Surely you have heard of Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament on more than one occasion, since its relevance and impact in different areas has made it a topic of general interest. Since its emergence, Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament has captured the attention of researchers, professionals and enthusiasts, who constantly seek to learn more about its origins, evolution and effects. In this article, we will thoroughly explore everything related to Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, from its background to its current status, with the goal of better understanding its influence and reach in our society.
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host country | China |
Dates | 6–21 August |
Teams | 12 (from 6 confederations) |
Venue(s) | 5 (in 5 host cities) |
Final positions | |
Champions | United States (3rd title) |
Runners-up | Brazil |
Third place | Germany |
Fourth place | Japan |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 26 |
Goals scored | 66 (2.54 per match) |
Attendance | 740,014 (28,462 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Cristiane (5 goals) |
Fair play award | China |
Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
men | women | |
Tournament | ||
men | women | |
Squads | ||
men | women | |
The women's association football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and four other cities in China from 6 to 21 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their full women's national teams.
For these Games, the women competed in a 12-team tournament. Preliminary matches commenced on 6 August, two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games. The teams were grouped into three pools of four teams each for a round-robin preliminary round. The top two teams in each pool, as well as the best two third-place finishing teams, advanced to an eight-team single-elimination bracket.
The tournament was won by the United States, which beat Brazil 1–0 in the gold medal game. Carli Lloyd scored the game-winning goal in the 96th minute for the United States, which collected their third Olympic gold medal.
A National Olympic Committee may enter one women's team for the football competition.
Means of completion | Date of completion | Venue | Berths | Qualified |
---|---|---|---|---|
Host nation | – | – | 1 | China |
AFC Preliminary Competition | February 2007 – August 2007 | – | 2 | Japan North Korea |
CAF Preliminary Competition | October 2006 – March 2008 | – | 1 | Nigeria |
CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | October 2007 – April 2008 | Ciudad Juárez | 2 | United States Canada |
2006 Sudamericano Femenino | 10–26 November 2006 | Mar del Plata | 1 | Argentina |
OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying | 25 August – 7 September 2007 8 March 2008 |
Apia Port Moresby |
1 | New Zealand |
UEFA (2007 FIFA Women's World Cup)* | 10–30 September 2007 | China | 2* | Germany Norway |
UEFA Playoff (Denmark vs Sweden) | 8 November 2007 28 November 2007 |
Viborg Solna |
1* | Sweden |
CONMEBOL–CAF play-off | 19 April 2008 | Beijing | 1 | Brazil |
TOTAL | 12 |
The tournament was held in five venues across five cities:
Shanghai | Beijing | Shenyang |
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Shanghai Stadium | Beijing Workers' Stadium | Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium |
Capacity: 80,000 | Capacity: 70,161 | Capacity: 60,000 |
Tianjin | Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament (China) |
Qinhuangdao |
Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium | Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium | |
Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | |
Pot 1: Asia | Pot 2: North America and Africa | Pot 3: Europe | Pot 4: South America and Oceania |
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The women's tournament is a full international tournament with no restrictions on age. Each nation must submit a squad of 18 players by 23 July 2008. A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) must be included in the squad.
Group winners and runners-up, plus two best third place teams advanced to quarter final round. Groups are lettered sequentially from the last letter in the Men's Football tournament (which has Groups A through D).
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
2 | Sweden | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | |
3 | Canada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
4 | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |
China | 2–0 | Argentina |
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Quiñones 52' (o.g.) Gu Yasha 90' |
Report |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
2 | Germany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 7 | |
3 | North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | |
4 | Nigeria | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |
North Korea | 1–0 | Nigeria |
---|---|---|
Kim Kyong-hwa 27' | Report |
Brazil | 2–1 | North Korea |
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Daniela 14' Marta 23' |
Report | Ri Kum-suk 90' |
North Korea | 0–1 | Germany |
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Report | Mittag 86' |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
2 | Norway | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 6 | |
3 | Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 4 | |
4 | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 1 |
Japan | 2–2 | New Zealand |
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Miyama 72' (pen.) Sawa 86' |
Report | Yallop 37' Hearn 56' (pen.) |
Norway | 2–0 | United States |
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Larsen Kaurin 2' Wiik 4' |
Report |
United States | 1–0 | Japan |
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Lloyd 27' | Report |
New Zealand | 0–1 | Norway |
---|---|---|
Report | Wiik 8' |
United States | 4–0 | New Zealand |
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O'Reilly 1' Rodriguez 43' Tarpley 56' Hucles 60' |
Report |
Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 4 |
Canada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 |
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Gold medal match | ||||||||||||
F1 | Brazil | 2 | ||||||||||||
G2 | Norway | 1 | ||||||||||||
F1 | Brazil | 4 | ||||||||||||
F2 | Germany | 1 | ||||||||||||
E2 | Sweden | 0 | ||||||||||||
F2 | Germany | 2 | ||||||||||||
F1 | Brazil | 0 | ||||||||||||
G1 | United States | 1 | ||||||||||||
E1 | China | 0 | ||||||||||||
G3 | Japan | 2 | ||||||||||||
G3 | Japan | 2 | Bronze medal match | |||||||||||
G1 | United States | 4 | ||||||||||||
G1 | United States | 2 | F2 | Germany | 2 | |||||||||
E3 | Canada | 1 | G3 | Japan | 0 |
Brazil | 0–1 (a.e.t.) | United States |
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Report | Lloyd 96' |
There were 66 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2.54 goals per match.
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
3 assists
2 assists
1 assist
China PR won the FIFA Fair Play Award, given to the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament. Every match in the final competition is taken into account but only teams that reach the second stage of the competition are eligible for the Fair Play Award.
Pos | Team | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | China | 956 |
2 | Japan | 939 |
3 | United States | 930 |
4 | Germany | 913 |
5 | Sweden | 913 |
6 | Norway | 903 |
7 | Brazil | 896 |
8 | Canada | 892 |
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | G | United States | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 15 | Gold medal |
2 | F | Brazil | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | Silver medal |
3 | F | Germany | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 13 | Bronze medal |
4 | G | Japan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 7 | Fourth place |
5 | E | China (H) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 7 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
6 | E | Sweden | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 6 | |
7 | G | Norway | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 6 | |
8 | E | Canada | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 4 | |
9 | F | North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
10 | G | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 1 | |
11 | E | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 | |
11 | F | Nigeria | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |