Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's association football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and four other cities in the People's Republic of China from 6 to 21 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their full women's national teams.

2008 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
Tournament details
Host countryChina
Dates6–21 August
Teams12 (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 played26
Goals scored66 (2.54 per match)
Attendance740,014 (28,462 per match)
Top scorer(s)Brazil Cristiane (5 goals)
Fair play award China
2004
2012

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.[1][2]

Qualifying

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Countries of women's tournament

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
  • Note – The three best ranked European teams at the FIFA Women's World Cup qualified for the Olympics. However, the third best team England could not participate, because England competes at the Olympic Games as part of Great Britain, which does not compete in football. Therefore, the fourth European team would advance, requiring a play-off between Sweden and Denmark.

Venues

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The tournament was held in five venues across five cities:

Beijing Shanghai Tianjin
Location of host cities of the tournament.
Beijing Workers' Stadium Shanghai Stadium Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium
Capacity: 70,161 Capacity: 80,000 Capacity: 60,000
     
Shenyang Qinhuangdao
Shenyang Olympic Stadium Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium
Capacity: 60,000 Capacity: 33,000
   

Seeding

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Pot 1: Asia Pot 2: North America and Africa Pot 3: Europe Pot 4: South America and Oceania

Squads

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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.

Match officials

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Group stage

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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)

Group E

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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
Source: [3]
Argentina  1–2  Canada
Manicler   85' Report Chapman   27'
Lang   72'

China  2–1  Sweden
Xu Yuan   6'
Han Duan   72'
Report Schelin   38'

Sweden  1–0  Argentina
Fischer   57' Report

Canada  1–1  China
Sinclair   34' Report Xu Yuan   36'

China  2–0  Argentina
Quiñones   52' (o.g.)
Gu Yasha   90'
Report

Sweden  2–1  Canada
Schelin   19', 51' Report Tancredi   63'

Group F

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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
Source: [citation needed]
Germany  0–0  Brazil
Report
Attendance: 20,703
Referee: Kari Seitz (USA)

North Korea  1–0  Nigeria
Kim Kyong-hwa   27' Report

Nigeria  0–1  Germany
Report Stegemann   65'

Brazil  2–1  North Korea
Daniela   14'
Marta   23'
Report Ri Kum-suk   90'
Attendance: 19,616
Referee: Niu Huijun (China)

North Korea  0–1  Germany
Report Mittag   86'

Nigeria  1–3  Brazil
Nkwocha   19' (pen.) Report Cristiane   34', 35', 45+3'

Group G

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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
Source: [citation needed]
Japan  2–2  New Zealand
Miyama   72' (pen.)
Sawa   86'
Report Yallop   37'
Hearn   56' (pen.)

Norway  2–0  United States
Larsen Kaurin   2'
Wiik   4'
Report

United States  1–0  Japan
Lloyd   27' Report

New Zealand  0–1  Norway
Report Wiik   8'

Norway  1–5  Japan
Knutsen   27' Report Kinga   31'
Følstad   51' (o.g.)
Ohno   52'
Sawa   71'
Hara   83'

United States  4–0  New Zealand
O'Reilly   1'
Rodriguez   43'
Tarpley   56'
Hucles   60'
Report

Ranking of third-placed teams

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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
Source: [citation needed]

Knockout stage

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Quarterfinals Semifinals Gold medal match
         
F1   Brazil 2
G2   Norway 1
F1   Brazil 4
F2   Germany 1
E2   Sweden 0
F2   Germany (a.e.t.) 2
F1   Brazil 0
G1   United States (a.e.t.) 1
E1   China 0
G3   Japan 2
G3   Japan 2 Bronze medal match
G1   United States 4
G1   United States (a.e.t.) 2 F2   Germany 2
E3   Canada 1 G3   Japan 0

Quarter-finals

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United States  2–1 (a.e.t.)  Canada
Hucles   12'
Kai   101'
Report Sinclair   30'
Attendance: 26,129

Brazil  2–1  Norway
Daniela   43'
Marta   57'
Report Nordby   83' (pen.)

Sweden  0–2 (a.e.t.)  Germany
Report Garefrekes   104'
Laudehr   115'

China  0–2  Japan
Report Sawa   15'
Nagasato   80'

Semi-finals

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Brazil  4–1  Germany
Formiga   43'
Cristiane   49', 76'
Marta   53'
Report Prinz   10'

Japan  2–4  United States
Ohno   16'
Arakawa   90+3'
Report Hucles   41', 80'
Chalupny   44'
O'Reilly   70'

Bronze medal match

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  Germany  2–0  Japan
Bajramaj   68', 87' Report

Gold medal match

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  Brazil  0–1 (a.e.t.)  United States  
Report Lloyd   96'

Statistics

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Goalscorers

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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

Source: FIFA[4]

Assists

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3 assists

2 assists

1 assist

Source: FIFA[4]

FIFA Fair Play Award

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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.[4]

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

Tournament ranking

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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
Source: FIFA[4][5]
(H) Hosts

References

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  1. ^ Homewood, Brian (22 August 2008). "U.S. retain gold against Brazil in women's soccer". In.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  2. ^ Homewood, Brian (19 August 2008). "Brazil seek first major title in women's soccer". Reuters. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  3. ^ "2008 Summer Olympics Soccer Results - Beijing, China - ESPN". www.espn.com. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d "Report and Statistics – Men's and Women's Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008" (PDF). FIFA. Zürich. 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Women's Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016: Statistical Kit" (PDF). FIFA. 14 July 2016. p. 28. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
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