Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

1996 Men's Olympic Football Tournament
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 →

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]

Competition schedule

The match schedule of the tournament.^[6]

Legend
G	Group stage	¼	Quarterfinals	½	Semifinals	B	Bronze medal match	F	Gold medal match

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

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

Citrus Bowl Legion Field Orange Bowl Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Sanford Stadium

Qualification

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

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

Match officials

Fourth officials
Confederation	Referee
Female officials
UEFA	Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden)

Assistant referees
Confederation	Assistant referee
Male officials
AFC	Jeon Young-hyun (South Korea)
AFC	Mohamed Al-Musawi (Oman)
CAF	Dramane Dante (Mali)
CAF	Amir Osman Mohamed Hamid (Sudan)
CONCACAF	Peter Kelly (Trinidad and Tobago)
CONCACAF	Luis Fernando Torres Zúñiga (Costa Rica)
CONMEBOL	Jorge Luis Arango (Colombia)
CONMEBOL	Carlos Velázquez (Uruguay)
OFC	Lencie Fred (Vanuatu)
UEFA	Yuri Dupanov (Belarus)
	Heiner Neuenstein (Germany)
	Akif Uğurdur (Turkey)
Female officials
CONCACAF	María del Socorro Rodríguez (Mexico)
UEFA	Gitte Holm (Denmark)
UEFA	Nelly Viennot (France)

Seeding

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.

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
United States (assigned to A1) Spain (assigned to B1) Ghana (assigned to C1) Brazil (assigned to D1)	Argentina Japan South Korea Saudi Arabia	France Hungary Italy Portugal	Nigeria Tunisia Mexico¹ Australia²

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.

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: FIFA

July 20, 1996
15:00

Portugal	2–0	Tunisia
Martins 13', 68'	Report

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 34,796

Referee: Pereira (BRA)

July 20, 1996
19:30

United States	1–3	Argentina
Reyna 1'	Report	G. López 26' Crespo 55' Simeone 90'

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 83,183

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

July 22, 1996
19:30

Argentina	1–1	Portugal
Ortega 45'	Report	Nuno Gomes 70'

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 25,811

Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)

July 22, 1996
19:30

United States	2–0	Tunisia
Kirovski 38' Maisonneuve 90'	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 45,687

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

July 24, 1996
19:30

Argentina	1–1	Tunisia
Ortega 5'	Report	Mkacher 74'

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 16,826

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

July 24, 1996
19:30

United States	1–1	Portugal
Maisonneuve 75'	Report	Paulo Alves 33'

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

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: FIFA

July 20, 1996
18:30

Spain	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Óscar 80'	Report

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 28,774

Referee: Collina (ITA)

July 20, 1996
18:30

France	2–0	Australia
Pires 11' Maurice 74'	Report

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 14,322

Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

July 22, 1996
19:00

France	1–1	Spain
Legwinski 38'	Report	Óscar 85'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 16,773

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

July 22, 1996
19:00

Australia	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Tsekenis 11' Viduka 63'	Report	Al-Khilaiwi 37'

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 5,997

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

July 24, 1996
19:00

Spain	3–2	Australia
Raúl 40', 90' Santi 86'	Report	Vidmar 3', 12'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 12,050

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

July 24, 1996
19:00

France	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Maurice 20' (pen.) Sibierski 49'	Report	Anwar 26'

Orange Bowl, Miami

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: FIFA

July 21, 1996
12:00

South Korea	1–0	Ghana
Yoon Jong-hwan 41' (pen.)	Report

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 45,946

Referee: Lennie (AUS)

July 21, 1996
17:00

Mexico	1–0	Italy
Palencia 83'	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 44,211

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

July 23, 1996
20:00

Mexico	0–0	South Korea
	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 26,111

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

July 23, 1996
21:00

Ghana	3–2	Italy
Saba 15', 74' Ahinful 63' (pen.)	Report	Branca 8', 44' (pen.)

