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)Italy 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

edit
 
Countries of men's tournament

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

edit

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 host cities of the tournament.
Beijing National Stadium Beijing Workers' Stadium Shanghai Stadium
Capacity: 91,000 Capacity: 65,094 Capacity: 72,000
     
Tianjin Shenyang Qinhuangdao
Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium Shenyang Olympic Stadium Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium
Capacity: 54,696 Capacity: 60,000 Capacity: 33,000
     

Squads

edit

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.[3] A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) had to be included in the squad.[3]

Match officials

edit

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

edit

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

edit

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

Group A

edit
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: [5]
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

edit
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: [citation needed]
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

edit
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
Source: [citation needed]
(H) Hosts
Brazil  1–0  Belgium
Hernanes   79' Report
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'
Belgium  2–0  China
Dembélé   8'
Mirallas   80'
Report

China  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

edit
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: [citation needed]
Honduras  0–3  Italy
Report Giovinco   41'
Rossi   45' (pen.)
Acquafresca   52' (pen.)
South Korea  1–1  Cameroon
Park Chu-young   68' Report Mandjeck   81'

Cameroon  1–0  Honduras
Mbia   74' Report
Italy  3–0  South Korea
Rossi   15'
Rocchi   32'
Montolivo   90'
Report

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

Knockout stage

edit
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 (aet) 2
B2   Netherlands 1
A1   Argentina 3 Bronze medal match
C1   Brazil 0
C1   Brazil (aet) 2 C2   Belgium 0
D2   Cameroon 0 C1   Brazil 3

Quarter-finals

edit
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

edit
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

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

Gold medal match

edit
Nigeria  0–1  Argentina
Report Di María   58'

Source for cards:[6]

Team details

Final ranking

edit
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: IOC

Statistics

edit

Goalscorers

edit

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

edit
  1. ^ "Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008". FIFA. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Messi and Argentina grab gold in Beijing". FIFA. 23 August 2020. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b Regulations of the Olympic Football Tournaments Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "List of Referees & Assistant Referees appointed for the Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008 – (Men's tournament)" (PDF). FIFA. 22 April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  5. ^ "2008 Summer Olympics Soccer Results - Beijing, China - ESPN". www.espn.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Torneo Olímpico de Fútbol • 23 Aug 2008 • 01:00 • National Stadium (Bird's Nest)". FIFA (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
edit