2008 Summer Olympics / Football

Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics
information
venue	Beijing , Shanghai , Tianjin , Qinhuangdao , Shenyang
Competition venue	National Stadium , Workers Stadium , Shanghai Stadium , Olympic Center Stadium , Olympic Sports Center , Olympic Stadium
Teams	28 (12 , 16 )
Nations	21st
Athletes	469 (195 , 274 )
date	August 6-23, 2008
decisions	2
← Athens 2004 London 2012 →

Two soccer competitions were held at the XXIX Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008. For the men, only U-23 teams competed - which could be supplemented by three older players who were born before January 1, 1985.

With almost 1.4 million viewers at the 32 games of the men's tournament, the second best attendance after 1984 was in Los Angeles. Argentina's U-23 men's team defended their 2004 title and became Olympic football champions for the second time.

Venues

The games of the two football tournaments were played in a total of five stadiums. In Beijing in the National Stadium - the actual Olympic Stadium, also known as the "bird's nest" because of its architectural design - and in the Workers' Stadium, as well as the Shanghai Stadium, the Shenyang Olympic Stadium, the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium and the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center.

Beijing	Shanghai	Shenyang Shanghai Tianjin Qinhuangdao Beijing 2012 venues in China
National stadium	Shanghai stadium
Capacity: 91,000	Capacity: 65,200
Beijing	Tianjin	Qinhuangdao	Shenyang
Workers stadium	Olympic Center Stadium	Olympic Sports Center	Olympic stadium
Capacity: 64,000	Capacity: 60,000	Capacity: 33,500	Capacity: 60,000

Mode of the finals

The finals began with group matches, four groups for men and three groups for women. For the subsequent knockout round, the two best groups in each group qualify and, in the case of women, the two best third parties.

The rank of each team in each group was determined according to the following criteria

a) Number of points from all group matches

b) Goal difference from all group matches

c) Number of goals scored in all group matches

If two or more teams finish tied on the three criteria mentioned, their ranking will be determined according to the following criteria:

d) Number of points from direct encounters between teams with the same number of points in group matches

e) Goal difference from the direct encounters of the teams with the same points in the group matches

f) Number of goals scored in group matches between teams with equal points

g) Fair play rating, based on the number of yellow and red cards

h) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organizing Committee

If games in the knockout round ended in a draw after 90 minutes, they were extended by 2 × 15 minutes. If it was still a draw after that, a penalty shoot-out decided .

Men's tournament

Olympic football tournament 2008
Men
Number of nations	16
Olympic champion	Argentina (2nd title)
venue	Beijing ( Shanghai , Shenyang , Tianjin , Qinhuangdao )
Opening game	August 7, 2008
Endgame	August 23, 2008
Games	32
Gates	75  (⌀: 2.34 per game)
spectator	1,397,477  (⌀: 43,671 per game)
Top scorer	Giuseppe Rossi (4 goals)
yellow cards	133  (⌀: 4.16 per game)
Yellow-red cards	5  (⌀: 0.16 per game)
Red cards	12  (⌀: 0.38 per game)

qualification

In addition to the People's Republic of China , which was automatically qualified as a host, the other 15 places were awarded as follows:

The U-21 European Football Championship 2007 in the Netherlands served as European qualification for the Olympic competition . The four semi-finalists automatically qualified as UEFA representatives for the finals. Since England as a semi-finalist does not compete as a nation at the Olympic Games (see United Kingdom ), a deciding game between the two preliminary round thirds Portugal and Italy had to be played for the award of fourth starting place. Italy won this on penalties 4: 3 (0: 0 a.d.) and qualified for Beijing.

The South American football association CONMEBOL identified its participants at the U-20 South American Championship in Paraguay. Two teams qualified through this competition.

North and Central America also had two participants in the final round. Initially, the teams from the Caribbean and Central American zones played the first round, with the three best teams from Central America and the two best teams from the Caribbean zone reaching the finals. There the five qualified teams played for qualification together with Mexico, Canada and the USA.

