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| Football at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Football pictogram for the 2012 Summer Olympics | |||||||||
| Event details | |||||||||
| Games | 2012 Summer Olympics | ||||||||
| Host country | United Kingdom | ||||||||
| Dates | 25 July – 11 August 2012 | ||||||||
| Venues | 6 (in 6 host cities) | ||||||||
| Competitors | 467 from 24 nations | ||||||||
| Men's tournament | |||||||||
| Teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) | ||||||||
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| Women's tournament | |||||||||
| Teams | 12 (from 6 confederations) | ||||||||
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| Editions | |||||||||
← 2008 2016 → | |||||||||
| Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| men | women | |
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Squads | ||
| men | women | |
The association football tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held from 25 July to 11 August, and was the only sport to begin before the official opening day of the Olympic Games, two days before the opening ceremony. It was also the only sport to be held at multiple venues outside London (the host city of the Olympics), with Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Coventry and Cardiff all hosting matches. The finals were played at Wembley Stadium. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their senior women's and men's under-23 national teams to participate; men's teams were allowed to augment their squads with three players over the age of 23. Five hundred and four football players competed for two sets of gold medals.[1]
For these games, the men competed in a 16-team tournament and the women in a 12-team tournament. The draw for the tournament took place on 24 April 2012.[2]
Venues
There were six stadiums that hosted matches:[3] The stadiums represent London itself and South East England, the English Midlands, North West England and North East England in England, as well as Scotland and Wales.
| London | Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics (the United Kingdom) |
Manchester | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wembley Stadium | Old Trafford | ||
| Capacity: 90,000 | Capacity: 76,212 | ||
|
| ||
| Cardiff | Newcastle upon Tyne | ||
| Millennium Stadium | St. James' Park | ||
| Capacity: 74,500 | Capacity: 52,387 | ||
|
| ||
| Glasgow | Coventry | ||
| Hampden Park | Ricoh Arena | ||
| Capacity: 52,103 | Capacity: 32,500 | ||
|
| ||
NOTE: The Ricoh Arena was known as the City of Coventry Stadium due to the no-commercialization policy.
Competition schedule
| GS | Group stage | QF | Quarter-finals | SF | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Final |
| Event↓/Date → | Wed 25 | Thu 26 | Fri 27 | Sat 28 | Sun 29 | Mon 30 | Tue 31 | Wed 1 | Thu 2 | Fri 3 | Sat 4 | Sun 5 | Mon 6 | Tue 7 | Wed 8 | Thu 9 | Fri 10 | Sat 11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | GS | GS | GS | QF | SF | B | F | ||||||||||||
| Women | GS | GS | GS | QF | SF | B | F | ||||||||||||
Qualified nations
Men's tournament
| Means of qualification | Date of completion | Venue1 | Berths[4] | Qualified | Senior team FIFA Ranking2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | – | 1 |  Great Britain |
43 | |
| AFC Preliminary Competition | 29 March 2012 | Various (home and away) | 3 |  Japan South Korea United Arab Emirates |
20 28 87 |
| CAF Preliminary Competition | 10 December 2011 |  Morocco |
3 |  Gabon Morocco Egypt |
45 71 42 |
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | 2 April 2012 |  United States |
2 |  Mexico Honduras |
19 63 |
| CONMEBOL Preliminary Competition | 12 February 2011 |  Peru |
2 |  Brazil Uruguay |
11 3 |
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 25 March 2012 |  New Zealand |
1 | New Zealand |
95 |
| UEFA Preliminary Competition | 25 June 2011 |  Denmark |
3 |  Spain Switzerland Belarus |
1 21 77 |
| AFC–CAF play-off | 23 April 2012 | Great Britain[5] |
1 |  Senegal |
61 |
| Total | 16 | ||||
- ^1 Locations are those of final tournaments, various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues.
- ^2 Senior ranking shown for comparison only. This is an under-23 competition, which does not award ranking points for the FIFA World Rankings, neither takes it into consideration.
- ^3 England's ranking.
Women's tournament
| Means of qualification | Date of completion | Venue1 | Berths | Qualified | FIFA Ranking2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | – | 1 | Great Britain |
92 | |
| AFC Preliminary Competition | 11 September 2011 |  China[6] |
2 | Japan North Korea |
3 8 |
| CAF Preliminary Competition | 22 October 2011[7] | – | 2 |  Cameroon South Africa |
50 61 |
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | 29 January 2012 |  Canada[8] |
2 |  United States Canada |
1 7 |
| CONMEBOL Preliminary Competition | 21 November 2010 |  Ecuador |
2 | Brazil Colombia |
5 28 |
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 4 April 2012 | – | 1 | New Zealand |
23 |
| (UEFA) 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup | 17 July 2011 |  Germany |
2 |  Sweden France |
4 6 |
| Total | 12 | ||||
United Kingdom/Great Britain teams
A men's football team representing Great Britain competed in the Olympics until 1972, albeit failing to qualify for the main tournament after 1960. After the Football Association abolished the distinction between amateur and professionals, a ruling that came into force in 1974, Great Britain did not subsequently attempt to qualify in football, although after the rules on Olympic eligibility were relaxed in 1984, they would have been permitted to do so.
On 24 August 2008, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested that the presence of a GB team at the 2012 games was "vital".[9] He said that he had approached Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to coach such a team.[9] The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations opposed such a move in case it would affect their status within the governing body of football, FIFA.[9]
On 29 May 2009, after last-ditch talks prompted by a FIFA deadline to settle the row, the four associations sent a letter to FIFA stating that while the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish associations would not participate in a unified UK men's or women's teams at the Olympic Games, they would not prevent England from fielding teams under that banner.[10][11]
However, Britain's FIFA Vice-president Jim Boyce stated that Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Craig Bellamy, Charlie Adam and other non-English players would have the legal right to be considered for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. The deal among the four "home nations" was challenged by the British Olympic Association. Boyce said there was no legal restriction as to why a player from Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland could be stopped from playing.[12]
Ultimately, five Welsh players were included in the 2012 Great Britain Olympic football squad, with Ryan Giggs – included as one of the three players over the age of 23 permitted – selected as team captain.[13] Giggs would score during the tournament, in a 3–1 defeat of the United Arab Emirates at Wembley.[14] None of the Great Britain men's football squad came from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Tie breakers
This tournament differs from other modern major international football tournaments, in that head-to-head records is not the primary way to break ties.
The ranking of the teams in each group shall be determined as follows:[15]
- greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
- goal difference in all group matches;
- greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
- greatest number of points obtained in all group matches between the teams concerned;
- goal difference resulting from all group matches between the teams concerned;
- greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
- drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
Men's tournament
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain (H)
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Senegal
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 | |
| 3 | Uruguay
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates
|
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 |