Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The 1996 Summer Olympics—based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States—marked the first time that women participated in the Olympic association football tournament.^[1][2] The tournament featured eight women's national teams from four continental confederations. The teams were drawn into two groups of four and each group played a round-robin tournament (which was held in Miami, Florida, Orlando, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama and Washington, D.C.). At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage (which was held at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia), beginning with the semi-finals and culminating with the gold medal match on August 1, 1996.

1996 Women's Olympic Football Tournament

Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	July 21 – August 1
Teams	8 (from 4 confederations)
Venue	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (1st title)
Runners-up	China
Third place	Norway
Fourth place	Brazil
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	53 (3.31 per match)
Attendance	691,762 (43,235 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Pretinha Ann Kristin Aarønes Linda Medalen (4 goals each)
Fair play award	United States
2000 →

The United States became the inaugural champion after a 2–1 victory against China in the gold medal game.^[3]

Competition schedule

G

Group stage

½

Semifinals

B

3rd place play-off

F

Final

Sun 21	Mon 22	Tue 23	Wed 24	Thu 25	Fri 26	Sat 27	Sun 28	Mon 29	Tue 30	Wed 31	Thu 1
G		G		G			½				B	F

Qualification

Main article: Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

The qualification system for the inaugural women's football tournament was based on the results of the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup. Seven best teams and the host nation were qualified for the tournament. As the third-ranked United States team was already qualified as the host, its spot was passed down to the eighth-ranked team, Japan. England was ranked seventh, but due to it not being an IOC member, its spot was passed down to the ninth-ranked Brazil.^[4]

• Asia (AFC)
  •  China
  •  Japan
• South America (CONMEBOL)
  •  Brazil
• Europe (UEFA)
  •  Denmark
  •  Germany
  •  Norway
  •  Sweden
• North and Central America (CONCACAF)
  •  United States – host nation

Venues

The tournament was held in five stadiums across five cities:

Athens, Georgia		Birmingham, Alabama		Miami, Florida		Orlando Birmingham Miami Washington D.C. Athens
Sanford Stadium		Legion Field		Orange Bowl
Capacity: 86,100		Capacity: 81,700		Capacity: 74,476
Orlando, Florida			Washington, D.C.
Citrus Bowl			Robert F. Kennedy Stadium
Capacity: 65,000			Capacity: 56,500

Squads

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

Match officials

Referees Confederation Referee Female officials CONCACAF Sonia Denoncourt (Canada) CONMEBOL Cláudia Vasconcelos (Brazil) UEFA Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden) Bente Skogvang (Norway) Male officials AFC Omer Al Mehannah (Saudi Arabia) CAF Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt) CONCACAF Benito Archundia (Mexico) OFC Eddie Lennie (Australia) UEFA Pierluigi Collina (Italy) José María García-Aranda (Spain) Fourth officials Confederation Referee Male officials AFC Pirom Un-prasert (Thailand) CONMEBOL Antônio Pereira (Brazil) Roberto Ruscio (Argentina)

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

Group stage

Group E

Main article: Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament – Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China	3	2	1	0	7	1	+6	7	Semi-finals
2	United States (H)	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7
3	Sweden	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Denmark	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

21 July 1996 (1996-07-21)

16:00

United States	3–0	Denmark
Venturini 37' Hamm 41' Milbrett 49'	Report (FIFA)

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 25,303^[5]

Referee: Cláudia de Vasconcellos (Brazil)

21 July 1996 (1996-07-21)

16:00

Sweden	0–2	China
	Report (FIFA)	Shi Guihong 31' Zhao Lihong 32'

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 46,724^[6]

Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)

---

23 July 1996 (1996-07-23)

18:00

United States	2–1	Sweden
Venturini 15' MacMillan 62'	Report (FIFA)	Overbeck 64' (o.g.)

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 28,000^[7]

Referee: Bente Ovedie Skogvang (Norway)

23 July 1996 (1996-07-23)

16:00

Denmark	1–5	China
Madsen 55'	Report (FIFA)	Shi Guihong 10' Liu Ailing 49' Sun Qingmei 29', 59' Fan Yunjie 36'

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 34,871^[8]

Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)

---

25 July 1996 (1996-07-25)

18:30

United States	0–0	China
	Report (FIFA)

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 55,650^[9]

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

25 July 1996 (1996-07-25)

18:30

Denmark	1–3	Sweden
Jensen 90'	Report (FIFA)	Swedberg 62', 68' Videkull 76'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 17,020^[10]

Referee: Cláudia de Vasconcellos (Brazil)

Group F

Main article: Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament – Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	3	2	1	0	9	4	+5	7	Semi-finals
2	Brazil	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
3	Germany	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4
4	Japan	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

21 July 1996 (1996-07-21)

13:30

Germany	3–2	Japan
Wiegmann 5' Tomei 29' (o.g.) Mohr 52'	Report (FIFA)	Kioka 18' Noda 33'

