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Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
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| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| tourney_name | Men's Olympic Football Tournament |
| year | 2008 |
| image | Olympic rings without rims.svg |
| size | 150px |
| country | China |
| dates | 7–23 August |
| num_teams | 16 |
| confederations | 6 |
| venues | 6 |
| cities | 5 |
| champion_other | |
| count | 2 |
| second_other | |
| third_other | |
| fourth_other | |
| matches | 32 |
| goals | 75 |
| attendance | 1404254 |
| top_scorer | ITA Giuseppe Rossi |
| (4 goals) | |
| prevseason | 2004 |
| nextseason | 2012 |
(4 goals)
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.
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". Juan Román Riquelme and Javier Mascherano also received special mentions.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee may enter one men's team in football competitions. Main article: Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification
| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Berths | Qualified | Total | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 | |||||
| AFC Preliminary Competition | February – November 2007 | – | 3 | |||
| CAF Preliminary Competition | September 2006 – March 2008 | – | 3 | |||
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | August 2007 – March 2008 | 2 | ||||
| 2007 South American Youth Championship | 7–28 January 2007 | 2 | ||||
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 1–9 March 2008 | 1 | ||||
| 2007 UEFA U-21 Championship | 10–23 June 2007 | 4 |
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 map+ | China | float=center | width=370 | places= | Chaoyang | Xuhui | Shenyang | Tianjin | Qinhuangdao | Hunnan | Nankai | Haigang |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing National Stadium | Workers' Stadium | Shanghai Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Capacity: 91,000 | Capacity: 70,161 | Capacity: 80,000 | ||||||||||||
| [[File:Beijing China Beijing-National-Stadium-01.jpg | 175x175px]] | [[File:Workers Stadium 2008.jpg | 163x163px]] | [[File:Shanghai Stadium 2008.JPG | 163x163px]] | |||||||||
| Shenyang Olympic Stadium | Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium | Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | ||||||||||||
| [[File:Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium drone view 2.jpg | 170x170px]] | [[File:Tianjin_Olympic_Center_Stadium.jpg | 165x165px]] | [[File:秦皇岛奥体中心（尼日利亚—科特迪瓦） - panoramio.jpg | 168x168px]] |
Squads
Main article: Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's team 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. A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) had to be included in the squad.
Match officials
On 22 April 2008, FIFA released the list of match referees that will officiate at the Olympics.
| 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
Acosta
Rakić Rajković Kalou Gervinho
Buonanotte
Group B
Anichebe Altidore Sibon
Group C
Pato Ronaldinho Sóbis Mirallas
Thiago Neves
Group D
Rossi Acquafresca
Rocchi Montolivo
Knockout stage
| RD1-seed1=B1 | RD1-team1=**** | RD1-score1=2 | RD1-seed2=A2 | RD1-team2= | RD1-score2=0 | RD1-seed3=D1 | RD1-team3= | RD1-score3=2 | RD1-seed4=C2 | RD1-team4=**** | RD1-score4=3 | RD1-seed5=A1 | RD1-team5= | RD1-score5=2 | RD1-seed6=B2 | RD1-team6= | RD1-score6=1 | RD1-seed7=C1 | RD1-team7=**** | RD1-score7=2 | RD1-seed8=D2 | RD1-team8= | RD1-score8=0
| RD2-seed1=B1 | RD2-team1=**** | RD2-score1=4 | RD2-seed2=C2 | RD2-team2= | RD2-score2=1 | RD2-seed3=A1 | RD2-team3= | RD2-score3=3 | RD2-seed4=C1 | RD2-team4= | RD2-score4=0
| RD3-seed1=B1 | RD3-team1= | RD3-score1=0 | RD3-seed2=A1 | RD3-team2= | RD3-score2=1 | RD3-seed3=C2 | RD3-team3= | RD3-score3=0 | RD3-seed4=C1 | RD3-team4=**** | RD3-score4=3
Quarter-finals
Marcelo
Mirallas
Di María
Obinna
Semi-finals
Obasi Okonkwo
Riquelme
Bronze medal match
Jô
Gold medal match
Main article: Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament final
Source for cards:
| Nigeria Samson Siasia |
|---|
| ARG Sergio Batista |
|---|
|}
Final ranking
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
- ITA Giuseppe Rossi
;3 goals
- BEL Mousa Dembélé
- NGA Victor Obinna
;2 goals
- ARG Sergio Agüero
- ARG Ángel Di María
- ARG Ezequiel Lavezzi
- ARG Lionel Messi
- BEL Kevin Mirallas
- BRA Diego
- BRA Jô
- BRA Thiago Neves
- BRA Ronaldinho
- BRA Rafael Sóbis
- CIV Sekou Cissé
- CIV Salomon Kalou
- NED Gerald Sibon
- NGA Chinedu Obasi
- USA Sacha Kljestan
;1 goal
- ARG Lautaro Acosta
- ARG Diego Buonanotte
- ARG Juan Román Riquelme
- AUS Ruben Zadkovich
- BEL Laurent Ciman
- BEL Faris Haroun
- BRA Anderson
- BRA Hernanes
- BRA Marcelo
- BRA Alexandre Pato
- CMR Georges Mandjeck
- CMR Stéphane Mbia
- CHN Dong Fangzhuo
- ITA Robert Acquafresca
- ITA Sebastian Giovinco
- ITA Riccardo Montolivo
- ITA Tommaso Rocchi
- CIV Gervinho
- JPN Yohei Toyoda
- KOR Kim Dong-jin
- KOR Park Chu-young
- NED Ryan Babel
- NED Otman Bakkal
- NZL Jeremy Brockie
- NGA Olubayo Adefemi
- NGA Victor Anichebe
- NGA Peter Odemwingie
- NGA Chibuzor Okonkwo
- NGA Isaac Promise
- SRB Miljan Mrdaković
- SRB Slobodan Rajković
- SRB Đorđe Rakić
- USA Jozy Altidore
- USA Stuart Holden
;Own goals
- SRB Slobodan Rajković (playing against Ivory Coast)
References
References
- "Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008". FIFA.
- (23 August 2020). "Messi and Argentina grab gold in Beijing". FIFA.
- [https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/regulations%5folympics%5fbeijing%5f2008%5fen%5f6198.pdf Regulations of the Olympic Football Tournaments] {{webarchive. link. (27 February 2008)
- (22 April 2008). "List of Referees & Assistant Referees appointed for the Olympic Football Tournaments Beijing 2008 – (Men's tournament)". FIFA.
- "2008 Summer Olympics Soccer Results - Beijing, China - ESPN".
- "Torneo Olímpico de Fútbol • 23 Aug 2008 • 01:00 • National Stadium (Bird's Nest)". FIFA.
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