Africa had three starting places in the competition, initially the 12 best teams on the continent were determined in two knockout phases - these are then divided into three groups of four teams each. The winners of the three groups were automatically qualified for the Olympic Games.

In Asia there was a three-stage qualification. In the first round, the 20 unseeded teams competed against each other in back and forth games to determine the ten participants for the next round. The 14 seeded and ten unseeded teams then competed against each other in the second round with six groups of four teams in home and away games. From each group, the two best teams then qualified for the final round, which had three groups of four teams each. The three group winners of the final round - Australia, Japan and South Korea - qualified for the competition.

Oceania held its qualifying tournament in March 2008, which New Zealand won.

The following teams were able to qualify for the Olympic football tournament:

4 from Europe	Belgium	Italy	Netherlands	Serbia
2 from South America	Argentina	Brazil
2 from North and Central America	Honduras	United States
3 from Africa	Cameroon	Ivory Coast	Nigeria
4 from Asia	Australia	People's Republic of China	Japan	South Korea
1 from Oceania	New Zealand

Group stage

What was remarkable was the tight tournament schedule, according to which the 24 games in the group stage were played on just three match days. In addition, with two exceptions, all games in the context of double events took place one after the other in one stadium on the same day.

Group A

August 7, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shanghai Australia - Serbia 1: 1 (0: 0) August 7, 2008, 7:45 p.m., Shanghai Ivory Coast - Argentina 1: 2 (0: 1) August 10, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shanghai Argentina - Australia 1: 0 (0: 0) August 10, 2008, 7:45 p.m., Shanghai Serbia - Ivory Coast 2: 4 (1: 2) August 13, 2008, 7:45 pm, Tianjin Ivory Coast - Australia 1: 0 (0: 0) August 13, 2008, 7:45 p.m., Beijing (Workers Stadium) Argentina - Serbia 2: 0 (1: 0)

rank country Gates Points 1  Argentina 5: 1 9 2  Ivory Coast 6: 4 6th 3  Australia 1: 3 1 4th  Serbia 3: 7 1

Group B

August 7, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Tianjin Japan - United States 0: 1 (0: 0) August 7, 2008, 7:45 pm, Tianjin Netherlands - Nigeria 0-0 August 10, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Tianjin Nigeria - Japan 2: 1 (0: 0) August 10, 2008, 7:45 pm, Tianjin United States - Netherlands 2: 2 (0: 1) August 13, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shenyang Netherlands - Japan 1: 0 (0: 0) August 13, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Beijing (Workers' Stadium) Nigeria - United States 2: 1 (1: 0)

rank country Gates Points 1  Nigeria 4: 2 7th 2  Netherlands 3: 2 5 3  United States 4: 4 4th 4th  Japan 1: 4 0

Group C

August 7, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shenyang Brazil - Belgium 1: 0 (0: 0) August 7, 2008, 7:45 pm, Shenyang China - New Zealand 1: 1 (0: 0) August 10, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shenyang New Zealand - Brazil 0: 5 (0: 2) August 10, 2008, 7:45 pm, Shenyang Belgium - China 2: 0 (1: 0) August 13, 2008, 7:45 pm, Qinhuangdao China - Brazil 0: 3 (0: 1) August 13, 2008, 7:45 p.m., Shanghai New Zealand - Belgium 0: 1 (0: 1)

rank country Gates Points 1  Brazil 9-0 9 2  Belgium 3: 1 6th 3  People's Republic of China 1: 6 1 4th  New Zealand 1: 7 1

