# Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

The men's football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and four other cities in the People's Republic of China from 7 to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to enter their men's under-23 teams in regional qualifying competitions, from which 15 teams, plus the host nation, reached the final tournament. Men's teams were allowed to augment their squads with up to three players over the age of 23.
For these Games, the men competed in a 16-team tournament. Preliminary matches commenced on 7 August, the day before the Games' opening ceremony. The teams were grouped into four pools of four teams each for a round-robin preliminary round. The top two teams in each pool advanced to an eight-team single-elimination bracket.
The tournament was won by Argentina, who beat Nigeria 1–0 in the final, as part of a record streak of 12 consecutive wins in football competitions at the Summer Olympics (six wins in 2004, six wins in 2008).
Despite the absence of an official best player award, the FIFA website highlighted Lionel Messi's campaign by stating that he "posed defenders more problems than anyone else in the tournament". Juan Román Riquelme and Javier Mascherano also received special mentions.

## Qualification

A National Olympic Committee may enter one men's team in football competitions.
| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Berths | Qualified |
| Host nation | | | 1 | China |
| AFC Preliminary Competition | February – November 2007 | – | 3 | Australia Japan South Korea |
| CAF Preliminary Competition | September 2006 – March 2008 | – | 3 | Cameroon Ivory Coast Nigeria |
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | August 2007 – March 2008 | United States | 2 | Honduras United States |
| 2007 South American Youth Championship | 7–28 January 2007 | Paraguay | 2 | Brazil Argentina |
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 1–9 March 2008 | Fiji | 1 | New Zealand |
| 2007 UEFA U-21 Championship | 10–23 June 2007 | Netherlands | 4 | Netherlands Serbia Belgium Italy |
| Total | | | 16 | |

## Venues

Six venues were used during the tournament, four of them outside of Beijing at cities around China. Beijing National Stadium hosted the final.
| Beijing | Beijing | Shanghai | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Chaoyang | Chaoyang | Xuhui | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Beijing National Stadium | Beijing Workers' Stadium | Shanghai Stadium | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Capacity: 91,000 | Capacity: 70,161 | Capacity: 80,000 | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Shenyang | Tianjin | Qinhuangdao | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Hunnan | Nankai | Haigang | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Shenyang Olympic Stadium | Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium | Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |
| Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | BeijingQinhuangdaoShanghaiShenyangTianjinclass=notpageimage| Location of host cities of the tournament. |

## Squads

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 1985, and three of whom could be overage players, by 23 July 2008. A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) had to be included in the squad.

## Match officials

On 22 April 2008, FIFA released the list of match referees that will officiate at the Olympics.
| Confederation | Referee | Assistants |
| AFC | Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) | Mohammed Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Hamdi Al Kadrie (Syria) |
| AFC | Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman) | Khaled Al Allan (Bahrain) Saleh Al Marzouqi (United Arab Emirates) |
| AFC | Masoud Moradi (Iran) | Hassan Kamranifar (Iran) Luay Subhi Adib (Iraq) |
| CAF | Jerome Damon (South Africa) | Enock Molefe (South Africa) Célestin Ntagungira (Rwanda) |
| CAF | Badara Diatta (Senegal) | Bechir Hassani (Tunisia) Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon) |
| CONCACAF | Roberto Moreno (Panama) | Daniel Williamson (Panama) Hairo Fuentes (Panama) |
| CONCACAF | Jair Marrufo (United States) | Kermit Quisenberry (United States) Ricardo Morgan (Jamaica) |
| CONMEBOL | Héctor Baldassi (Argentina) | Ricardo Casas (Argentina) Hernán Maidana (Argentina) |
| CONMEBOL | Pablo Pozo (Chile) | Patricio Basualto (Chile) Julio Díaz (Chile) |
| CONMEBOL | Martín Vázquez (Uruguay) | Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay) Miguel Nievas (Uruguay) |
| OFC | Michael Hester (New Zealand) | Tevita Makasini (Tonga) Michael Joseph (Vanuatu) |
| UEFA | Thomas Einwaller (Austria) | Roland Heim (Austria) Norbert Schwab (Austria) |
| UEFA | Viktor Kassai (Hungary) | Gábor Erős (Hungary) Tibor Vámos (Hungary) |
| UEFA | Stéphane Lannoy (France) | Eric Dansault (France) Frédéric Cano (France) |
| UEFA | Damir Skomina (Slovenia) | Primož Arhar (Slovenia) Marco Stancin (Slovenia) |
| UEFA | Wolfgang Stark (Germany) | Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany) Volker Wezel (Germany) |
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8).

