in the second half. Eriko Arakawa was only able to correct the result in stoppage time. In the game for third place, they faced world champions Germany and kept the 0-0 for 68 minutes. Then Fatmire Bajramaj, who had been substituted ten minutes earlier, made it 1-0 and three minutes before the end also 2-0 for the world champion.

Olympia 2012 in London

Scene from the 63rd minute of the final, in which Yūki Ōgimi scored the 1: 2 goal on assist by Homare Sawa .

As reigning world champions , the Japanese secured participation in the tournament in London by winning the final Asian qualifying tournament in the People's Republic of China . They won against Australia , China, South Korea and Thailand and only against North Korea a point was given, which also qualified as second.

At the start of the tournament they won against Canada 2-1, but only managed goalless draws against Sweden and newcomer South Africa . As runners-up in the group, they then beat Brazil 2-0 and then defeated France 2-1 in the semi-finals . This brought the 2011 World Cup final against the USA, but this time with the better end for the US girls, who won the gold medal for the fourth time. For Japan the silver medal was the first Olympic medal in women's football, but again the reigning world champion could not become an Olympic champion.

Olympia 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

Tokyo had also applied for the 2016 games , but was eliminated in the second round of voting. Therefore, Japan has to qualify again in terms of sport. The two best teams qualify for the tournament in Rio de Janeiro at a tournament in Osaka . Opponents at the tournament that started on February 29, 2016 are Australia, China, North Korea, South Korea and Vietnam. Japan started the tournament with a 1: 3 defeat against the Australians and could only get one point in the subsequent 1: 1 against South Korea. After a 1: 2 defeat against China and China's victory against South Korea on the penultimate matchday, Japan could no longer qualify. The two wins in the last two games were then only enough for 3rd place.

Olympia 2020 in Tokyo

On September 7, 2013 the XXXII. Olympic Games awarded to Tokyo , which automatically qualifies the Japanese.

statistics

Record against the Olympic champions at the Olympic Games

• USA : 4 games - 4 defeats - 4: 9 goals
• Germany : 2 games - 2 defeats - 2: 5 goals
• Norway : 2 games - 1 win, 1 defeat - 5-5 goals

Games

Homare Sawa , Japan's all-time leading player

Japan has played 18 games in the Olympic Games so far. Six of them were won, nine lost and three ended in a draw. No game went into overtime. The Japanese played once against the hosts, four times against the eventual Olympic champion (2004 in the quarter-finals, 2008 in the preliminary round and in the semifinals, 2012 in the final) and three times against the defending champion. The Japanese played most often against the USA (4 times), which were the last opponent in two games. Three games were the first and so far only against the respective opponents.

Japan has played against teams from all confederations and also against the champions of the other confederations (10 times), most often against the North American champions (4 times). Japan met the reigning world champion twice (1996 and 2008), losing both games.

Most games played Homare Sawa , who was used in 17 of the previous 18 games and is 9th in the ranking of most games. She is also the only Asian player to have participated in four Olympics. The most goals scored Yūki Ōgimi , who scored four goals in two appearances.

No.	date	Result	opponent	AH/*	venue	occasion	comment
1	07/21/1996	2: 3	Germany	*	Birmingham ( USA )	Preliminary round
2	07/23/1996	0: 2	Brazil	*	Birmingham ( USA )	Preliminary round
3	07/25/1996	0: 4	Norway *	*	Washington, DC ( USA )	Preliminary round	First game against Norway
4th	08/11/2004	1-0	Sweden	*	Volos ( GRC )	Preliminary round
5	08/14/2004	0: 1	Nigeria	*	Piraeus ( GRC )	Preliminary round	First game against Nigeria. First game against a reigning African champion
6th	08/20/2004	1: 2	United States	*	Thessaloniki ( GRC )	Quarter finals
7th	08/06/2008	2: 2	New Zealand	*	Qinhuangdao ( CHN )	Preliminary round
8th	08/09/2008	0: 1	United States (TV)	*	Qinhuangdao ( CHN )	Preliminary round
9	08/12/2008	5: 1	Norway	*	Shanghai ( CHN )	Preliminary round
10	08/15/2008	2-0	People's Republic of China	A.	Qinhuangdao ( CHN )	Quarter finals
11	08/18/2008	2: 4	United States (TV)	*	Beijing ( CHN )	Semifinals
12	08/21/2008	0: 2	Germany *	*	Beijing ( CHN )	3rd place match
13	July 25, 2012	2: 1	Canada	*	Coventry ( GBR )	Preliminary round	So far the only victory against a reigning CONCACAF champion
14th	07/28/2012	0-0	Sweden	*	Coventry ( GBR )	Preliminary round
15th	July 31, 2012	0-0	South Africa	*	Cardiff ( GBR )	Preliminary round	First game against South Africa
16	08/03/2012	2-0	Brazil	*	Cardiff ( GBR )	Quarter finals
17th	08/06/2012	2: 1	France	*	London ( GBR )	Semifinals
18th	08/09/2012	1: 2	United States (TV)	*	London ( GBR )	final	First Olympic medal won (silver)
	July 2020		NN	H	( JPN )	Preliminary round
	July 2020		NN	H	( JPN )	Preliminary round
	July / Aug. 2020		NN	H	( JPN )	Preliminary round

Note: Teams marked in bold were continental champions at the time of the game, teams marked with "*" were world champions.

Records

Most games as coach with one team: Norio Sasaki , John Herdman (England, with Canada), Silvia Neid (Germany) and Pia Sundhage (Sweden, with the USA) - 12 each

The Japanese team achieved their highest victories against these teams at the Olympics:

•  Norway 5-1 preliminary round 2008

Her biggest defeat against this team was at the Olympic Games:

•  Brazil 0-2 preliminary round 1996
•  Nigeria 0-1 preliminary round 2004 - only defeat against Nigeria
•  Norway 0: 4 preliminary round 1996 - also a 0: 4 in the World Cup preliminary round 1999

Negative records

• First own goal : Yumi Tōmei on July 21, 1996 against Germany for the interim 1: 2 (final score 2: 3)

Web links

• Women's Olympic Football Tournament - Statistical Kit - Statistics, Facts & Figures 1996 - 2012

Individual evidence

1. ^ Games of the XXVIII. Olympiad Football Qualifying Tournament
2. ^ Games of the XXIX. Olympiad Football Qualifying Tournament
3. ^ Games of the XXX. Olympiad Football Qualifying Tournament