Football_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament
Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
International football competition
The 1996 Men's Olympic Football Tournament, played as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics, was hosted in Birmingham, Alabama, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Florida, Miami, Florida and Athens, Georgia.[1][2][3][4] From 1992 onwards, male competitors should be under 23 years old and starting from this tournament, a maximum of three over-23 players are allowed per squad. The tournament featured 16 national teams from the six continental confederations. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four and each group played a round-robin tournament. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage, beginning with the quarter-finals and culminating with the gold medal match at Sanford Stadium on August 3, 1996.[5]
Quick Facts Tournament details, Host country ...
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | July 20 – August 3 |
| Teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 5 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Nigeria (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Argentina |
| Third place |  Brazil |
| Fourth place |  Portugal |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 90 (2.81 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Bebeto Hernán Crespo (6 goals each) |
← 1992 2000 → | |
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The match schedule of the tournament.[6]
| G | Group stage | ¼ | Quarterfinals | ½ | Semifinals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Gold medal match |
More information 20 Sat, 21 Sun ...
| 20 Sat | 21 Sun | 22 Mon | 23 Tue | 24 Wed | 25 Thu | 26 Fri | 27 Sat | 28 Sun | 29 Lun | 30 Tue | 31 Wed | 1 Thu | 2 Fri | 3 Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | G | G | G | G | G | ¼ | ¼ | ½ | ½ | B | F |
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More information Orlando, Birmingham ...
| Orlando | Birmingham | Miami | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citrus Bowl | Legion Field | Orange Bowl | |||
| Capacity: 65,000 | Capacity: 81,700 | Capacity: 74,476 | |||
| Athens | Washington, D.C. | ||||
| Sanford Stadium | Robert F. Kennedy Stadium | ||||
| Capacity: 86,100 | Capacity: 56,500 | ||||
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The following 16 teams qualified for the 1996 Olympic men's football tournament:
More information Means of qualification, Berths ...
| Means of qualification | Berths | Qualified |
|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 |  United States |
| 1996 CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | 1 |  Mexico (winner) |
| 1996 AFC Preliminary Competition | 3 |  South Korea (winner) Japan (runner-up) Saudi Arabia (third-place) |
| 1996 CAF Preliminary Competition | 3 |  Ghana Tunisia Nigeria |
| 1996 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament | 2 | Brazil (winner) Argentina (runner-up) |
| CONCACAF–OFC play-off | 1 |  Australia |
| 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship | 5 |  Italy (winner) Spain (runner-up) France (third-place) Hungary (5th) Portugal (6th) |
| Total | 16 |
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More information Confederation, Referee ...
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The draw for the tournament took place on 5 May 1996. United States, Spain, Ghana and Brazil were seeded for the draw and placed into groups A–D, respectively. The remaining teams, excluding Europe, were drawn from four pots away from teams from the same region.
More information Pot 1: Host, Top-Seeded teams from Africa, Europe and South America, Pot 2: Asia, Non-top seeded team from South America ...
| Pot 1: Host, Top-Seeded teams from Africa, Europe and South America | Pot 2: Asia, Non-top seeded team from South America | Pot 3: Non-top seeded teams from Europe | Pot 4: Non-top seeded teams from Africa and North America, Inter-continental playoff winner |
|---|---|---|---|
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1 1996 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament Champions, team not determined at time of draw.
2 CONCACAF–OFC play-off winner, team not determined at time of draw.
Main article: Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads
Group A
More information Team, Pld ...
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 |
| Portugal |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 |
| United States |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Tunisia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 1 |
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Source: FIFA
More information United States, 1–3 ...
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More information United States, 2–0 ...
| United States | 2–0 | Tunisia |
|---|---|---|
Kirovski  38'Maisonneuve 90' |
Report |
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More information United States, 1–1 ...
| United States | 1–1 | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
| Maisonneuve 75' |
Report | Paulo Alves 33' |
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Group B
More information Team, Pld ...
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 |
| Spain |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 |
| Australia |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 |
| Saudi Arabia |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 |
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Source: FIFA
More information Australia, 2–1 ...
| Australia | 2–1 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Tsekenis 11' Viduka 63' |
Report | Al-Khilaiwi 37' |
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More information Spain, 3–2 ...
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More information France, 2–1 ...
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Group C
More information Team, Pld ...
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 |
| Ghana |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| South Korea |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Italy |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 |
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Source: FIFA
More information Ghana, 3–2 ...
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Group D
More information Team, Pld ...
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 |
| Nigeria |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 |
| Japan |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| Hungary |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 0 |
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Source: FIFA
More information Brazil, 3–1 ...
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More information Japan, 3–2 ...
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| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | ||||||||
| July 27 – Miami | ||||||||||
| Portugal (asdet) | 2 | |||||||||
| July 30 – Athens | ||||||||||
| France | 1 | |||||||||
| Portugal | 0 | |||||||||
| July 27 – Birmingham | ||||||||||
| Argentina | 2 | |||||||||
| Argentina | 4 | |||||||||
| August 3 – Athens | ||||||||||
| Spain | 0 | |||||||||
| Argentina | 2 | |||||||||
| July 28 – Birmingham | ||||||||||
| Nigeria | 3 | |||||||||
| Mexico | 0 | |||||||||
| July 31 – Athens | ||||||||||
| Nigeria | 2 | |||||||||
| Nigeria (asdet) | 4 | |||||||||
| July 28 – Miami | ||||||||||
| Brazil | 3 | Bronze medal match | ||||||||
| Brazil | 4 | |||||||||
| August 2 – Athens | ||||||||||
| Ghana | 2 | |||||||||
| Portugal | 0 | |||||||||
| Brazil | 5 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
More information Portugal, 2–1 (asdet) ...
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More information Argentina, 4–0 ...
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More information Brazil, 4–2 ...
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Semi-finals
More information Nigeria, 4–3 (asdet) ...
| Nigeria | 4–3 (asdet) | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Roberto Carlos 20' (o.g.) Ikpeba 78'Kanu 90',  94' |
Report | Flávio 1', 38' Bebeto 28' |
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Bronze medal match
More information Brazil, 5–0 ...
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Gold medal match
More information Nigeria, 3–2 ...
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1996 Summer Olympics Football Final
Team details
      Nigeria
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   Argentina
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More information Pos, Team ...
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Nigeria (NGR) |
6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 15 |
| 2 |  Argentina (ARG) |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 11 |
| 3 | Brazil (BRA) |
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 12 |
| 4 |  Portugal (POR) |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 8 |
| 5 |  France (FRA) |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 7 |
| 6 |  Spain (ESP) |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 7 |
| 7 |  Mexico (MEX) |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 5 |
| 8 |  Ghana (GHA) |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 4 |
| 9 | Japan (JPN) |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| 10 |  United States (USA) |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 |  South Korea (KOR) |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 12 |  Italy (ITA) |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 |
| 13 |  Australia (AUS) |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 |
| 14 |  Tunisia (TUN) |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 1 |
| 15 |  Saudi Arabia (KSA) |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 |
| 16 |  Hungary (HUN) |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 0 |
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Source: FIFA
With six goals, Hernán Crespo of Argentina and Bebeto of Brazil are the top scorers of the tournament. In total, 90 goals were scored by 55 different players, with four of them credited as own goals.
- 6 goals
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
Diego Simeone- Gustavo Adrián López
Mark Viduka- Peter Tsekenis
Juninho Paulista
Antoine Sibierski- Robert Pires
- Sylvain Legwinski
Augustine Ahinful- Charles Akonnor
- Ebenezer Hagan
- Felix Aboagye
Tamás Sándor
Kenichi Uemura- Teruyoshi Ito
Francisco Palencia- José Manuel Abundis
Daniel Amokachi- Emmanuel Amunike
- Victor Ikpeba
Nuno Capucho- Nuno Gomes
- José Calado
- Paulo Alves
Fuad Anwar Amin- Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi
Lee Ki-hyung- Yoon Jong-hwan
Santi
Mohamed Mkacher
Claudio Reyna- Jovan Kirovski
- Own goals
- Roberto Carlos (playing against Nigeria)
- Afo Dodoo (playing against Brazil)
Tadahiro Akiba (playing against Nigeria)- Agustín Aranzábal (playing against Argentina)
,_Sanford_Stadium,_September_2007.jpg){kind=link}
- "The inside story of Nigeria's Atlanta '96 gold medal – SuperSport – Football". SuperSport. July 25, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
- Penner, Mike (August 1, 1996). "Defense Rests for a Stunned Brazil – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
- Penner, Mike (August 4, 1996). "Nigeria's Eagles Catch Argentina in Its Own Trap – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
- "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
- "Football at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
- "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics (Men's tournament).
- Olympic Football Tournaments Atlanta 1996 – Men, FIFA.com
- RSSSF Summary
- FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3) and (Part 4)