Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

2008 Men's Olympic football tournament

Tournament details
Host country	China
Dates	7 August - 23 August
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Argentina (2nd title)
Runner-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)

Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Tournament
men  women
Squads
men  women

The men'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 7 August to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to enter their men's U-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 three players over the age of 23.

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.

Contents 1 Qualifying criteria 2 Squads 3 Officials 4 Preliminaries 4.1 Group A 4.2 Group B 4.3 Group C 4.4 Group D 5 Stage 2 5.1 Quarterfinals 5.2 Semifinals 5.3 Bronze medal match 5.4 Gold medal match 6 Medalists 7 Statistics 7.1 Goalscorers 8 References 9 External links

Qualifying criteria

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

Competition	Date	Venue	Berths	Qualified
Host Nation			1	China PR
AFC Preliminary Competition	Feb 2006 - Nov 2007	-	3	Australia  Korea Republic  Japan
CAF Preliminary Competition	Sep 2006 - Mar 2008	-	3	Cameroon  Côte d'Ivoire  Nigeria
CONCACAF Preliminary Competition	Aug 2007 - Mar 2008	United States	2	Honduras  United States
2007 South American Youth Championship	January 7-28, 2007	Paraguay	2	Brazil  Argentina
OFC Preliminary Competition	March 1-9, 2008	Fiji	1	New Zealand
2007 UEFA U-21 Championship	June 10-23, 2007	Netherlands	4	Netherlands  Serbia  Belgium  Italy
TOTAL			16

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]

Officials

Referee Assistants AFC Khalil Al Ghamdi Mohammed Al Ghamdi Hamdi Al Kadrie Abdullah Al Hilali Khaled Al Allan Saleh Al Marzouqi Masoud Moradi Hassan Kamranifar Luay Subhi Adib CAF Jerome Damon Tshotleno Molefe Celestin Ntangungira Badara Diatta Evarist Menkouande Bachir Hassani CONCACAF Roberto Moreno Salazar Daniel Williamson Hairo Fuentes Batista Jair Marrufo Ricardo Morgan Kermit Quisenberry

Referee Assistants CONMEBOL Héctor Baldassi Ricardo Casas Hernán Maidana Pablo Pozo Julio Díaz Lobe Patricio Basualto Vargas Martín Vázquez Mauricio Espinosa Rodríguez Miguel Ángel Nievas Acosta OFC Michael Hester Tevita Makasini Michael Joseph UEFA Thomas Einwaller Roland Heim Norbert Schwab Viktor Kassai Gábor Erős Tibor Vámos Stéphane Lannoy Eric Dansault Frederic Cano Damir Skomina Primoz Arhar Marco Stancin Wolfgang Stark Volker Wezel Jan-Hendrik Salver

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

Preliminaries

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
Côte d'Ivoire	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
Australia	3	0	1	2	1	3	−2	1
Serbia	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1

2008-08-07 17:00	Australia	1 – 1	Serbia	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 36,184 Referee: Jerome Damon (South Africa)
	Zadkovich  69'	(Report)	Rajković  78'

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2008-08-07 19:45	Côte d'Ivoire	1 – 2	Argentina	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 43,266 Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)
	Cissé  53'	(Report)	Messi  43' Acosta  86'

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2008-08-10 17:00	Argentina	1 – 0	Australia	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 38,182 Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)
	Lavezzi  76'	(Report)

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2008-08-10 19:45	Serbia	2 – 4	Côte d'Ivoire	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 38,320 Referee: Roberto Moreno Salazar (Panama)
	Mrdaković  16' Rakić  90'	(Report)	Cissé  3' Rajković  24' (o.g.) Kalou  70' Gervinho  90+3'

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2008-08-13 19:45	Côte d'Ivoire	1 – 0	Australia	Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Attendance: 50,437 Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)
	Kalou  81'	(Report)

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2008-08-13 19:45	Argentina	2 – 0	Serbia	Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing Attendance: 53,668 Referee: Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman)
	Lavezzi  13' (pen.) Buonanotte  84'	(Report)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nigeria	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Netherlands	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
United States	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Japan	3	0	0	3	1	4	−3	0

2008-08-07 17:00	Japan	0 – 1	United States	Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Attendance: 57,102 Referee: Badara Diatta (Senegal)
		(Report)	Holden  47'

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2008-08-07 19:45	Netherlands	0 – 0	Nigeria	Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Attendance: 52,390 Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)
		(Report)

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2008-08-10 17:00	Nigeria	2 – 1	Japan	Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Attendance: 42,592 Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
	Obinna  58' Anichebe  74'	(Report)	Toyoda  79'

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2008-08-10 19:45	United States	2 – 2	Netherlands	Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Attendance: 45,016 Referee: Michael Hester (New Zealand)
	Kljestan  64' Altidore  72'	(Report)	Babel  16' Sibon  90+3'

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2008-08-13 17:00	Netherlands	1 – 0	Japan	Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Attendance: 38,790 Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)
	Sibon  73' (pen.)	(Report)

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2008-08-13 17:00	Nigeria	2 – 1	United States	Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing Attendance: 48,096 Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)
	Isaac  39' Obinna  79'	(Report)	Kljestan  88' (pen.)

