# Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

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.

## Qualifying

Each National Olympic Committee may enter one women's team in the football tournament.
| Means of qualification | Date of completion | Venue | Berths | Qualified |
| Host nation | 2005 | none | 1 | Great Britain |
| AFC Preliminary Competition | 11 September 2011 | China | 2 | Japan North Korea |
| CAF Preliminary Competition | 22 October 2011 | multiple | 2 | Cameroon South Africa |
| CONCACAF Preliminary Competition | 29 January 2012 | Canada | 2 | United States Canada |
| CONMEBOL Preliminary Competition | 21 November 2010 | Ecuador | 2 | Brazil Colombia |
| OFC Preliminary Competition | 4 April 2012 | multiple | 1 | New Zealand |
| Best UEFA teams in 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup | 17 July 2011 | Germany | 2 | Sweden France |
| TOTAL | | | 12 | |
* ^1 Locations are those of final tournaments, various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues.

## Venues

The tournament was held in six venues across six cities:
* Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
* City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry
* Hampden Park, Glasgow
* Wembley Stadium, London
* Old Trafford, Manchester
* St James' Park, Newcastle

## 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 |

## Squads

The women's tournament is a full international tournament with no restrictions on age. Each nation must submit a squad of 18 players.

## Match officials

On 19 April 2012, FIFA released the list of match referees that would officiate at the Olympics.
Match officials :
| Confederation | Referee | Assistant referees |
| AFC | Hong Eun-ah (South Korea) | Sarah Ho (Australia) Kim Kyoung-min (South Korea) |
| AFC | Sachiko Yamagishi (Japan) | Widiya Habibah Shamsuri (Malaysia) Saori Takahashi (Japan) |
| CAF | Thérèse Neguel (Cameroon) | Tempa Ndah (Benin) Lidwine Rakotozafinoro (Madagascar) |
| CONCACAF | Quetzalli Alvarado (Mexico) | Mayte Chávez (Mexico) Shirley Perelló (Honduras) |
| CONCACAF | Carol Anne Chenard (Canada) | Marie-Josée Charbonneau (Canada) Stacy-Ann Greyson (Jamaica) |
| CONCACAF | Kari Seitz (United States) | Marlene Duffy (United States) Veronica Perez (United States) |
| CONMEBOL | Salomé di Iorio (Argentina) | Mariana Corbo (Uruguay) María Rocco (Argentina) |
| UEFA | Kirsi Heikkinen (Finland) | Anu Jokela (Finland) Tonja Paavola (Finland) |
| UEFA | Thalia Mitsi (Greece) | Yolanda Parga Rodríguez (Spain) María Luisa Villa Gutiérrez (Spain) |
| UEFA | Jenny Palmqvist (Sweden) | Helen Caro (Sweden) Anna Nyström (Sweden) |
| UEFA | Christina Pedersen (Norway) | Lada Rojc (Croatia) Hege Lanes Steinlund (Norway) |
| UEFA | Bibiana Steinhaus (Germany) | Katrin Rafalski (Germany) Marina Wozniak (Germany) |

## Group stage

Group winners and runners-up and the two best third-ranked teams advanced to the quarter-finals (also see Tie breakers).
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).

### Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Great Britain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 9 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 2 | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 6 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 3 | New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 4 | Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 0 | |

### Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 5 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 3 | Canada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 4 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 4 | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 | |

### Group G

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 9 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 2 | France | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 | Qualified for the quarter-finals |
| 3 | North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Colombia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 | |
† Game delayed by one hour, having been originally scheduled at 19:45, due to North Korean protest after accidental use of South Korean flag for North Korea.

### 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

## Knockout stage

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| E1 | Great Britain | 0 | | | | | | |
| F3 | Canada | 2 | | | | | | |
| F3 | Canada | 2 | F3 | Canada | 3 | | | |
| | | | G1 | United States (a.e.t.) | 4 | | | |
| G1 | United States | 2 | G1 | United States (a.e.t.) | 4 | | | |
| E3 | New Zealand | 0 | | | | | | |
| E3 | New Zealand | 0 | | | | G1 | United States | 2 |
| | | | | | | F2 | Japan | 1 |
| F1 | Sweden | 1 | | | | | | | F2 | Japan | 1 |
| G2 | France | 2 | | | |
| G2 | France | 2 | G2 | France | 1 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| | | | F2 | Japan | 2 |
| E2 | Brazil | 0 | F2 | Japan | 2 | F3 | Canada | 1 |
| F2 | Japan | 2 | | | | G2 | France | 0 |

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

There were 71 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2.73 goals per match.
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 Onguéné
* 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
1 own goal
* Ysis Sonkeng (against New Zealand)
Source: FIFA

### Assists

5 assists
* Alex Morgan
4 assists
* Louisa Nécib
3 assists
* Sophie Schmidt
* Élodie Thomis
* Megan Rapinoe
2 assists
* Melissa Tancredi
* Rhian Wilkinson
* Karen Carney
* Kim Little
* Shinobu Ohno
* Marie Hammarström
* Tobin Heath
1 assist
* Cristiane
* Francielle
* Adrienne Iven
* Diana Matheson
* Lauren Sesselmann
* Christine Sinclair
* Sonia Bompastor
* Aya Miyama
* Aya Sameshima
* Homare Sawa
* Ria Percival
* Rosie White
* Sofia Jakobsson
* Lina Nilsson
* Caroline Seger
* Sara Thunebro
* Kelley O'Hara
* Heather O'Reilly
* Christie Rampone
* Hope Solo
Source: FIFA

### Discipline
#### Red cards

* Choe Mi-gyong

#### Match bans

* Lady Andrade was banned two matches for violent conduct in punching Abby Wambach.

### FIFA Fair Play Award

The United States 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 Award.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
| 1 | United States | 945 |
| 2 | Sweden | 890 |
| 3 | France | 875 |
| 4 | Japan | 874 |
| 5 | Canada | 863 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 844 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 798 |
| 8 | Brazil | 698 |

### 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 | G | United States | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 18 | Gold medal |
| 2 | F | Japan | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 11 | Silver medal |
| 3 | F | Canada | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 10 | Bronze medal |
| 4 | G | France | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 9 | Fourth place |
| 5 | E | Great Britain (H) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 9 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | E | Brazil | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | F | Sweden | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 5 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | E | New Zealand | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 9 | G | North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 10 | F | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 11 | G | Colombia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 12 | E | Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |

## Notable events and controversies
### North 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. 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.