South African Women's National Football Team / Olympic Games

Republic of South Africa
Republic of South Africa

OS record goal scorer :	Portia Modise (1)
OS record player:	Refiloe Jane , Noko Matlou , Sanah Mollo and Janine van Wyk (6 games each)
Rank :	15th
Balance sheet
6 OS games 0 wins 2 draws 4 losses 1:10 goals
statistics
First OS game South Africa 1: 4 Sweden Coventry ( GBR ); July 25, 2012
Biggest OS defeats South Africa 1: 4 Sweden Coventry ( GBR ); July 25, 2012 South Africa 0-3 Canada Coventry ( GBR ); July 28, 2012
successes
Olympic games:
Participation in the finals	2 ( first : 2012 )
Best results	Preliminary round ( 2012 , 2016 )
(As of August 10, 2016 )

The article provides a detailed account of the South African national soccer team for women at the Summer Olympics . South Africa was able to take part in the women's tournament at the Olympic Games for the first time in 2012 and qualify again for 2016.

The national team at the Olympic Games

Overview

Olympic Games in	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
Atlanta 1996	not qualified				Second in the 1995 African Championships, she did not qualify for the 1995 World Cup and therefore had no chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games.
Sydney 2000	not qualified				Due to the qualifying round at the 1998 African Championships, the team was not qualified for the 1999 World Cup and therefore had no chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games.
Athens 2004	not qualified				Failed in qualifying against Nigeria.
Beijing 2008	not qualified				Failed in qualification to Nigeria and Ghana, which in turn failed in the intercontinental playoff to Brazil.
London 2012	Preliminary round	Japan , Canada , Sweden	-	Mkhonzana Mkhonza	Eliminated as bottom of the group, draw against world champions Japan
Rio de Janeiro 2016	Preliminary round	Brazil , China , Sweden	-	Vera Pauw	Eliminated as the bottom of the group, a draw against hosts Brazil
Tokyo 2020	not qualified				Botswana failed in the second round of qualifying after two goalless draws on penalties .

The tournaments

Olympia 1996 in Atlanta

For the first women's Olympic soccer tournament, in addition to hosts USA, only the other seven best teams from the 1995 World Cup and Brazil qualified for the English women who were not eligible to start. Since South Africa only finished second in the unofficial African Cup of Nations in 1995 , which served as a qualification for the World Cup, and only the African champions qualified for the World Cup, the team had no opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games there.

Olympia 2000 in Sydney

The South Africans could not qualify for the second Olympic tournament. They had already failed in the preliminary round of the first official Africa Cup of Nations in 1998 and since only the seven best teams from the 1999 World Cup were qualified for the Olympic Games in addition to the host Australia, South Africa could not qualify for the Olympic Games again.

Olympia 2004 in Athens

Cape Town had also applied for the 2004 Games , but was eliminated in the 3rd round of the vote on the award. For the third Olympic women's football tournament, the continental federations were allocated starting places for the first time and distributed them in special qualifications. In Africa this was played in four rounds with two legs. South Africa only had to intervene in the second round of qualification and won 13-0 and 13-1 against Namibia . In the third round they played against Angola and won the home game 6: 2, so they could cope with a 2: 3 in the second game. In the final, they first played at home against Nigeria and had to be satisfied with a 2-2 win. The second leg in Nigeria was postponed twice by two days each because some South African players were sick with malaria or food poisoning and when it took place they lost 1-0.

2008 Olympics in Beijing

For the tournament in Beijing , the South Africans had to qualify this time in a three-round qualification. They met Equatorial Guinea in the first round and lost 2-1 away. With a 4-2 win at home, they then moved into the second round. In this they won against Zimbabwe 2-1 and 3-2. The third round should be played between four teams in any-against-all mode with home and return legs. But since Ethiopia withdrew after the first game against Ghana, only Nigeria remained as opponents besides Ghana. South Africa lost all four games and missed qualifying again.

Olympia 2012 in London

Participation in the tournament in London was a surprise. They prevailed for the first time in the qualification tournament, which again ran over four rounds. They had a bye in the first round and won 2-1 and 3-0 against Zambia in the second round . In the third round they needed luck on penalties , as the games against Tunisia ended 1-0 for the home team, but South Africa won the penalty shootout in Tunisia 6-5. In the final round they met Ethiopia and won the home game 3-0, so that 1-1 in the second leg was enough to qualify. This was the first time that the women from South Africa qualified for an intercontinental tournament. Before that, they had only been invited to the Cyprus Cup twice (2009 and 2011) , where they only won one game.

At the tournament in the United Kingdom they met Sweden in their first game and lost 4-1, with Portia Modise only succeeding 3-1 in the meantime. They also lost against Canada by three goals, but this time they couldn't score a goal themselves. In the last game against world champions Japan , a goalless draw was a respectable success. As the last group they were eliminated.

Olympia 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

For the tournament in Rio de Janeiro , South Africa, which Vera Pauw has been coaching since March 2014 , was also able to qualify again after narrowly missing out on the 2015 World Cup as fourth in the 2014 African Cup of Nations. In the tournament , which again ran over four rounds , they again had a bye in the first round and won in the second round 3: 2 and 5: 0 against Gabon . In the third round they won twice 1-0 against Kenya . In the final round they only managed a goalless draw in their home game against Equatorial Guinea, but won the second leg 1-0. The South Africans were drawn into the group hosted by Brazil and also met China and, as in 2012, at the start of the tournament, Sweden. With a 1-0 defeat against the Swedes and a 2-0 defeat against China, the South Africans no longer had a chance to qualify for the quarter-finals. Against hosts Brazil, who had already qualified for the quarter-finals and spared some regular players, then jumped out a goalless draw.

Olympia 2020 in Tokyo

South Africa, which took part in the World Cup for the first time in 2019 , then failed to qualify for the tournament in Tokyo . In this time the five-round qualification, they only had to compete in the second round. Here they met Botswana and lost 3-2 on penalties after two goalless games .

statistics

Record against the Olympic champions at the Olympic Games

• USA : 0 games
• Norway : 0 games
• Germany : 0 games

Games

South Africa has played six games in the Olympic Games so far. Four of them were lost and two ended in a draw. No game went into overtime. The South Africans played once against the hosts, never against the eventual Olympic champion or the defending champion. They have only played twice against Sweden so far.

So far South Africa has played against teams from three other confederations but only against one champion, the one from North and Central America . In 2016 there will also be an encounter with the South American champions. South Africa also met the reigning world champion.

Most of the games were played by four players who were used in the six previous games. The only goal scored by the no longer active Africa's record national player Portia Modise .

No.	date	Result	opponent	AH/*	venue	occasion	comment
1	July 25, 2012	1: 4	Sweden	*	Coventry ( GBR )	Preliminary round	First game and biggest loss against Sweden
2	07/28/2012	0: 3	Canada	*	Coventry ( GBR )	Preliminary round	Biggest loss to Canada
3	July 31, 2012	0-0	Japan *	*	London ( GBR )	Preliminary round	First game against Japan
4th	08/03/2016	0: 1	Sweden	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Preliminary round
5	08/06/2016	0: 2	People's Republic of China	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Preliminary round
6th	08/09/2016	0-0	Brazil	A.	Manaus ( BRA )	Preliminary round	First game against Brazil

Note: The team in bold was the continental champion at the time of the game, the team marked with "*" was the world champion.

Negative records

• Most games in a row without scoring: South Africa and Colombia (2012-2016) 5 each

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