Host City: London, Great Britain Date Started: July 25, 2012 Date Finished: August 11, 2012 Events: 2
Participants: 467 (267 men and 200 women) from 24 countries Youngest Participant: Raissa Feudjio (16 years, 271 days) Oldest Participant: Jenny Bindon (39 years, 151 days) Most Medals (Athlete): 105 athletes with 1 medal Most Medals (Country): 6 countries with 1 medal
Overview
As usual, the football events were held in various sites spread over the organizing nation. The new Wembley Stadium, built on the site of the demolished venue of the 1948 Olympics, hosted the finals. Well-known sites were picked for the other matches: Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (Wales), Hampden Park in Glasgow (Scotland), Old Trafford in Manchester, St. James' Park in Newcastle and the Ricoh Arena in Coventry (renamed City of Coventry Stadium to avoid the sponsor name). No changes were made to the format, which allowed 16 men's and 12 women's teams. As in previous Olympics, male players had to be 23-years-old or younger, with the exception of three team members.
Notable was the presence of two British teams. In all other contemporary football competitions, the four "home nations" (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) play independently, and the last time a British team had competed at the Olympics was 1960. It had failed to qualify from 1964 through 1972, and had not entered qualification since in 1976.
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.
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.
Venues
There were six stadiums that hosted matches: 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
Wembley Stadium
Capacity: 90,000
Manchester
Old Trafford
Capacity: 76,212
Cardiff
Millennium Stadium
Capacity: 74,500
Newcastle upon Tyne
St. James' Park
Capacity: 52,387
Glasgow
Hampden Park
Capacity: 52,103
Coventry
Ricoh Arena
Capacity: 32,500
NOTE: Ricoh Arena was known as the City of Coventry Stadium due to the no-commercialization policy.
Competition schedule
P
Preliminaries
¼
Quarterfinals
½
Semifinals
B
3rd place play-off
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
P
P
P
¼
½
B
F
Women
P
P
P
¼
½
B
F
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:
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.
Notable events and controversies
South Korean political statements
After South Korea defeated Japan in the Bronze Medal match at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 10 August, South Korean player Park Jong-woo walked around the field holding a banner with a message written in Korean, "독도는 우리 땅!" (dokdo neun uri ttang lit. "Dokdo is our territory!). As both IOC and FIFA statutes prohibit any political statements being made by athletes at their respective sporting events, the IOC barred Park from the bronze medal ceremony and did not permit him to receive his medal. In addition, it asked FIFA to discipline Park, and stated that it may decide on further sanctions at a later date. 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, then failed to reach a verdict again. The case was heard again by the committee on 20 November, and FIFA decided 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 incident 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.
Iranian women's team dress code violations
Iran's women's team and three Jordanian players were banned during the second round of the Asian qualification tournament due to not adhering to FIFA dress code; the players were allowed to play while covering their head in the first round. FIFA banned the hijab in 2007, although FIFA now allows the hijab to be worn after overturning the 2007 decision in 2012.
Use of incorrect flag for North Korea
Following the South Korean flag being put on display on the stadium screen at Hampden Park when the teams were being announced before the Colombia versus North Korea women's match, the North Korea team protested against this action by refusing to take to the pitch. As a result of the wrong flag being displayed, the kick-off was delayed.
Canada–United States semi-final
During the semi-final match between Canada and the United States, a time-wasting call was made against the Canadian goalkeeper, Erin McLeod, when she held the ball longer than the allowed six seconds. This violation is called in international play, and is intended to be used during instances of time-wasting. As a result, the American side was awarded an indirect free-kick in the box. On the ensuing play, Canada was penalized for a handball in the penalty box, with the American team being awarded a penalty kick, which Abby Wambach converted to tie the game at 3–3. The Americans went on to win the match in extra time, advancing to the gold medal game. After the match, Canada forward Christine Sinclair stated, "the ref decided the result before the game started." FIFA responded by stating that the refeering decisions were correct and saying it was considering disciplinary action against Sinclair, but that any disciplinary action would be postponed until after the end of the tournament.
Women's Football
Host City: London, Great Britain Venue(s): City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry; Hampden Park, Glasgow; Millennium Stadium, Cardiff; Old Trafford, Manchester; St James' Park, Newcastle; Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London Date Started: July 25, 2012 Date Finished: August 9, 2012 Format: Round-robin pools advance teams to single-elimination tournament of four teams.
Summary
Looking at past Olympic results, the United States looked certain to win the gold, having previously won three out of four competitions, including the two most recent ones, but at recent World Cups, the US had failed to win the title. The 2003 and 2007 World Cup champion Germany failed to qualify for the Olympics, but the most recent winner, Japan, did make the cut. Other favorites included Brazil, arguably featuring the best female player in the world ([Marta]), and France.
The tournament got off to a bad start, as the pool match between North Korea and Colombia was delayed for an hour. The South Korean flag had been displayed next to one of the North Korean players during the team introduction, causing the entire team to march off until the issue was rectified. All favored teams proceed to the quarter-finals, although Japan had failed to impress, drawing 0-0 in two of its matches. Great Britain proved a surprise, winning their group ahead of Brazil, but the hosts were ousted by Canada in the quarter-finals. The US and France also proceeded, while Japan knocked out Brazil, 2-0.
The Japanese women proceeded into the final after a 2-1 victory over France. The other semi was more of a battle. Canada's [Christine Sinclair] put her team ahead three times, each time seeing the Americans draw level, the third time when [Abby Wambach] converted her penalty given over a disputed handball call. Wambach's goal was her 158th international goal, equalling the record held by former American star [Mia Hamm]. The two teams had nearly finished the second half of overtime when [Alex Morgan] headed in a cross from [Heather O'Reilly], a full four minutes into added time. The Canadians later found redemption by claiming the bronze medal against France.
As in the 2011 World Cup final, the US and Japan were evenly matched. The Americans closed out an opening offensive with a goal from [Carli Lloyd] after just 8 minutes. The Japanese then came close to scoring, but US goalkeeper [Hope Solo], the woodwork and a non-allowed penalty kept them from doing so. A few minutes into the second half, Lloyd fired a long-distance shot to double the advantage. Shortly after, [Yuki Ogimi] finally scored. Solo (save) and [Amy LePeilbet] (line clearance) then kept the US goal clear, holding on to win the team's fourth gold in five Olympics.
Three strikes and you’re in … USA take Football gold
The USA maintained their dominance with a 2–1 victory over Japan to take their third consecutive gold medal in women’s Football. It was also their fourth in the five Olympic Games since the sport was added to the programme in 1996. Significantly, the crowd for the final at Wembley was 80,203. The figure comfortably beat the previous record for a women’s Olympic Games Football match of 76,481, dating from the last match at Atlanta 1996 between the USA and China. A brace of goals for Carli Lloyd – the first coming as early as the eighth minute – saw off an impressive Japan. The action-packed match, a brilliant advertisement for the women’s game, was played out in front of Sepp Blatter, President of the world governing body FIFA. Japan pulled a goal back through Yuki Ogimi after 63 minutes, but could not find an equaliser. The thrilling game meant revenge of sorts for the USA, who had lost to Japan on a penalty shoot-out in the 2011 World Cup Final. In the bronze medal match, held at the City of Coventry Stadium, Canada beat France 1–0. Midfielder Diana Matheson headed home the only goal just as the match seemed to be heading for extra time. The experienced Canadian team had also ended Team GB’s hopes in the quarter-final after the Host Nation had seemed in medal-winning form during the group stage. Most notable was a magnificent 1–0 victory over Brazil following a strike by Steph Houghton in the second minute. Over 70,000 excited supporters created an electric atmosphere at Wembley Stadium as Team GB held off the challenge from Brazil, ranked fourth in the world.
The women's football tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held in London and five other cities in the United Kingdom from 25 July to 9 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to enter their women's teams in regional qualifying competitions, from which 11 teams, plus the hosts Great Britain reached the final tournament. There are no age restrictions for the players participating in the tournament. It is the first major FIFA affiliated women's tournament to be staged within the United Kingdom, and marked the first time a team representing Great Britain took part in the women's tournament.
Qualified nations
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
2
Japan North Korea
3 8
CAF Preliminary Competition
22 October 2011
–
2
South Africa Cameroon
61 50
CONCACAF Preliminary Competition
29 January 2012
Canada
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
^1 Locations are those of final tournaments, various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues.
^2 England's ranking.
Draw
The draw for the tournament took place on 24 April 2012. Great Britain, Japan and the United States were seeded for the draw and placed into groups E–G, respectively. The remaining teams were drawn from four pots.
Pot 1
Pot 2
Pot 3
Pot 4
Great Britain (assigned to E1)
Sweden
France
Cameroon
South Africa
Colombia
Japan (assigned to F1)
North Korea
New Zealand
United States (assigned to G1)
Canada
Brazil
Match officials
On 19 April 2012, FIFA released the list of match referees that would officiate at the Olympics.