Group D

August 7, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Qinhuangdao Honduras - Italy 0: 3 (0: 2) August 7, 2008, 7:45 pm, Qinhuangdao South Korea - Cameroon 1: 1 (0: 0) August 10, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Qinhuangdao Cameroon - Honduras 1: 0 (0: 0) August 10, 2008, 7:45 pm, Qinhuangdao Italy - South Korea 3: 0 (2: 0) August 13, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shanghai South Korea - Honduras 1: 0 (1: 0) August 13, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Tianjin Cameroon - Italy 0-0

rank country Gates Points 1  Italy 6-0 7th 2  Cameroon 2: 1 5 3  South Korea 2: 4 4th 4th  Honduras 0: 5 0

Quarter finals

August 16, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Shenyang
Brazil	-	Cameroon	2: 0 a.d.
August 16, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Beijing (Workers' Stadium)
Italy	-	Belgium	2: 3 (1: 2)
August 16, 2008, 9:00 p.m., Shanghai
Argentina	-	Netherlands	2: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1)
August 16, 2008, 9:00 pm, Qinhuangdao
Nigeria	-	Ivory Coast	2: 0 (1: 0)

Semifinals

August 19, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Shanghai
Nigeria	-	Belgium	4: 1 (1: 0)
August 19, 2008, 9:00 p.m., Beijing (Workers' Stadium)
Argentina	-	Brazil	3: 0 (0: 0)

Bronze game

August 22, 2008, 7:00 p.m., Shanghai
Belgium	-	Brazil	0: 3 (0: 2)

final

pairing	Nigeria - Argentina
Result	0: 1 (0: 0)
date	August 23, 2008 12:00 p.m.
Stadion	National Stadium , Beijing 89,102 spectators
referee	Viktor Kassai ( Hungary )
Gates	0: 1 Angel Di María (58.)
Warnings	Obinna, Apam - Di María, Monzón, Riquelme
Nigeria	Ambruse Vanzekin - Chibuzor Okonkwo , Onyekachi Apam , Dele Adeleye , Olubayo Adefemi - Ebenezer Ajilore , Promise Isaac (70th Emmanuel Ekpo ), Monday James - Victor Obinna , Solomon Okoronkwo (64th Victor Anichebe ), Peter Odemwingie Trainer: Samson Siasia
Argentina	Sergio Romero - Pablo Zabaleta , Nicolás Pareja , Ezequiel Garay , Fabián Monzón - Javier Mascherano , Fernando Gago , Juan Román Riquelme , Ángel Di María (88th Éver Banega ) - Lionel Messi (90th + 3 Ezequiel Lavezzi ), Sergio Agüero (79th place) . José Sosa ) coach: Sergio Batista

Medal ranks

rank	Medalist
Gold Argentina	Lautaro Acosta , Sergio Agüero , Éver Banega , Diego Buonanotte , Ángel Di María , Federico Fazio , Fernando Gago , Ezequiel Garay , Ezequiel Lavezzi , Javier Mascherano , Lionel Messi , Fabián Monzón , Nicolás Navarro (TW), Nicolás Pareja , Juan Román , Sergio Romero (TW), José Ernesto Sosa , Óscar Ustari (TW), Pablo Zabaleta Coach: Sergio Batista
Silver Nigeria	Olubayo Adefemi , Dele Adeleye , Ebenezer Ajilore , Efe Ambrose , Victor Anichebe , Onyekachi Apam , Emmanuel Ekpo , Ikechukwu Ezenwa (TW), Isaac Promise , Monday James , Sani Kaita , Chinedu Obasi , Victor Obinna , Peter Odemwingie , Chibuzor Okonkwo , Solomon , Oladapo Olufemi , Ambruse Vanzekin (TW) Trainer: Samson Siasia
Bronze Brazil	Diego Alves (TW), Anderson , Breno , Diego , Hernanes , Ilsinho , Jô , Lucas , Marcelo , Thiago Neves , Alexandre Pato , Rafinha , Ramires , Renan (TW), Ronaldinho , Alex Silva , Thiago Silva , Rafael Sóbis Trainer: Carlos Dunga

