 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | United Kingdom |
| Dates | 26 July – 11 August |
| Teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue | 6 (in 6 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Mexico (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Brazil |
| Third place |  South Korea |
| Fourth place |  Japan |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 76 (2.38 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,525,134 (47,660 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Leandro Damião (6 goals) |
←2008 2016 → | |
| Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| men | women | |
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Squads | ||
| men | women | |
Themen's football tournament at the2012 Summer Olympics was held inLondon and five other cities in Great Britain from 26 July to 11 August. Associations affiliated withFIFA were invited to enter their men's U-23 teams in regional qualifying competitions, from which 15 teams, plus the hostsGreat Britain, reached the final tournament. Men's teams were allowed to augment their squads with three players over the age of 23. It was the first men's Olympic football tournament to feature a team representingGreat Britain since the1960 Summer Olympics inRome.[1] The competition also markedUruguay's men's football team's first Olympic appearance since 1928, when it won its second consecutive gold medal.
The gold medal was won byMexico who defeated Brazil 2–1 in the final.[2]
The match schedule of the men's tournament.[3]
| G | Group stage | ¼ | Quarter-finals | ½ | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Gold medal match |
| 26 Thu | 27 Fri | 28 Sat | 29 Sun | 30 Mon | 31 Tue | 1 Wed | 2 Thu | 3 Fri | 4 Sat | 5 Sun | 6 Mon | 7 Tue | 8 Wed | 9 Thu | 10 Fri | 11 Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | G | G | ¼ | ½ | B | F |
EachNational Olympic Committee may enter one men's team in the football tournament. The 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold-medallists Argentina failed to qualify, after finishing third in the South American qualifying tournament.
| Means of qualification | Date of completion | Venue1 | Berths[4] | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 2005 | — | 1 |  Great Britain |
| 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship | 25 June 2011 |  Denmark | 3 |  Spain Switzerland Belarus |
| AFC Preliminary Competition | 29 March 2012 | Various (home and away format) | 3 | Japan South Korea United Arab Emirates |
| 2011 CAF U-23 Championship | 10 December 2011 |  Morocco | 3 |  Gabon Morocco Egypt |
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | 2 April 2012 |  United States | 2 | Mexico Honduras |
| 2011 South American Youth Championship | 12 February 2011 |  Peru | 2 | Brazil Uruguay |
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 25 March 2012 |  New Zealand | 1 | New Zealand |
| AFC–CAF play-off | 23 April 2012 | Great Britain[5] | 1 |  Senegal |
| Total | 16 | |||
Six venues were used during the tournament, includingWembley Stadium in London, which hosted the final.
| London | Manchester | Cardiff | Location of the host cities of the men's football tournament of the 2012 Summer Olympics. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wembley Stadium | Old Trafford | Millennium Stadium | |
| Capacity:90,000 | Capacity:75,643 | Capacity:74,500 | |
 |  |  | |
| Newcastle | Glasgow | Coventry | |
| St James' Park | Hampden Park | City of Coventry Stadium | |
| Capacity:52,354 | Capacity:51,866 | Capacity:32,609 | |
 |  |  |
For the men's tournament, each nation submitted a squad of 18 players, 15 of whom had to be born on or after 1 January 1989, and three of whom could be overage players. A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) had to be included in the squad.
On 19 April 2012,FIFA released the list of match referees that would officiate at the Olympics.[6]
The draw for the tournament took place on 24 April 2012.[7] Great Britain, Mexico, Brazil and Spain were seeded for the draw and placed into groups A–D, respectively.[8] The remaining teams were drawn from four pots with teams from the same region kept apart.[9]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The competing countries were divided into four groups of four teams, denoted as groups A, B, C and D. Teams in each group will play one another in around-robin basis, with the top two teams of each group advancing to thequarter-finals.
All times are local,British Summer Time (UTC+1).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain(H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Advance toknockout 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 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | South Korea | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Gabon | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 2 | |
| 4 | Switzerland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 9 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Egypt | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | |
| 3 | Belarus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 3 | |
| 4 | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 1 |
| Belarus | 1–0 | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 7 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Honduras | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Morocco | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 1 |
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time,extra time was played (two periods of fifteen minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by apenalty shoot-out to determine the winner.[34]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | ||||||||
| 4 August –Cardiff | ||||||||||
| Great Britain | 1 (4) | |||||||||
| 7 August –Manchester | ||||||||||
| South Korea(p) | 1 (5) | |||||||||
| South Korea | 0 | |||||||||
| 4 August –Newcastle | ||||||||||
| Brazil | 3 | |||||||||
| Brazil | 3 | |||||||||
| 11 August –London | ||||||||||
| Honduras | 2 | |||||||||
| Brazil | 1 | |||||||||
| 4 August –London | ||||||||||
| Mexico | 2 | |||||||||
| Mexico(a.e.t.) | 4 | |||||||||
| 7 August –London | ||||||||||
| Senegal | 2 | |||||||||
| Mexico | 3 | |||||||||
| 4 August –Manchester | ||||||||||
| Japan | 1 | Bronze medal match | ||||||||
| Japan | 3 | |||||||||
| 10 August –Cardiff | ||||||||||
| Egypt | 0 | |||||||||
| South Korea | 2 | |||||||||
| Japan | 0 | |||||||||
| Mexico | 4–2 (a.e.t.) | Senegal |
|---|---|---|
Enríquez 10'Aquino 62'Dos Santos 98'Herrera 109' | Report | Konaté 69' Baldé 76' |
| Great Britain | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Ramsey 36' (pen.) | Report | Ji Dong-won 29' |
| Penalties | ||
Ramsey Cleverley Dawson Giggs Sturridge  | 4–5 | Koo Ja-cheolBaek Sung-dongHwang Seok-hoPark Jong-wooKi Sung-yueng |
| South Korea | 0–3 | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Rômulo 38' Damião 57',64' |
| South Korea | 2–0 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Park Chu-young 38' Koo Ja-cheol 57' | Report |
With six goals, Leandro Damião of Brazil was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 76 goals were scored by 49 different players, none of them credited as own goals.
Dzmitry BahaRenan BressanAndrey VarankowDaniloHulkOscarAlexandre PatoRafaelRômuloSandroMarwan MohsenPierre-Emerick AubameyangCraig BellamyRyan GiggsAaron RamseyScott SinclairRoger EspinozaMario MartínezMaya YoshidaKoo Ja-cheolKim Bo-kyungJi Dong-wonJavier AquinoJavier CortésJorge EnríquezMarco FabiánHéctor HerreraAbdelaziz BarradaZakaria LabyadChris WoodIbrahima BaldéInnocent EmegharaAdmir MehmediRashed EisaNicolás LodeiroGastón RamírezAs per statistical convention in football, matches decided inextra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided bypenalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Mexico | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 16 | Gold medal |
 | Brazil | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 15 | Silver medal |
 | South Korea | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | Bronze medal |
| 4 | Japan | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 10 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Great Britain | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 8 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | Senegal | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 | |
| 7 | Honduras | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 8 | Egypt | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 4 | |
| 9 | Uruguay | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 10 | Belarus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 3 | |
| 11 | Morocco | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 12 | Gabon | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 2 | |
| 13 | Switzerland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 | |
| 14 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 1 | |
| 15 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |
| 16 | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 1 |
For the first matchday atSt James' Park, there were long queues at the box office, leading to fans missing some of the game. A spokesman for Ticketmaster said: "We saw extremely high numbers of spectators arriving at St James' Park to purchase football tickets on the day of the event. While Ticketmaster is contracted to manage the box offices at Olympic venues, the staff numbers at those venues are determined by LOCOG. We will continue to work closely with LOCOG to ensure that the box office staff levels are sufficient to meet the demands for ticket sales and collection". LOCOG described the situation as "totally and completely 100% unacceptable", and after changes were made in the process, the issue was reportedly avoided for the second round of matches.[43][44]
During the matches held at theWembley Stadium on 29 July, fans were subjected to long queues at theconcession stands in the ground afterVisa's card payment system crashed, leaving cash payment as the only alternative. The situation was compounded by the fact that, as Visa had been granted exclusive rights to the Olympics, other cards could not be accepted as payment, and the number ofcash machines in the stadium had been reduced after 27 that worked on theLINK system had been removed to be replaced by eight that could only be used by Visa cards.[45]
There were several problems relating to transport for events held at theMillennium Stadium inCardiff. There was severe congestion atCardiff Central railway station whenGreat Britain played South Korea;[46] and the bronze medal match also had rail disruption when a retaining wall collapsed onto the tracks.[47][48][49]
Swiss footballerMichel Morganella was sent home by theSwitzerland team following their2–1 loss against South Korea after he sent a tweet that, according to the director of Swiss Olympic Committee Gian Gilli, "discriminated, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korean football team and people".[50]
Following the criticism against Scottish female playerKim Little, for choosing not to sing the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" because of her national identity,[51] other Scottish and Welsh players,Ryan Giggs,Craig Bellamy andIfeoma Dieke, also attracted comment in the media for remaining silent.[52] Giggs, the Great Britain men's captain, later said: "The problem is the British anthem is the same as the English anthem and if you're a Welshman or a Scotsman it's difficult".[53]
LOCOG also apologised after an error in the official match programme for the first game mistakenly described Welsh playerJoe Allen as being English.[54]
AfterSouth Korea defeatedJapan in the bronze medal match at theMillennium Stadium inCardiff on 10 August, South Korean playerPark Jong-woo walked around the field holding a banner with a political message written in Korean, "독도는 우리 땅!" (dokdo neun uri ttang, lit.: "Dokdo is our territory").[55] This incident occurred on the same night after South Korean PresidentLee Myung-bak had visited the islands which both South Korea and Japan claim as their territory.[56] The IOC and FIFA reviewed the evidence, since FIFA statutes prohibit political statements being made by athletes at Olympic events.[57] The IOC barred Park from the bronze medal ceremony and did not permit him to receive his medal.[58] In addition, it asked FIFA to discipline Park, and stated that it may decide on further sanctions at a later date.[59][60] IOC presidentJacques Rogge told reporters: "We will take a possible decision of what will happen with the medal later".[61] FIFA failed to reach a conclusion on the case at a meeting at its Zürich headquarters held on 5 October, and the disciplinary committee discussed the case again on the following week,[62] then again failed to reach a verdict. After that, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) announced that Park would receive his bronze medal. The case was heard again by the committee on 20 November,[63] and FIFA finally decided and announced on 3 December to suspend Park for two matches after he was considered to have breached the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the Regulations of the Olympic Football Tournaments. FIFA also imposed a warning on the Korea Football Association and reminded it of its obligation to properly instruct its players on all the pertinent rules and applicable regulations before the start of any competition, in order to avoid such incidents in the future. The Korea Football Association was warned that should incidents of such nature occur again in the future, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may impose harsher sanctions on the Korea Football Association.[64]
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| General |  | ||||
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| Tournaments |
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| Qualifications |
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| Finals |
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| Squads |
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| Related topics | |||||
