Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

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, with three over-23 players 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]

1996 Men's Olympic Football Tournament
Tournament details
Host countryUnited States
DatesJuly 20 – August 3
Teams16 (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 played32
Goals scored90 (2.81 per match)
Top scorer(s) Bebeto
Hernán Crespo
(6 goals each)

Venues
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

Qualification

The following 16 teams qualified for the 1996 Olympic men's football tournament:

Means of qualificationBerthsQualified
Host nation1 United States
AFC Preliminary Competition3 South Korea (winner)
 Japan (runner-up)
 Saudi Arabia (third-place)
CAF Preliminary Competition3 Ghana
 Tunisia
 Nigeria
CONCACAF Preliminary Competition1 Mexico (winner)
1996 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament2 Brazil (winner)
 Argentina (runner-up)
OFC Preliminary Competition1 Australia
1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship5 Italy (winner)
 Spain (runner-up)
 France (third-place)
 Hungary (5th)
 Portugal (6th)
Total16

Match officials

Squads
Main article: Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads

Group stage

Group A
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
Source:
Portugal 2–0 Tunisia
Martins  13',  68' Report
Attendance: 34,796
Referee: Pereira (BRA)
United States 1–3 Argentina
Reyna  1' Report G. López  26'
Crespo  55'
Simeone  90'
Attendance: 83,183
Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)
Argentina 1–1 Portugal
Ortega  45' Report Nuno Gomes  70'
Attendance: 25,811
Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)
United States 2–0 Tunisia
Kirovski  38'
Maisonneuve  90'		 Report
Attendance: 45,687
Referee: Dallas (GBR)
Argentina 1–1 Tunisia
Ortega  5' Report Mkacher  74'
Attendance: 16,826
Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)
United States 1–1 Portugal
Maisonneuve  75' Report Paulo Alves  33'
Attendance: 58,012
Referee: Lennie (AUS)

Group B
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
Source:
Spain 1–0 Saudi Arabia
Óscar  80' Report
Attendance: 28,774
Referee: Collina (ITA)
France 2–0 Australia
Pires  11'
Maurice  74'		 Report
Attendance: 14,322
Referee: Ruscio (ARG)
France 1–1 Spain
Legwinski  38' Report Óscar  80'
Attendance: 16,773
Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)
Australia 2–1 Saudi Arabia
Tsekenis  11'
Viduka  63'		 Report Al-Khilaiwi  37'
Attendance: 5,997
Referee: Baharmast (USA)
Spain 3–2 Australia
Raúl  40',  90'
Santi  86'		 Report Vidmar  3',  12'
Attendance: 12,050
Referee: Dallas (GBR)
France 2–1 Saudi Arabia
Maurice  20' (pen.)
Sibierski  49'		 Report Anwar  26'
Attendance: 4,615
Referee: Archundia (MEX)

Group C
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
Source:
South Korea 1–0 Ghana
Yoon Jong-hwan  41' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 45,946
Referee: Lennie (AUS)
Mexico 1–0 Italy
Palencia  83' Report
Attendance: 44,211
Referee: Dallas (GBR)
Mexico 0–0 South Korea
Report
Attendance: 26,111
Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)
Ghana 3–2 Italy
Sabah  15',  74'
Ahinful  63' (pen.)		 Report Branca  8',  44' (pen.)
Attendance: 27,849
Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)
Mexico 1–1 Ghana
Abundis  65' Report Ebenzer  44'
Attendance: 30,237
Referee: Pereira (BRA)
Italy 2–1 South Korea
Branca  24',  82' Report Lee Ki-hyung  62'
Attendance: 28,319
Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

Group D
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
Source:
Japan 1–0 Brazil
Ito  72' Report
Attendance: 46,713
Referee: Archundia (MEX)
Nigeria 1–0 Hungary
Kanu  44' Report
Attendance: 25,303
Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)
Brazil 3–1 Hungary
Ronaldo  35'
Juninho  61'
Bebeto  84'		 Report Madar  58'
Attendance: 34,871
Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)
Nigeria 2–0 Japan
Tadahiro Akiba  83' (o.g.)
Okocha  90' (pen.)		 Report
Attendance: 22,734
Referee: Collina (ITA)
Brazil 1–0 Nigeria
Ronaldo  30' Report
Attendance: 55,650
Referee: Baharmast (USA)
Japan 3–2 Hungary
Maezono  39' (pen.),  91'
Uemura  90'		 Report Sandor  2'
Madar  48'
Attendance: 20,834
Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

Knockout stage
 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsGold medal match
 
          
 
July 27 – Miami
 
 
 Portugal (asdet)2
 
July 30 – Athens
 
 France1
 
 Portugal0
 
July 27 – Birmingham
 
 Argentina2
 
 Argentina4
 
August 3 – Athens
 
 Spain0
 
 Argentina2
 
July 28 – Birmingham
 
 Nigeria3
 
 Mexico0
 
July 31 – Athens
 
 Nigeria2
 
 Nigeria (asdet)4
 
July 28 – Miami
 
 Brazil3 Bronze medal match
 
 Brazil4
 
August 2 – Athens
 
 Ghana2
 
 Portugal0
 
 
 Brazil5
 

Quarter-finals
Portugal 2–1 (asdet) France
Capucho  7'
Calado  105'  (pen.)		 Report Maurice  49' (pen.)
Attendance: 22,339
Referee: Collina (ITA)
Argentina 4–0 Spain
Crespo  47',  88' (pen.)
Aranzábal  52' (o.g.)
C. López  66'		 Report
Attendance: 43,507
Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)
Mexico 0–2 Nigeria
Report Okocha  20'
C. Babayaro  84'
Attendance: 44,788
Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)
Brazil 4–2 Ghana
Duodu  18' (o.g.)
Ronaldo  56',  62'
Bebeto  72''		 Report Akonnor  23'
Aboagye  53'
Attendance: 45,257
Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

Semi-finals
Portugal 0–2 Argentina
Report Crespo  55',  61'
Attendance: 78,212
Referee: Baharmast (USA)
Nigeria 4–3 (asdet) Brazil
Roberto Carlos  20' (o.g.)
Ikpeba  78'
Kanu  90',  94' 		Report Flávio Conceição  1',  38'
Bebeto  28'
Attendance: 78,587
Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

Bronze medal match
Brazil 5–0 Portugal
Ronaldo  4'
Flávio Conceição  10'
Bebeto  46',  53',  74'		 Report
Attendance: 68,173
Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

Gold medal match
Nigeria 3–2 Argentina
Babayaro  28'
Amokachi  74'
Amunike  90'		 Report C. López  3'
Crespo  50' (pen.)
Attendance: 86,117
Referee: Collina (ITA)
Team details

Final ranking
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
Source:

Goalscorers

With six goals, Hernán Crespo of Argentina and Bebeto of Brazil are the top scorers in 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
Own goals

References
  1. "The inside story of Nigeria's Atlanta '96 gold medal – SuperSport – Football". SuperSport. 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  2. Penner, Mike (1996-08-01). "Defense Rests for a Stunned Brazil – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  3. Penner, Mike (1996-08-04). "Nigeria's Eagles Catch Argentina in Its Own Trap – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  4. "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  5. "Football at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
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