List of goalscorers

rank player Gates 1 Giuseppe Rossi 4th 2 Mousa Dembélé 3 Victor Obinna 3 4th Sergio Aguero 2 Sekou Cissé 2 Ángel Di María 2 Diego 2 Jô 2 Salomon Kalou 2 Sacha Klještan 2 Ezequiel Lavezzi 2 Lionel Messi 2 Kevin Mirallas 2 Thiago Neves 2 Chinedu Obasi 2 Ronaldinho 2 Gerald Sibon 2 Rafael Sóbis 2 19th Lautaro Acosta 1 Robert Acquafresca 1 Olubayo Adefemi 1 Jozy Altidore 1 Anderson 1 Victor Anichebe 1 Ryan Babel 1

rank player Gates 19th Otman Bakkal 1 Jeremy Brockie 1 Diego Buonanotte 1 Laurent Ciman 1 Dong Fangzhuo 1 Gervinho 1 Sebastian Giovinco 1 Faris Haroun 1 Hernanes 1 Stuart Holden 1 Promise Isaac 1 Kim Dong-jin 1 Georges Mandjeck 1 Marcelo 1 Stéphane Mbia 1 Miljan Mrdaković 1 Chibuzor Okonkwo 1 Peter Odemwingie 1 Park Chu-young 1 Alexandre Pato 1 Đorđe Rakić 1 Juan Román Riquelme 1 Tommaso Rocchi 1 Yōhei Toyoda 1 Ruben Zadkovich 1

Women's tournament

Olympic football tournament 2008
Women
Number of nations	12
Olympic champion	United States (3rd title)
venue	Beijing ( Shanghai , Shenyang , Tianjin , Qinhuangdao )
Opening game	August 6, 2008
Endgame	August 23, 2008
Games	26th
Gates	66  (⌀: 2.54 per game)
spectator	740,014  (⌀: 28,462 per game)
Top scorer	Cristiane (5 goals)
yellow cards	45  (⌀: 1.73 per game)
Yellow-red cards	0
Red cards	0

The fourth edition of the Olympic women's soccer tournament took place for the first time with twelve teams, whereby, in contrast to the men, the respective women's national teams were at the start.

With the exception of the national stadium , the games were played in the men's tournament in the workers' stadium in Beijing, in the Shanghai Stadium in the Shenyang Olympic Stadium , in the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium and in the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center .

In the women's category, the 2004 final between the defending champions USA and Brazil was re-run. The Americans won again and won their third Olympic gold medal.

World and European champions Germany won their third bronze medal after 2000 and 2004 .

qualification

In addition to the People's Republic of China, which is automatically qualified as a host, the eleven other places were awarded as follows:

For the European Football Federation was the World Cup 2007 in China at the same time the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games, with England failed to qualify, not even for the NOC of Great Britain . World champions Germany and fourth-placed Norway qualified for the finals. Since England as quarter-finalists - due to the lack of their own National Olympic Committee - was not eligible for the Olympic Games, the last European place in the finals had to be decided between the teams of Sweden and Denmark , who were eliminated in the preliminary round . The Swedes won 4: 2 and 3: 1 and thus bought the ticket for Beijing.

The Asian Association was granted two additional places, which were played in a qualifying round between February and August 2007. After a first round, the six qualified teams faced the two seeded teams Japan and North Korea. The game was played in two groups of four teams each. Japan and North Korea finished qualifying as group winners and qualified for the Games.

The 2006 South American Women's Soccer Championship was also the Olympic qualifying tournament for South America . Winner Argentina qualified for the finals, the second-placed Brazilians had to play in a play-off match against Ghana, the second in the Africa qualification.

A qualifying tournament was played in Africa, and after the qualifying games, the three winners competed against each other in a group stage. Group winners were the Nigerian team due to the better goal difference against Ghana, which had to play for participation in a play-off game against Brazil. Brazil won this playoff on April 19 in Beijing 5-1.

The two North American places were played in a qualifying tournament in Mexico in April 2008.