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 44,211^[11]

Referee: Sonia Denoncourt (Canada)

21 July 1996 (1996-07-21)

15:00

Norway	2–2	Brazil
Medalen 32' Aarønes 68'	Report (FIFA)	Pretinha 57', 89'

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

Attendance: 45,946^[12]

Referee: José María García-Aranda (Spain)

---

23 July 1996 (1996-07-23)

16:30

Brazil	2–0	Japan
Kátia 68' Pretinha 78'	Report (FIFA)

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 26,111^[13]

Referee: Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden)

23 July 1996 (1996-07-23)

18:30

Norway	3–2	Germany
Aarønes 5' Medalen 34' Riise 65'	Report (FIFA)	Wiegmann 32' Prinz 62'

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

Attendance: 28,000^[14]

Referee: Edward McGregor Lennie (Australia)

---

25 July 1996 (1996-07-25)

18:30

Brazil	1–1	Germany
Sissi 53'	Report (FIFA)	Wunderlich 4'

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 28,319^[15]

Referee: Sonia Denoncourt (Canada)

25 July 1996 (1996-07-25)

18:30

Norway	4–0	Japan
Pettersen 25', 86' Medalen 60' Tangeraas 74'	Report (FIFA)

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

Attendance: 30,237^[16]

Referee: Omar Al-Mehanna (Saudi Arabia)

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	July 28 – Athens, GA
	China	3
					August 1 – Athens, GA
	Brazil	2
					China	1
	July 28 – Athens, GA
					United States	2
	Norway	1
	United States (AET)	2
					Third place
					August 1 – Athens, GA
					Brazil	0
					Norway	2

Semi-finals

28 July 1996

China	3–2	Brazil
Qingmei 5' Haiying 83', 90'	Report	Roseli 67' Pretinha 72'

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 64,196

Referee: Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden)

28 July 1996

Norway	1–2 (a.e.t./g.g.)	United States
Medalen 18'	Report	Akers 76' (pen) MacMillan 100'

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 64,196

Referee: Sonia Denoncourt (Canada)

Bronze medal match

1 August 1996

Brazil	0–2	Norway
	Report	Aarønes 21', 25'

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 76,489

Referee: Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden)

Gold medal match

1 August 1996

China	1–2	United States
Sun 32'	Report	MacMillan 19' Milbrett 68'

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 76,489

Referee: Bente Ovedie Skogvang (Norway)

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 53 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.31 goals per match. Brazil's Pretinha and Norway's Ann Kristin Aarønes and Linda Medalen finished as the top scorers of the tournament, with each scoring four goals.

4 goals

• Pretinha
• Ann Kristin Aarønes
• Linda Medalen

3 goals

• Sun Qingmei
• Shannon MacMillan

2 goals

• Shi Guihong
• Wei Haiying
• Bettina Wiegmann
• Marianne Pettersen
• Malin Swedberg
• Tiffeny Milbrett
• Tisha Venturini

1 goal

• Kátia
• Roseli
• Sissi
• Fan Yunjie
• Liu Ailing
• Sun Wen
• Zhao Lihong
• Helle Jensen
• Lene Madsen
• Heidi Mohr
• Birgit Prinz
• Pia Wunderlich
• Futaba Kioka
• Akemi Noda
• Hege Riise
• Trine Tangeraas
• Lena Videkull
• Michelle Akers
• Mia Hamm

1 own goal

• Yumi Tomei (against Germany)
• Carla Overbeck (against Sweden)

Source: FIFA^[17]

Assists

4 assists

• Roseli
• Sun Qingmei

2 assists

• Shi Guihong
• Linda Medalen

1 assist

• Fanta
• Fan Yunjie
• Sun Wen
• Zhao Lihong
• Lisbet Kolding
• Gitte Krogh
• Lene Madsen
• Martina Voss
• Futaba Kioka
• Agnete Carlsen
• Gro Espeseth
• Hege Riise
• Brit Sandaune
• Tina Svensson
• Trine Tangeraas
• Kristin Bengtsson
• Ulrika Kalte
• Pia Sundhage
• Michelle Akers
• Julie Foudy
• Mia Hamm
• Kristine Lilly

Source: FIFA^[17]

FIFA Fair Play Award

• Winner:  United States

The United States won the FIFA Fair Play Award, given to the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament.^[17]

Tournament ranking

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	E	United States (H)	5	4	1	0	9	3	+6	13	Gold medal
2	E	China	5	3	1	1	11	5	+6	10	Silver medal
3	F	Norway	5	3	1	1	12	6	+6	10	Bronze medal
4	F	Brazil	5	1	2	2	7	8	−1	5	Fourth place
5	F	Germany	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4	Eliminated in group stage
6	E	Sweden	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
7	F	Japan	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0
8	E	Denmark	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

Source: FIFA^[17]
(H) Hosts