# Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's football tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held from 3 to 19 August 2016. It was the 6th edition of the women's Olympic football tournament. Together with the men's competition, the 2016 Summer Olympics football tournament was held in six cities in Brazil, including Olympic host city Rio de Janeiro, which hosted the final at the Maracanã Stadium. There were no player age restrictions for teams participating in the women's competition.
In March 2016, it was agreed that the competition would be part of IFAB's trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time. The United States, gold medalists for the previous three Games, were eliminated by a penalty shoot-out defeat against Sweden in the quarter-finals. This marked the first time that the United States did not progress to the semi-finals of a major international tournament. For the first time since the introduction of the women's tournament in 1996, three matches in the knockout stage were decided by a penalty shoot-out (two quarter-finals and one semi-final).
Germany won their first gold medal by defeating Sweden 2–1 in the final. Canada won bronze after beating host Brazil with the same scoreline in the bronze medal game.

## Competition schedule

The match schedule of the women's tournament was unveiled on 10 November 2015.
| G | Group stage | ¼ | Quarter-finals | SF | Semi-finals | B | Bronze medal match | F | Gold medal match |
| Wed 3 | Thu 4 | Fri 5 | Sat 6 | Sun 7 | Mon 8 | Tue 9 | Wed 10 | Thu 11 | Fri 12 | Sat 13 | Sun 14 | Mon 15 | Tue 16 | Wed 17 | Thu 18 | Fri 19 | Fri 19 |
| G | | | G | | | G | | | ¼ | | | | ½ | | | B | F |

## Qualification

In addition to host nation Brazil, 11 women's national teams qualified from six separate continental confederations. FIFA ratified the distribution of spots at the Executive Committee meeting in March 2014.
| Means of qualification | Dates | Venue | Berths | Qualified |
| Host country | 2 October 2009 | Denmark | 1 | Brazil |
| 2014 Copa América | 11–28 September 2014 | Ecuador | 1 | Colombia |
| 2015 FIFA World Cup (for UEFA eligible teams) | 6 June – 5 July 2015 | Canada | 2 | Germany |
| 2015 FIFA World Cup (for UEFA eligible teams) | 6 June – 5 July 2015 | Canada | 2 | France |
| 2015 CAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 2–18 October 2015 | Various (home and away) | 2 | South Africa |
| 2015 CAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 2–18 October 2015 | Various (home and away) | 2 | Zimbabwe |
| 2016 OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 23 January 2016 | Papua New Guinea | 1 | New Zealand |
| 2016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship | 10–21 February 2016 | United States | 2 | United States |
| 2016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship | 10–21 February 2016 | United States | 2 | Canada |
| 2016 AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 29 February – 9 March 2016 | Japan | 2 | Australia |
| 2016 AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 29 February – 9 March 2016 | Japan | 2 | China |
| 2016 UEFA Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 2–9 March 2016 | Netherlands | 1 | Sweden |
| Total | | | 12 | |
* ^4 Dates and venues are those of final tournaments (or final round of qualification tournaments), various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues.
* ^5 England finished in the top three among UEFA teams in the World Cup, however England is not an IOC member and talks for them to compete as Great Britain broke down.
* ^6 Nations making their Olympic tournament debut

## Venues

The tournament was held in seven venues across six cities:
* Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte
* Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasília
* Arena da Amazônia, Manaus
* Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, Rio de Janeiro
* Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
* Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador
* Arena Corinthians, São Paulo

## Squads

The women's tournament was a full international tournament with no restrictions on age. Each team had to submit a squad of 18 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers. Each team might also have a list of four alternate players, who would replace any player in the squad in case of injury during the tournament.

## Match officials

On 2 May 2016, FIFA released the list of match referees that would officiate at the Olympics.
Match officials :
| Confederation | Referee | Assistant referees |
| AFC | Rita Gani (Malaysia) | Cui Yongmei (China PR) Naomi Teshirogi (Japan) |
| AFC | Ri Hyang-ok (North Korea) | Allyson Flynn (Australia) Hong Kum-nyo (North Korea) |
| CAF | Gladys Lengwe (Zambia) | Bernadettar Kwimbira (Malawi) Souad Oulhaj (Morocco) |
| CONCACAF | Carol Anne Chenard (Canada) | Marie-Josée Charbonneau (Canada) Suzanne Morisset (Canada) |
| CONCACAF | Lucila Venegas (Mexico) | Enedina Caudillo (Mexico) Mayte Chávez (Mexico) |
| CONMEBOL | Olga Miranda (Paraguay) | Mariana de Almeida (Argentina) Yoleida Lara (Venezuela) |
| CONMEBOL | Claudia Umpiérrez (Uruguay) | Neuza Back (Brazil) Loreto Toloza (Chile) |
| OFC | Anna-Marie Keighley (New Zealand) | Sarah Jones (New Zealand) Lata Kaumatule (Tonga) |
| UEFA | Teodora Albon (Romania) | Petruța Iugulescu (Romania) Mária Súkeníková (Slovakia) |
| UEFA | Stéphanie Frappart (France) | Manuela Nicolosi (France) Yolanda Parga Rodríguez (Spain) |
| UEFA | Kateryna Monzul (Ukraine) | Nataliya Rachynska (Ukraine) Sanja Rođak-Karšić (Croatia) |
| UEFA | Esther Staubli (Switzerland) | Chrysoula Kourompylia (Greece) Lucie Ratajová (Czech Republic) |
Fourth officials :
| Confederation | Referee |
| CONCACAF | Melissa Borjas (Honduras) |
| CONMEBOL | María Carvajal (Chile) |
Notes
* 1 2 Cui Yongmei (China PR) replaced Allyson Flynn (Australia) as assistant referee for the Germany v Canada group stage match.

## Draw

The draw for the tournament was held on 14 April 2016, 10:30 BRT (UTC−3), at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro. The 12 teams in the women's tournament were drawn into three groups of four teams. The teams were seeded into four pots based on the FIFA Ranking of March 2016 (in brackets in the table). The hosts Brazil were automatically assigned into position E1. No groups can contain more than one team from the same confederation.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Brazil (8) (assigned to E1)  United States (1)  Germany (2) | France (3)  Australia (5)  Sweden (6) | Canada (10)  China (12)  New Zealand (16) | Colombia (24)  South Africa (54)  Zimbabwe (95) |

## Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals. The rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows:
* points obtained in all group matches;
* goal difference in all group matches;
* number of goals scored in all group matches;
If two or more teams were equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings were determined as follows:
* points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
The groups were denoted as groups E, F and G to avoid confusion with the groups of the men's tournament which used designations A–D.

### Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Brazil (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 7 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | China | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Canada | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Germany | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 0 | |

### Group G

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | France | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Colombia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 1 | |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | F | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | E | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | G | New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 3 | |

## Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.
On 18 March 2016, the FIFA Executive Committee agreed that the competition would be part of the International Football Association Board's trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time.
| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 12 August — Belo Horizonte | 12 August — Belo Horizonte | | | |
| Brazil (p) | 0 (7) | | | |
| Brazil (p) | 0 (7) | 16 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) | 16 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) | | |
| Australia | 0 (6) | 16 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) | 16 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) | |
| Australia | 0 (6) | Brazil | 0 (3) | |
| 12 August — Brasília | 12 August — Brasília | | Brazil | 0 (3) | |
| 12 August — Brasília | 12 August — Brasília | Sweden (p) | 0 (4) | |
| United States | 1 (3) | Sweden (p) | 0 (4) | |
| United States | 1 (3) | | | | 19 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) | 19 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) |
| Sweden (p) | 1 (4) | | | | 19 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) | 19 August — Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã) |
| Sweden (p) | 1 (4) | | | | Sweden | 1 |
| 12 August — São Paulo | 12 August — São Paulo | | | | | Sweden | 1 |
| 12 August — São Paulo | 12 August — São Paulo | | | | Germany | 2 |
| Canada | 1 | | | | Germany | 2 |
| Canada | 1 | 16 August — Belo Horizonte | 16 August — Belo Horizonte | | | |
| France | 0 | 16 August — Belo Horizonte | 16 August — Belo Horizonte | | | |
| France | 0 | Canada | 0 | | | |
| 12 August — Salvador | 12 August — Salvador | | Canada | 0 | | | |
| 12 August — Salvador | 12 August — Salvador | Germany | 2 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| China | 0 | Germany | 2 | | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| China | 0 | | | | 19 August — São Paulo | 19 August — São Paulo |
| Germany | 1 | | | | 19 August — São Paulo | 19 August — São Paulo |
| Germany | 1 | | | | Brazil | 1 |
| | | | | | Canada | 2 |

### Gold medal match
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 66 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2.54 goals per match.
5 goals
* Melanie Behringer
3 goals
* Beatriz
* Janine Beckie
* Christine Sinclair
* Sara Däbritz
2 goals
* Michelle Heyman
* Cristiane
* Marta
* Melissa Tancredi
* Catalina Usme
* Louisa Cadamuro
* Eugénie Le Sommer
* Stina Blackstenius
* Carli Lloyd
* Alex Morgan
1 goal
* Lisa De Vanna
* Caitlin Foord
* Alanna Kennedy
* Sam Kerr
* Clare Polkinghorne
* Kyah Simon
* Andressa Alves
* Mônica
* Deanne Rose
* Sophie Schmidt
* Gu Yasha
* Tan Ruyin
* Camille Abily
* Amel Majri
* Saskia Bartusiak
* Melanie Leupolz
* Dzsenifer Marozsán
* Alexandra Popp
* Amber Hearn
* Nilla Fischer
* Lotta Schelin
* Crystal Dunn
* Mallory Pugh
* Kudakwashe Basopo
* Mavis Chirandu
* Emmaculate Msipa
1 own goal
* Carolina Arias (against France)
* Linda Sembrant (against Germany)
* Eunice Chibanda (against Germany)
Source: FIFA

### Assists

2 assists
* Elise Kellond-Knight
* Emily van Egmond
* Marta
* Christine Sinclair
* Melanie Leupolz
* Alexandra Popp
* Marjory Nyaumwe
1 assist
* Steph Catley
* Larissa Crummer
* Lisa De Vanna
* Caitlin Foord
* Andressa Alves
* Andressinha
* Érika
* Rafaelle
* Josée Bélanger
* Ashley Lawrence
* Deanne Rose
* Desiree Scott
* Wang Shuang
* Louisa Cadamuro
* Élodie Thomis
* Dzsenifer Marozsán
* Anja Mittag
* Betsy Hassett
* Emilia Appelqvist
* Lisa Dahlkvist
* Olivia Schough
* Morgan Brian
* Tobin Heath
* Carli Lloyd
* Rutendo Makore
Source: FIFA

### FIFA Fair Play Award

Sweden won the FIFA Fair Play Award, given to the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament. Every match in the final competition is taken into account but only teams that reach the second stage of the competition are eligible for the Fair Play Trophy.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
| 1 | Sweden | 872 |
| 2 | France | 859 |
| 3 | Germany | 853 |
| 4 | Brazil | 846 |
| 5 | United States | 840 |
| 6 | Australia | 838 |
| 7 | China | 830 |
| 8 | Canada | 768 |

### 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 | F | Germany | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 13 | Gold medal |
| 2 | E | Sweden | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | −4 | 6 | Silver medal |
| 3 | F | Canada | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 15 | Bronze medal |
| 4 | E | Brazil (H) | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 9 | Fourth place |
| 5 | G | United States | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 8 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | G | France | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 6 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | F | Australia | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 5 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | E | China | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 9 | G | New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 10 | E | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 1 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 11 | G | Colombia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 1 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 12 | F | Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 15 | −12 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |