Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

The men's football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and four other cities in the People's Republic of China from 7 to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to enter their men's under-23 teams in regional qualifying competitions, from which 15 teams, plus the host nation, reached the final tournament. Men's teams were allowed to augment their squads with up to three players over the age of 23.

2008 Men's Olympic Football Tournament
Tournament details
Host countryChina
Dates7–23 August
Teams16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Argentina (2nd title)
Runners-up Nigeria
Third place Brazil
Fourth place Belgium
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored75 (2.34 per match)
Attendance1,404,254 (43,883 per match)
Top scorer(s) Giuseppe Rossi
(4 goals)

For these Games, the men competed in a 16-team tournament. Preliminary matches commenced on 7 August, the day before the Games' opening ceremony. The teams were grouped into four pools of four teams each for a round-robin preliminary round. The top two teams in each pool advanced to an eight-team single-elimination bracket.

The tournament was won by Argentina, who beat Nigeria 10 in the final, as part of a record streak of 12 consecutive wins in football competitions at the Summer Olympics (six wins in 2004, six wins in 2008).

Lionel Messi was selected as the best player of the tournament by the official FIFA website. Juan Román Riquelme and Javier Mascherano also received special mentions.

Qualification

Countries of men's tournament

A National Olympic Committee may enter one men's team in football competitions.

Means of qualificationDateVenueBerthsQualified
Host nation 1 China PR
AFC Preliminary CompetitionFebruary – November 20073 Australia
 South Korea
 Japan
CAF Preliminary CompetitionSeptember 2006 – March 20083 Cameroon
 Ivory Coast
 Nigeria
CONCACAF Preliminary CompetitionAugust 2007 – March 2008 United States2 Honduras
 United States
2007 South American Youth Championship7–28 January 2007 Paraguay2 Brazil
 Argentina
OFC Preliminary Competition1–9 March 2008 Fiji1 New Zealand
2007 UEFA U-21 Championship10–23 June 2007 Netherlands4 Netherlands
 Serbia
 Belgium
 Italy
Total16

Squads

For the men's tournament, each nation submitted a squad of 18 players, 15 of whom had to be born on or after 1 January 1985, and three of whom could be overage players, by 23 July 2008.[1] A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) had to be included in the squad.[1]

Match officials

On 22 April 2008, FIFA released the list of match referees that will officiate at the Olympics.[2]

Confederation Referee Assistants
AFC Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Mohammed Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
Hamdi Al Kadrie (Syria)
Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman) Khaled Al Allan (Bahrain)
Saleh Al Marzouqi (United Arab Emirates)
Masoud Moradi (Iran) Hassan Kamranifar (Iran)
Luay Subhi Adib (Iraq)
CAF Jerome Damon (South Africa) Enock Molefe (South Africa)
Célestin Ntagungira (Rwanda)
Badara Diatta (Senegal) Bechir Hassani (Tunisia)
Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon)
CONCACAF Roberto Moreno (Panama) Daniel Williamson (Panama)
Hairo Fuentes (Panama)
Jair Marrufo (United States) Kermit Quisenberry (United States)
Ricardo Morgan (Jamaica)
CONMEBOL Héctor Baldassi (Argentina) Ricardo Casas (Argentina)
Hernán Maidana (Argentina)
Pablo Pozo (Chile) Patricio Basualto (Chile)
Julio Díaz (Chile)
Martín Vázquez (Uruguay) Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay)
Miguel Nievas (Uruguay)
OFC Michael Hester (New Zealand) Tevita Makasini (Tonga)
Michael Joseph (Vanuatu)
UEFA Thomas Einwaller (Austria) Roland Heim (Austria)
Norbert Schwab (Austria)
Viktor Kassai (Hungary) Gábor Erős (Hungary)
Tibor Vámos (Hungary)
Stéphane Lannoy (France) Eric Dansault (France)
Frédéric Cano (France)
Damir Skomina (Slovenia) Primož Arhar (Slovenia)
Marco Stancin (Slovenia)
Wolfgang Stark (Germany) Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany)
Volker Wezel (Germany)

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8).

Group stage

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Argentina 3 3 0 0 5 1 +4 9 Qualified for the quarterfinals
2  Ivory Coast 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 6
3  Australia 3 0 1 2 1 3 2 1
4  Serbia 3 0 1 2 3 7 4 1
Source: [3]
Australia 1–1 Serbia
Zadkovich 69' Report Rajković 78'
Attendance: 36,184

Ivory Coast 1–2 Argentina
Cissé 53' Report Messi 43'
Acosta 86'
Attendance: 43,266

Argentina 1–0 Australia
Lavezzi 76' Report
Attendance: 38,182

Serbia 2–4 Ivory Coast
Mrdaković 16'
Rakić 90'
Report Cissé 3'
Rajković 24' (o.g.)
Kalou 70'
Gervinho 90+3'
Attendance: 38,320

Ivory Coast 1–0 Australia
Kalou 81' Report

Argentina 2–0 Serbia
Lavezzi 13' (pen.)
Buonanotte 84'
Report

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 7 Qualified for the quarterfinals
2  Netherlands 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 5
3  United States 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
4  Japan 3 0 0 3 1 4 3 0
Source:
Japan 0–1 United States
Report Holden 47'

Netherlands 0–0 Nigeria
Report

Nigeria 2–1 Japan
Obinna 58'
Anichebe 74'
Report Toyoda 79'

United States 2–2 Netherlands
Kljestan 64'
Altidore 72'
Report Babel 16'
Sibon 90+3'

Netherlands 1–0 Japan
Sibon 73' (pen.) Report

Nigeria 2–1 United States
Isaac 39'
Obinna 79'
Report Kljestan 88' (pen.)

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil 3 3 0 0 9 0 +9 9 Qualified for the quarterfinals
2  Belgium 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6
3  China PR 3 0 1 2 1 6 5 1
4  New Zealand 3 0 1 2 1 7 6 1
Source:
Brazil 1–0 Belgium
Hernanes 79' Report

China PR 1–1 New Zealand
Dong Fangzhuo 88' Report Brockie 53'

New Zealand 0–5 Brazil
Report Anderson 3'
Pato 33'
Ronaldinho 55', 61' (pen.)
Sóbis 90+3'

Belgium 2–0 China PR
Dembélé 8'
Mirallas 80'
Report

China PR 0–3 Brazil
Report Diego 18'
Thiago Neves 69', 73'

New Zealand 0–1 Belgium
Report Haroun 35'
Attendance: 45,202
Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Italy 3 2 1 0 6 0 +6 7 Qualified for the quarterfinals
2  Cameroon 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5
3  South Korea 3 1 1 1 2 4 2 4
4  Honduras 3 0 0 3 0 5 5 0
Source:
Honduras 0–3 Italy
Report Giovinco 41'
Rossi 45' (pen.)
Acquafresca 52' (pen.)


Cameroon 1–0 Honduras
Mbia 74' Report


South Korea 1–0 Honduras
Kim Dong-jin 23' Report

Cameroon 0–0 Italy
Report

Knockout stage

  Quarter-finals Semi-finals Gold medal match
                           
  B1  Nigeria 2  
A2  Ivory Coast 0  
  B1  Nigeria 4  
  C2  Belgium 1  
D1  Italy 2
  C2  Belgium 3  
    B1  Nigeria 0
  A1  Argentina 1
  A1  Argentina (a.e.t.) 2  
B2  Netherlands 1  
  A1  Argentina 3 Bronze medal match
  C1  Brazil 0  
C1  Brazil (a.e.t.) 2 C2  Belgium 0
  D2  Cameroon 0   C1  Brazil 3

Quarter-finals

Brazil 2–0 (a.e.t.) Cameroon
Sóbis 101'
Marcelo 105'
Report

Italy 2–3 Belgium
Rossi 18' (pen.), 74' (pen.) Report Dembélé 23', 79'
Mirallas 45+2'

Argentina 2–1 (a.e.t.) Netherlands
Messi 14'
Di María 105'
Report Bakkal 36'

Nigeria 2–0 Ivory Coast
Odemwingie 44'
Obinna 82' (pen.)
Report

Semi-finals

Nigeria 4–1 Belgium
Adefemi 17'
Obasi 59', 72'
Okonkwo 78'
Report Ciman 88'
Attendance: 56,312
Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)

Argentina 3–0 Brazil
Agüero 52', 58'
Riquelme 76' (pen.)
Report

Bronze medal match

Belgium 0–3 Brazil
Report Diego 27'
45', 90+2'
Attendance: 50,705

Gold medal match

Nigeria 0–1 Argentina
Report Di María 58'
Attendance: 89,102
Team details

Final ranking

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Argentina (ARG) 6 6 0 0 11 2 +9 18
2  Nigeria (NGR) 6 4 1 1 10 4 +6 13
3  Brazil (BRA) 6 5 0 1 14 3 +11 15
4  Belgium (BEL) 6 3 0 3 7 10 3 9
5  Italy (ITA) 4 2 1 1 8 3 +5 7
6  Ivory Coast (CIV) 4 2 0 2 6 6 0 6
7  Netherlands (NED) 4 1 2 1 4 4 0 5
8  Cameroon (CMR) 4 1 2 1 2 3 1 5
9  United States (USA) 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
10  South Korea (KOR) 3 1 1 1 2 4 2 4
11  Australia (AUS) 3 0 1 2 1 3 2 1
12  Serbia (SRB) 3 0 1 2 3 7 4 1
13  China (CHN) 3 0 1 2 1 6 5 1
14  New Zealand (NZL) 3 0 1 2 1 7 6 1
15  Japan (JPN) 3 0 0 3 1 4 3 0
16  Honduras (HON) 3 0 0 3 0 5 5 0
Source:

Statistics

Goalscorers

With four goals, Giuseppe Rossi of Italy was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 75 goals were scored by 53 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.

4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goals

References

  1. Regulations of the Olympic Football Tournaments Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "List of Referees & Assistant Referees appointed for the Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008 – (Men's tournament)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 22 April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  3. "2008 Summer Olympics Soccer Results - Beijing, China - ESPN". www.espn.com. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
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