Confederation
Referee
Assistants
AFC
Hong Eun-Ah
Sarah Ho Kim Kyoung-Min
Sachiko Yamagishi
Saori Takahashi Widiya Habibah Shamsuri
CAF
Thérèse Neguel
Tempa Ndah Lidwine Rakotozafinoro
CONCACAF
Carol Anne Chenard
Marie-Josée Charbonneau Stacy Greyson
Quetzalli Alvarado
Shirley Perello Mayte Chávez
Kari Seitz
Marlene Duffy Veronica Perez
CONMEBOL
Salomé di Iorio
María Rocco Mariana Corbo
Confederation
Referee
Assistants
UEFA
Kirsi Heikkinen
Anu Jokela Tonja Paavola
Bibiana Steinhaus
Katrin Rafalski Marina Wozniak
Efthalia Mitsi
Yolanda Parga María Villa
Christina Pedersen
Lada Rojc Hege Steinlund
Jenny Palmqvist
Helen Karo Anna Nyström
Knockout phase
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
August 3 , Coventry
August 6 , Manchester
August 9 , London
Britain
0
Canada
2
Canada
3
August 3 , Newcastle
United States ap
4
United States
2
New Zealand
0
United States
2
August 3 , Glasgow
Japan
1
Sweden
1
August 6 , London
France
2
France
1
August 3 , Cardiff
Third place
Japan
2
Brazil
0
August 9 , Coventry
Japan
2
Canada
1
France
0
Final
United States
2-1
Japan
Wembley , London
7:45 p.m. CEST
Carli Lloyd8 th54 th
( 1-0 )
Yuki Ogimi 63 th
Spectators: 80,203 Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus
Bronze medal match
Canada
1-0
France
Coventry City Stadium , Coventry
1:00 p.m. CEST
Diana Matheson 90 th
( 0-0 )
Spectators: 12,465 Referee: Jenny Palmqvist
Semi-finals
France
1-2
Japan
Wembley , London
5:00 p.m. CEST
Eugenie Le Sommer 76 th
( 0-1 )
Yuki Ogimi 32 nd Mizuho Sakaguchi 49 th
Spectators: 61,482 Referee: Quetzalli Alvarado
Canada
3-4 ( ap )
United States
Old Trafford , Manchester
7:45 p.m. CEST
Christine Sinclair 22 e 67 e 73 e
( 1-0 )
Megan Rapinoe 54 th 70 th Abby Wambach 80 th ( pen. ) Alex Morgan 120 th
Spectators: 26,630 Referee: Christina Pedersen
Quarter-finals
Sweden
1-2
France
Hampden Park , Glasgow
12:00 p.m. CEST
Nilla Fischer 18 th
( 1-2 )
29 th Laura Georges 39 th Wendie Renard
Spectators: 12,869 Referee: Kari Seitz
United States
2-0
New Zealand
St James' Park , Newcastle
2:30 p.m. CEST
Abby Wambach 27 th Sydney Leroux 87 th
( 1-0 )
Spectators: 10,441 Referees: Salomé di Iorio
Brazil
0-2
Japan
Millennium , Cardiff
5:00 p.m. CEST
( 0-1 )
27 th Yūki Ōgimi 73 th Shinobu Ohno
Spectators: 28,528 Referees: Kirsi Heikkinen
Britain
0-2
Canada
Coventry City Stadium , Coventry
7:30 p.m. CEST
( 0-2 )
12 th Jonelle Filigno 26 th Christine Sinclair
Spectators: 28,828 Arbitration: Sachiko Yamagishi
Ranking of third-placed teams
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Canada
3
1
1
1
6
4
+2
4
New Zealand
3
1
0
2
3
3
0
3
North Korea
3
1
0
2
2
6
−4
3
Green indicates qualified for the quarter-finals
Preliminary round
Group winners and runners-up and the two best third-ranked teams advanced to the quarter-finals (also see Tie breakers).
Abby Wambach19 th Alex Morgan32 e66 th Carli Lloyd56 th
( 2-2 )
12 th Gaëtane Thiney 14 th Marie-Laure Delie
Spectators: 18,090 Arbitration: Sachiko Yamagishi
Colombia
0-2
North Korea
Hampden Park , Glasgow
7:45 pm [ 3 ],[ 4 ] CEST
( 0-1 )
39 th85 th Kim Song Hui
Spectators: 18,900 Arbitration: Carol Anne Chenard
United States
3-0
Colombia
Hampden Park , Glasgow
5:00 p.m. CEST
Megan Rapinoe33 e Abby Wambach74 th Carli Lloyd77 th
( 1-0 )
Spectators: 11,313 Arbitration: Thalia Mitsi
France
5-0
North Korea
Hampden Park , Glasgow
7:45 p.m. CEST
Laura Georges 45 th Élodie Thomis 70 th Marie-Laure Delie 71 th Wendie Renard81 e Camille Catala 87 e
( 1-0 )
Spectators: 11,743 Referee : Therese Neguel
United States
1-0
North Korea
Old Trafford , Manchester
5.15 p.m. CEST
Abby Wambach 25 th
( 1-0 )
Spectators: 29,522 Arbitration: Jenny Palmqvist
France
1-0
Colombia
St James' Park , Newcastle
5.15 p.m. CEST
Élodie Thomis5 th
( 1-0 )
Spectators: 13,184 Refereeing: Quetzalli Alvarado
Final ranking
Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
1
United States (USA)
6
6
0
0
16
6
+10
18
2
Japan (JPN)
6
3
2
1
7
4
+3
11
3
Canada (CAN)
6
3
1
2
12
8
+4
10
4
France (FRA)
6
3
0
3
11
8
+3
9
5
Great Britain (GBR)
4
3
0
1
5
2
+3
9
6
Brazil (BRA)
4
2
0
2
6
3
+3
6
7
Sweden (SWE)
4
1
2
1
7
5
+2
5
8
New Zealand (NZL)
4
1
0
3
3
5
−2
3
9
North Korea (PRK)
3
1
0
2
2
6
−4
3
10
South Africa (RSA)
3
0
1
2
1
7
−6
1
11
Colombia (COL)
3
0
0
3
0
6
−6
0
12
Cameroon (CMR)
3
0
0
3
1
11
−10
0
Statistics
Goalscorers
6 goals
Christine Sinclair
5 goals
Abby Wambach
4 goals
Melissa Tancredi
Carli Lloyd
3 goals
Steph Houghton
Yūki Ōgimi
Alex Morgan
Megan Rapinoe
2 goals
Cristiane
Marta
Marie-Laure Delie
Laura Georges
Wendie Renard
Élodie Thomis
Kim Song-hui
Nilla Fischer
Lotta Schelin
1 goal
Francielle
Renata Costa
Gabrielle Onguene
Jonelle Filigno
Diana Matheson
Camille Catala
Eugénie Le Sommer
Gaëtane Thiney
Jill Scott
Casey Stoney
Nahomi Kawasumi
Aya Miyama
Shinobu Ohno
Mizuho Sakaguchi
Sarah Gregorius
Rebecca Smith
Portia Modise
Lisa Dahlkvist
Marie Hammarström
Sofia Jakobsson
Sydney Leroux
Own goals
Ysis Sonkeng (playing against New Zealand)
Discipline
Red cards
Choe Mi-gyong
Match bans
Lady Andrade was banned two matches for violent conduct in punching Abby Wambach.
Notable events and controversies
North Korea – South Korea flag confusion
In the first day of the Olympic events on 25 July, the match between DPR Korea and Colombia was delayed by a little over an hour because the flag of South Korea was mistakenly displayed on the electronic scoreboard in Hampden Park. The North Korean team walked off the pitch in protest at seeing the South Korean flag displayed by their names and refused to warm-up whilst the flag was being displayed. They also objected to the South Korean flag being displayed above the stadium, even though the flags of all the competing countries were being displayed. The game then commenced after a delay and rectification of the error.
Andy Mitchell, venue media manager for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), read out a LOCOG statement shortly afterwards:
"Today ahead of the Women’s football match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the North Korean flag. Clearly that is a mistake, we will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again".
LOCOG's statement had to be reissued because it failed to use the nations' official titles, "Republic of Korea" and "Democratic People's Republic of Korea".
British Prime Minister David Cameron added that it was an "honest mistake" and efforts would be undertaken to ensure such a mishap does not recur. However, North Korean manager Sin Ui-gun expressed reservations about whether the incident was a mistake of intention and said: "We were angry because our players were introduced as if they were from South Korea, which may affect us greatly as you may know. Our team was not going to participate unless the problem was solved perfectly and fortunately some time later, the broadcasting was corrected and shown again live so we made up our mind to participate and go on with the match. If this matter cannot be solved, we thought going on was nonsense. Winning the game cannot compensate for that thing".
Canada–United States semi-final
During the semi-final match between Canada and the United States, a time-wasting call was made against the Canadian goalkeeper, Erin McLeod, when she held the ball longer than the allowed six seconds. This violation is intended to be used during instances of time-wasting and is called in international play, but very rarely. As a result, the American side was awarded an indirect free-kick in the box. On the ensuing play, Canada was penalized for a handball in the penalty box, with the American team being awarded a penalty kick, which Abby Wambach converted to tie the game at 3–3. The Americans went on to win the match in extra time, advancing to the gold medal game. After the match, Canada forward Christine Sinclair stated, "the ref decided the result before the game started." FIFA responded by stating that the refereeing decisions were correct and saying it was considering disciplinary action against Sinclair, but that any disciplinary action would be postponed until after the end of the tournament.
Raissa Feudjio (16 years, 271 days) 
Jenny Bindon (39 years, 151 days) 
United States 
Japan 
Canada 
France 
Great Britain 
Sweden 
New Zealand 
North Korea 
South Africa 
Colombia 
Cameroon 