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	9	0	+9	9
Belgium	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	6
China PR	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1
New Zealand	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

2008-08-07 17:00	Brazil	1 – 0	Belgium	Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Attendance: 39,661 Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
	Hernanes  79'	(Report)

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2008-08-07 19:45	China PR	1 – 1	New Zealand	Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Attendance: 41,407 Referee: Martín Vázquez (Uruguay)
	Dong  88'	(Report)	Brockie  53'

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2008-08-10 17:00	New Zealand	0 – 5	Brazil	Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Attendance: 44,951 Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (France)
		(Report)	Anderson  3' Pato  33' Ronaldinho  55'  61' (pen.) Sóbis  90+3'

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2008-08-10 19:45	Belgium	2 – 0	China PR	Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Attendance: 45,756 Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)
	Dembélé  8' Mirallas  80'	(Report)

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2008-08-13 19:45	China PR	0 – 3	Brazil	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Attendance: 38,790 Referee: Jerome Damon (South Africa)
		(Report)	Diego  18' Thiago Neves  69'  73'

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2008-08-13 19:45	New Zealand	0 – 1	Belgium	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 45,202 Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)
		(Report)	Haroun  35'

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	3	2	1	0	6	0	+6	7
Cameroon	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Korea Republic	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	4
Honduras	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5	0

2008-08-07 17:00	Honduras	0 – 3	Italy	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Attendance: 21,680 Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
		(Report)	Giovinco  41' Rossi  45' (pen.) Acquafresca  52' (pen.)

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2008-08-07 19:45	Korea Republic	1 – 1	Cameroon	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Attendance: 21,943 Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)
	Park Chu-Young  68'	(Report)	Mandjeck  81'

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2008-08-10 17:00	Cameroon	1 – 0	Honduras	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Attendance: 28,657 Referee: Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman)
	Mbia  74'	(Report)

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2008-08-10 19:45	Italy	3 – 0	Korea Republic	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Attendance: 29,455 Referee: Thomas Einwaller (Austria)
	Rossi  15' Rocchi  32' Montolivo  90'	(Report)

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2008-08-13 17:00	Korea Republic	1 – 0	Honduras	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 34,160 Referee: Michael Hester (New Zealand)
	Kim Dong-Jin  23'	(Report)

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2008-08-13 17:00	Cameroon	0 – 0	Italy	Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Attendance: 47,307 Referee: Martín Vázquez (Uruguay)
		(Report)

Stage 2

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Gold Medal Match

B1

Nigeria

2

A2

Côte d'Ivoire

0

Q4

Nigeria

4

Q2

Belgium

1

D1

Italy

2

C2

Belgium

3

S1W

Nigeria

0

S2W

Argentina

1

A1

Argentina

2

B2

Netherlands

1

Q3

Argentina

3

Bronze Medal Match

Q1

Brazil

0

C1

Brazil

2

S1L

Belgium

0

D2

Cameroon

0

S2L

Brazil

3

Quarterfinals

2008-08-16 18:00	Brazil	2 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Cameroon	Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Attendance: 41,043 Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
	Sóbis  101' Marcelo  105'	(Report)

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2008-08-16 18:00	Italy	2 – 3	Belgium	Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing Attendance: 50,802 Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)
	Rossi  18' (pen.)  74' (pen.)	(Report)	Dembélé  23'  79' Mirallas  45+2'

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2008-08-16 21:00	Argentina	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 51,366 Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)
	Messi  14' Di María  105'	(Report)	Bakkal  36'

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2008-08-16 21:00	Nigeria	2 – 0	Côte d'Ivoire	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Qinhuangdao Attendance: 28,944 Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
	Odemwingie  44' Obinna  82' (pen.)	(Report)

Semifinals

2008-08-19 18:00	Nigeria	4 – 1	Belgium	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 56,312 Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)
	Adefemi  17' Obasi  59'  72' Okonkwo  78'	(Report)	Ciman  88'

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2008-08-19 21:00	Argentina	3 – 0	Brazil	Beijing Workers' Stadium, Beijing Attendance: 52,968 Referee: Martín Vázquez (Uruguay)
	Agüero  52'  58' Riquelme  76' (pen.)	(Report)

Bronze medal match

2008-08-22 19:00	Belgium	0 – 3	Brazil	Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Attendance: 50,705 Referee: Thomas Einwaller (Austria)
		(Report)	Diego  27' Jô  45'  90+2'

Gold medal match

2008-08-23 12:00	Nigeria	0 – 1	Argentina	National Stadium, Beijing Attendance: 89,102 Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)
		(Report)	Di María  58'

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's football	Argentina	Nigeria	Brazil

Statistics

Goalscorers

4 goals Giuseppe Rossi 3 goals Moussa Dembélé Victor Nsofor Obinna 2 goals Sergio Agüero Ángel Di María Ezequiel Lavezzi Lionel Messi Kevin Mirallas Diego Jô Thiago Neves Ronaldinho Rafael Sóbis Sekou Cissé Salomon Kalou Gerald Sibon Chinedu Obasi

2 goals (cont.) Sacha Kljestan 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 Gervinho Robert Acquafresca Sebastian Giovinco Riccardo Montolivo

1 goal (cont.) Tommaso Rocchi Yohei Toyoda Kim Dong-Jin Park Chu-Young Ryan Babel Otman Bakkal Jeremy Brockie Olubayo Adefemi Victor Anichebe Promise Isaac Peter Odemwingie Chibuzor Okonkwo Miljan Mrdaković Slobodan Rajković Đorđe Rakić Jozy Altidore Stuart Holden Own goals Slobodan Rajković (playing against Côte d'Ivoire)

References

• "Sports Competition Schedule". BOCOG. 2006-04-17. http://en.beijing2008.com/71/67/column211716771.shtml. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
• "Athletics". (Sports). International Olympic Committee. 2006. http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/programme/disciplines_uk.asp?DiscCode=FB. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
• "Programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008" (pdf). International Olympic Committee. http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1056.pdf. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 

External links

• Federation Internationale de Football Association
• RSSSF