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 27,849

Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

July 25, 1996
21:00

Mexico	1–1	Ghana
Abundis 65'	Report	Ebenzer 44'

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 30,237

Referee: Pereira (BRA)

July 25, 1996
21:00

Italy	2–1	South Korea
Branca 24', 82'	Report	Lee Ki-hyung 62'

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 28,319

Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

Group D

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	2	1	4	2	+2	6
Nigeria	3	2	1	3	1	+2	6
Japan	3	2	1	4	4	0	6
Hungary	3	0	3	3	7	−4	0

Source: FIFA

July 21, 1996
18:30

Japan	1–0	Brazil
Ito 72'	Report

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 46,713

Referee: Archundia (MEX)

July 21, 1996
18:30

Nigeria	1–0	Hungary
Kanu 77'	Report

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 25,303

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

July 23, 1996
20:30

Brazil	3–1	Hungary
Ronaldo 35' Juninho 61' Bebeto 84'	Report	Madar 58'

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 34,871

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

July 23, 1996
20:30

Nigeria	2–0	Japan
Akiba 83' (o.g.) Okocha 90' (pen.)	Report

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 22,734

Referee: Collina (ITA)

July 25, 1996
21:00

Brazil	1–0	Nigeria
Ronaldo 30'	Report

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 55,650

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

July 25, 1996
21:00

Japan	3–2	Hungary
Maezono 39' (pen.), 90+1' Uemura 90'	Report	Sandor 2' Madar 48'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 20,834

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

Knockout stage

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

July 27, 1996
18:00

Portugal	2–1 (asdet)	France
Capucho 7' Calado 105' (pen.)	Report	Maurice 49' (pen.)

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 22,339

Referee: Collina (ITA)

July 27, 1996
19:30

Argentina	4–0	Spain
Crespo 47', 88' (pen.) Aranzábal 52' (o.g.) C. López 66'	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 43,507

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

July 28, 1996
16:00

Mexico	0–2	Nigeria
	Report	Okocha 20' C. Babayaro 84'

Legion Field, Birmingham

Attendance: 44,788

Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)

July 28, 1996
18:00

Brazil	4–2	Ghana
Dodoo 18' (o.g.) Ronaldo 56', 62' Bebeto 72'	Report	Akonnor 23' Aboagye 53'

Orange Bowl, Miami

Attendance: 45,257

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

Semi-finals

July 30, 1996
18:00

Portugal	0–2	Argentina
	Report	Crespo 55', 61'

Sanford Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 78,212

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

July 31, 1996
18:00

Nigeria	4–3 (asdet)	Brazil
Roberto Carlos 20' (o.g.) Ikpeba 78' Kanu 90', 94'	Report	Flávio 1', 38' Bebeto 28'

Sanford Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 78,587

Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

Bronze medal match

August 2, 1996
18:00

Brazil	5–0	Portugal
Ronaldo 5' Flávio 11' Bebeto 47', 54', 75'	Report

Sanford Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 68,173

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

Gold medal match

1996 Summer Olympics Football Final

August 3, 1996

15:45

Nigeria	3–2	Argentina
Babayaro 28' Amokachi 74' Amunike 90'	Report	C. López 3' Crespo 50' (pen.)

Sanford Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 86,117

Referee: Collina (ITA)

Team details


GK	12	Pablo Cavallero
RB	4	Javier Zanetti
CB	6	Roberto Sensini	12'
CB	2	Roberto Ayala
LB	3	José Chamot
RM	15	Christian Bassedas
CM	5	Matías Almeyda
CM	10	Ariel Ortega
LM	11	Hugo Morales		58'
CF	7	Claudio López
CF	9	Hernán Crespo
Substitutes:
MF	8	Diego Simeone		58'
Manager:
Daniel Passarella

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: FIFA

Goalscorers

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.

Hernán Crespo (left) and Bebeto, top scorers with 6 goals each

6 goals

5 goals

Ronaldo

4 goals

Marco Branca

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goals

Roberto Carlos (playing against Nigeria)
Afo Dodoo (playing against Brazil)
Tadahiro Akiba (playing against Nigeria)
Agustín Aranzábal (playing against Argentina)

References

External links

Olympic Football Tournaments Atlanta 1996 – Men, FIFA.com
RSSSF Summary
FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3) and (Part 4)

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Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

Contents

Competition schedule

Venues

Qualification

Match officials

Seeding

Squads

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Final ranking

Goalscorers

References

External links