In Oceania, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea played a play-off game for the only place in the finals. New Zealand won 2-0 and qualified for the finals.

The following teams were able to qualify for the women's Olympic football tournament:

3 from Europe	Germany	Norway	Sweden
2 from South America	Argentina	Brazil
2 from North and Central America	United States	Canada
1 from Africa	Nigeria
3 from Asia	People's Republic of China	Japan	North Korea
1 from Oceania	New Zealand

Group stage

What was also remarkable for the women was the tightly organized tournament schedule, according to which the 18 games in the group stage were played on just three match days. In addition, with the exception of four matches on the last day of the match, all games in the context of double events took place one after the other in a stadium on the same day.

Group E

Aug 6, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Tianjin Argentina - Canada 1: 2 (0: 1) August 6, 2008, 7:45 pm, Tianjin China - Sweden 2: 1 (1: 1) August 9, 2008, 5:00 pm, Tianjin Sweden - Argentina 1: 0 (0: 0) August 9, 2008, 7:45 pm, Tianjin Canada - China 1: 1 (1: 1) August 12, 2008, 7:45 pm, Qinhuangdao China - Argentina 2: 0 (0: 0) August 12, 2008, 7:45 p.m., Beijing (Workers Stadium) Sweden - Canada 2: 1 (1: 0)

rank country Gates Points 1  People's Republic of China 5: 2 7th 2  Sweden 4: 3 6th 3  Canada 4: 4 4th 4th  Argentina 1: 5 0

Group F.

Aug 6, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shenyang Germany - Brazil 0-0 August 6, 2008, 7:45 pm, Shenyang North Korea - Nigeria 1: 0 (1: 0) August 9, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Shenyang Nigeria - Germany 0: 1 (0: 0) August 9, 2008, 7:45 pm, Shenyang Brazil - North Korea 2: 1 (2: 0) August 12, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Tianjin North Korea - Germany 0: 1 (0: 0) August 12, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Beijing (Workers' Stadium) Nigeria - Brazil 1: 3 (1: 3)

rank country Gates Points 1  Brazil 5: 2 7th 2  Germany 2-0 7th 3  North Korea 2: 3 3 4th  Nigeria 1: 5 0

Group G

August 6, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Qinhuangdao Japan - New Zealand 2: 2 (0: 1) August 6, 2008, 7:45 pm, Qinhuangdao Norway - United States 2: 0 (2: 0) August 9, 2008, 5:00 p.m., Qinhuangdao United States - Japan 1: 0 (1: 0) August 9, 2008, 7:45 pm, Qinhuangdao New Zealand - Norway 0: 1 (0: 1) August 12, 2008, 7:45 p.m., Shanghai Norway - Japan 1: 5 (1: 1) August 12, 2008, 7:45 pm, Shenyang United States - New Zealand 4: 0 (2: 0)

rank country Gates Points 1  United States 5: 2 6th 2  Norway 4: 5 6th 3  Japan 7: 4 4th 4th  New Zealand 2: 7 1

Quarter finals

August 15, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Shanghai
United States	-	Canada	2: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1)
August 15, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Tianjin
Brazil	-	Norway	2: 1 (1: 0)
August 15, 2008, 9:00 pm, Shenyang
Sweden	-	Germany	0: 2 a.d.
August 15, 2008, 9:00 pm, Qinhuangdao
China	-	Japan	0: 2 (0: 1)

Semifinals

August 18, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Shanghai
Brazil	-	Germany	4: 1 (1: 1)
August 18, 2008, 9:00 p.m., Beijing (Workers' Stadium)
Japan	-	United States	2: 4 (1: 2)

Bronze game

August 21, 2008, 6:00 p.m., Beijing (Workers' Stadium)
Germany	-	Japan	2: 0 (0: 0)

final

The final took place after the bronze match in a double event in the workers' stadium.