## Seeding

The draw for the tournament took place on 20 April 2008. Argentina, the Netherlands, China and Cameroon were seeded for the draw and placed into groups A–D, respectively. The remaining teams were drawn from four pots with teams from the same region kept apart.
| Pot 1: Asia | Pot 2: Africa and Oceania | Pot 3: Europe | Pot 4: Americas |
| China (assigned to C1)  Australia  Japan  South Korea | Cameroon (assigned to Group D)  Ivory Coast  Nigeria  New Zealand | Netherlands (assigned to Group B)  Belgium  Italy  Serbia | Argentina (assigned to Group A)  Brazil  Honduras  United States |

## Group stage

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Argentina | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 9 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 3 | Australia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 | |
| 4 | Serbia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 | Netherlands | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 3 | United States | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Japan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 9 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 | Belgium | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 3 | China (H) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 | |
| 4 | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Italy | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 7 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 2 | Cameroon | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | Qualified for the quarterfinals |
| 3 | South Korea | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Honduras | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| B1 | Nigeria | 2 | | | | | | |
| A2 | Ivory Coast | 0 | | | | | | |
| A2 | Ivory Coast | 0 | B1 | Nigeria | 4 | | | |
| | | | C2 | Belgium | 1 | | | |
| D1 | Italy | 2 | C2 | Belgium | 1 | | | |
| C2 | Belgium | 3 | | | | | | |
| C2 | Belgium | 3 | | | | B1 | Nigeria | 0 |
| | | | | | | A1 | Argentina | 1 |
| A1 | Argentina (aet) | 2 | | | | | | | A1 | Argentina | 1 |
| B2 | Netherlands | 1 | | | |
| B2 | Netherlands | 1 | A1 | Argentina | 3 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| | | | C1 | Brazil | 0 |
| C1 | Brazil (aet) | 2 | C1 | Brazil | 0 | C2 | Belgium | 0 |
| D2 | Cameroon | 0 | | | | C1 | Brazil | 3 |

### Gold medal match

Source for cards:
Team details :
Nigeria
GK1Ambruse Vanzekin
DF5Dele Adeleye
DF4Onyekachi Apam  68'
DF2Chibuzor Okonkwo
DF13Olubayo Adefemi
MF8Sani Kaita
MF12Ajilore Oluwafemi
MF11Solomon Okoronkwo 64'
FW9Victor Obinna  51'
FW14Peter Odemwingie
FW10Isaac Promise (c) 70'
Substitutes:
FW16Victor Anichebe 64'
MF17Emmanuel Ekpo 70'
Manager:
Samson Siasia
Argentina
GK18Sergio Romero
DF4Pablo Zabaleta
DF2Ezequiel Garay
DF12Nicolás Pareja
DF3Luciano Monzón  81'
MF11Ángel Di María 88'
MF14Javier Mascherano
MF5Fernando Gago
MF10Juan Román Riquelme (c)  82'
FW15Lionel Messi 90'
FW16Sergio Agüero 79'
Substitutes:
MF7José Sosa 79'
MF8Ever Banega 88'
FW9Ezequiel Lavezzi 90'
Manager:
Sergio Batista :

## Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Argentina (ARG) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 18 |
| 2 | Nigeria (NGR) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 13 |
| 3 | Brazil (BRA) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 15 |
| 4 | Belgium (BEL) | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 9 |
| 5 | Italy (ITA) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 7 |
| 6 | Ivory Coast (CIV) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 | Netherlands (NED) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Cameroon (CMR) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 5 |
| 9 | United States (USA) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | South Korea (KOR) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 |
| 11 | Australia (AUS) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |
| 12 | Serbia (SRB) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 |
| 13 | China (CHN) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 |
| 14 | New Zealand (NZL) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 |
| 15 | Japan (JPN) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 |
| 16 | Honduras (HON) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 |

## Statistics
### Goalscorers

With four goals, Giuseppe Rossi of Italy was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 75 goals were scored by 53 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.

#### 4 goals

* Giuseppe Rossi

#### 3 goals

* Mousa Dembélé
* Victor Obinna

#### 2 goals

* Sergio Agüero
* Ángel Di María
* Ezequiel Lavezzi
* Lionel Messi
* Kevin Mirallas
* Diego
* Jô
* Thiago Neves
* Ronaldinho
* Rafael Sóbis
* Sekou Cissé
* Salomon Kalou
* Gerald Sibon
* Chinedu Obasi
* Sacha Kljestan

#### 1 goal

* Lautaro Acosta
* Diego Buonanotte
* Juan Román Riquelme
* Ruben Zadkovich
* Laurent Ciman
* Faris Haroun
* Anderson
* Hernanes
* Marcelo
* Alexandre Pato
* Georges Mandjeck
* Stéphane Mbia
* Dong Fangzhuo
* Robert Acquafresca
* Sebastian Giovinco
* Riccardo Montolivo
* Tommaso Rocchi
* Gervinho
* Yohei Toyoda
* Kim Dong-jin
* Park Chu-young
* Ryan Babel
* Otman Bakkal
* Jeremy Brockie
* Olubayo Adefemi
* Victor Anichebe
* Peter Odemwingie
* Chibuzor Okonkwo
* Isaac Promise
* Miljan Mrdaković
* Slobodan Rajković
* Đorđe Rakić
* Jozy Altidore
* Stuart Holden

#### Own goals

* Slobodan Rajković (playing against Ivory Coast)