Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
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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.
| |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | China |
| Dates | 7–23 August |
| Teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue | 6 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Argentina (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |  Nigeria |
| Third place |  Brazil |
| Fourth place |  Belgium |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 75 (2.34 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,404,254 (43,883 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Giuseppe Rossi(4 goals) |
← 2004 2012 → | |
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 1–0 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).
Despite the absence of an official best player award, the FIFA website highlighted Lionel Messi's campaign by stating that he "posed defenders more problems than anyone else in the tournament".[1] Juan Román Riquelme and Javier Mascherano also received special mentions.[2]
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee may enter one men's team in football competitions.
| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Berths | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 |  China | ||
| AFC Preliminary Competition | February – November 2007 | – | 3 |  Australia Japan South Korea |
| CAF Preliminary Competition | September 2006 – March 2008 | – | 3 |  Cameroon Ivory Coast Nigeria |
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | August 2007 – March 2008 |  United States | 2 |  Honduras United States |
| 2007 South American Youth Championship | 7–28 January 2007 |  Paraguay | 2 | Brazil Argentina |
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 1–9 March 2008 |  Fiji | 1 |  New Zealand |
| 2007 UEFA U-21 Championship | 10–23 June 2007 |  Netherlands | 4 | Netherlands Serbia Belgium Italy |
| Total | 16 | |||
Venues
Six venues were used during the tournament, four of them outside of Beijing at cities around China. Beijing National Stadium hosted the final.
| Beijing | Shanghai | Location of the host cities of the men's football tournament of the 2008 Summer Olympics. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chaoyang | Xuhui | ||
| Beijing National Stadium | Workers' Stadium | Shanghai Stadium | |
| Capacity: 91,000 | Capacity: 70,161 | Capacity: 80,000 | |
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 |
 | |
| Shenyang | Tianjin | Qinhuangdao | |
| Hunnan | Nankai | Haigang | |
| Shenyang Olympic Stadium | Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium | Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium | |
| Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | |
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 |
 | |
Squads
Match officials
On 22 April 2008, FIFA released the list of match referees that will officiate at the Olympics.[4]
| 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).
Seeding
The draw for the tournament took place on 20 April 2008. Argentina, the Netherlands, China and Cameroon were seeded for the draw and placed into groups A–D, respectively. The remaining teams were drawn from four pots with teams from the same region kept apart.
| Pot 1: Asia | Pot 2: Africa and Oceania | Pot 3: Europe | Pot 4: Americas |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
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 |
| Ivory Coast | 1–0 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
Kalou  81' |
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 |
| Japan | 0–1 | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Holden 47' |
| Netherlands | 0–0 | Nigeria |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| United States | 2–2 | Netherlands |
|---|---|---|
| Kljestan 64' Altidore 72' |
Report | Babel 16' Sibon 90+3' |
| Netherlands | 1–0 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Sibon 73' (pen.) |
Report |
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 (H) |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 | |
| 4 | New Zealand |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 |
| China | 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' |
| China | 0–3 | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Diego 18' Thiago Neves 69', 73' |
| New Zealand | 0–1 | Belgium |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Haroun 35' |
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 |
| South Korea | 1–1 | Cameroon |
|---|---|---|
| Park Chu-young 68' |
Report | Mandjeck 81' |
| South Korea | 1–0 | Honduras |
|---|---|---|
| Kim Dong-jin 23' |
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
| Nigeria | 2–0 | Ivory Coast |
|---|---|---|
| Odemwingie 44' Obinna 82' (pen.) |
Report |
Semi-finals
Bronze medal match
Gold medal match
Source for cards:[6]
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Final ranking
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Argentina |
6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 18 |
| 2 | Nigeria |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 13 |
| 3 | Brazil |
6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 15 |
| 4 | Belgium |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 9 |
| 5 | Italy |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 7 |
| 6 | Ivory Coast |
4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 | Netherlands |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Cameroon |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 5 |
| 9 | United States |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 |  South Korea |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 |
| 11 |  Australia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |
| 12 | Serbia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 |
| 13 | China |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 |
| 14 | New Zealand |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 |
| 15 | Japan |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 |
| 16 | Honduras |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 |
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
Lautaro Acosta- Diego Buonanotte
- Juan Román Riquelme
Ruben Zadkovich
Laurent Ciman- Faris Haroun
Anderson- Hernanes
- Marcelo
- Alexandre Pato
Georges Mandjeck- Stéphane Mbia
Dong Fangzhuo
Robert Acquafresca- Sebastian Giovinco
- Riccardo Montolivo
- Tommaso Rocchi
Gervinho
Yohei Toyoda
Kim Dong-jin- Park Chu-young
Ryan Babel- Otman Bakkal
Jeremy Brockie
Olubayo Adefemi- Victor Anichebe
- Peter Odemwingie
- Chibuzor Okonkwo
- Isaac Promise
Miljan Mrdaković- Slobodan Rajković
- Đorđe Rakić
Jozy Altidore- Stuart Holden
- Own goals
- Slobodan Rajković (playing against Ivory Coast)