pairing	Brazil - United States
Result	0: 1 a.d.
date	August 21, 2008 9:00 p.m.
Stadion	Workers Stadium , Beijing 51,612 spectators
referee	Dagmar Damková ( Czech Republic )
Gates	0: 1 Carli Lloyd (96th)
Warnings	Rosana, Erika - Mitts, Kai
Brazil	Bárbara - Simone (104th Rosana ), Tânia , Renata Costa , Erika - Maycon , Daniela (77th Fabiana ), Formiga (106th Francielle ), Ester - Marta , Cristiane Trainer: Jorge Barcello
United States	Hope Solo - Heather Mitts , Kate Markgraf , Christie Rampone , Lori Chalupny - Heather O'Reilly (101st Natasha Kai ), Shannon Boxx , Carli Lloyd , Lindsay Tarpley (71st Lauren Cheney ) - Amy Rodriguez (120th Stephanie Cox ), Angela Hucles Coach: Pia Sundhage (Sweden)

Medal ranks

rank	Medalists
Gold United States	Nicole Barnhart (TW), Shannon Boxx , Rachel Buehler , Lori Chalupny , Lauren Cheney , Stephanie Cox , Tobin Heath , Angela Hucles , Natasha Kai , Carli Lloyd , Kate Markgraf , Heather Mitts , Heather O'Reilly , Christie Rampone , Amy Rodriguez , Hope Solo (TW), Lindsay Tarpley , Aly Wagner Trainer: Pia Sundhage (Sweden)
Silver brazil	Andreia (TW), Andréia Rosa , Bárbara (TW), Cristiane , Daniela , Erika , Ester , Fabiana , Formiga , Francielle , Marta , Maurine , Maycon , Pretinha , Renata Costa , Rosana , Simone , Tânia Trainer: Jorge Barcellos
Bronze Germany	Nadine Angerer (TW), Fatmire Bajramaj , Saskia Bartusiak , Melanie Behringer , Linda Bresonik , Kerstin Garefrekes , Ariane Hingst , Ursula Holl (TW), Annike Krahn , Simone Laudehr , Renate Lingor , Anja Mittag , Célia Okoyino da Mbabi , Babett Peter , Conny Pohlers , Birgit Prinz , Sandra Smisek , Kerstin Stegemann Trainer: Silvia Neid

List of goalscorers

rank Player Gates 1  Cristiane 5 2 Angela Hucles 4th 3  Marta 3 Homare Sawa 3 Lotta Schelin 3 6th Fatmire Bajramaj 2  Daniela 2 Carli Lloyd 2 Shinobu Ōno 2 Heather O'Reilly 2 Christine Sinclair 2 Melissa Wiik 2 Xu Yuan 2 14th Eriko Arakawa 1 Lori Chalupny 1 Candace Chapman 1 Nilla Fischer 1  Formiga 1 Kerstin Garefrekes 1 Gu Yasha 1 Han Duan 1 Ayumi Hara 1

rank Player Gates 14th Amber Hearn 1 Natasha Kai 1 Kim Kyong-hwa 1 Yukari Kinga 1 Guro Knutsen 1 Kara Lang 1 Leni Larsen Kaurin 1 Simone Laudehr 1 Ludmila Manicler 1 Anja noon 1 Aya Miyama 1 Yuki Nagasato 1 Perpetua Nkwocha 1 Siri Nordby 1 Birgit Prinz 1 Ri Kum-suk 1 Amy Rodriguez 1 Kerstin Stegemann 1 Melissa Tancredi 1 Lindsay Tarpley 1 Kirsty Yallop 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://de.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/regulations_olympics_beijing_2008_de_6200.pdf , regulations for the Olympic football tournaments
2. ↑ fifa.com: "Three European teams will book their spot to Beijing 2008"

Web links

Commons : Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• FIFA Official Website (Men)
• Detailed data on rsssf.com (men / engl.)
• FIFA Official Website (Women)
• Detailed data on rsssf.com (women / engl.)