# Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The 1996 Summer Olympics—based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States—marked the first time that women participated in the Olympic association football tournament. The tournament featured eight women's national teams from four continental confederations. The teams were drawn into two groups of four and each group played a round-robin tournament (which was held in Miami, Florida, Orlando, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama and Washington, D.C.). At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage (which was held at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia), beginning with the semi-finals and culminating with the gold medal match on August 1, 1996.
The United States became the inaugural champion after a 2–1 victory against China in the gold medal game.

## Competition schedule

| G | Group stage | ½ | Semifinals | B | 3rd place play-off | F | Final |
| Sun 21 | Mon 22 | Tue 23 | Wed 24 | Thu 25 | Fri 26 | Sat 27 | Sun 28 | Mon 29 | Tue 30 | Wed 31 | Thu 1 | Thu 1 |
| G | | G | | G | | | ½ | | | | B | F |

## Qualification

The qualification system for the inaugural women's football tournament was based on the results of the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup. Seven best teams and the host nation were qualified for the tournament. As the third-ranked United States team was already qualified as the host, its spot was passed down to the eighth-ranked team, Japan. England was ranked seventh, but due to it not being an IOC member, its spot was passed down to the ninth-ranked Brazil.
* Asia (AFC)
** China
** Japan
* South America (CONMEBOL)
** Brazil
* Europe (UEFA)
** Denmark
** Germany
** Norway
** Sweden
* North and Central America (CONCACAF)
** United States – host nation

## Venues

The tournament was held in five stadiums across five cities:
| Athens, Georgia | Athens, Georgia | Birmingham, Alabama | Birmingham, Alabama | Miami, Florida | Miami, Florida |
| Sanford Stadium | Sanford Stadium | Legion Field | Legion Field | Orange Bowl | Orange Bowl | OrlandoBirminghamMiamiWashington D.C.Athens |
| Capacity: 86,100 | Capacity: 86,100 | Capacity: 81,700 | Capacity: 81,700 | Capacity: 74,476 | Capacity: 74,476 | OrlandoBirminghamMiamiWashington D.C.Athens |
| Orlando, Florida | Orlando, Florida | Orlando, Florida | Washington, D.C. | Washington, D.C. | Washington, D.C. | | OrlandoBirminghamMiamiWashington D.C.Athens |
| Citrus Bowl | Citrus Bowl | Citrus Bowl | Robert F. Kennedy Stadium | Robert F. Kennedy Stadium | Robert F. Kennedy Stadium | | OrlandoBirminghamMiamiWashington D.C.Athens |
| Capacity: 65,000 | Capacity: 65,000 | Capacity: 65,000 | Capacity: 56,500 | Capacity: 56,500 | Capacity: 56,500 | | OrlandoBirminghamMiamiWashington D.C.Athens |

## Match officials

Referees :
| Confederation | Referee |
| Female officials ||
| CONCACAF | Sonia Denoncourt (Canada) |
| CONMEBOL | Cláudia Vasconcelos (Brazil) |
| UEFA | Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden) |
| UEFA | Bente Skogvang (Norway) |
| Male officials ||
| AFC | Omer Al Mehannah (Saudi Arabia) |
| CAF | Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt) |
| CONCACAF | Benito Archundia (Mexico) |
| OFC | Eddie Lennie (Australia) |
| UEFA | Pierluigi Collina (Italy) |
| UEFA | José María García-Aranda (Spain) |
Fourth officials :
| Confederation | Referee |
| Male officials ||
| AFC | Pirom Un-prasert (Thailand) |
| CONMEBOL | Antônio Pereira (Brazil) |
| CONMEBOL | Roberto Ruscio (Argentina) |
Assistant referees :
| Confederation | Assistant referee |
| Female officials ||
| CONCACAF | Janice Gettemeyer (United States) |
| CONCACAF | María del Socorro Rodríguez (Mexico) |
| UEFA | Gitte Holm (Denmark) |
| UEFA | Nelly Viennot (France) |
| Male officials ||
| AFC | Jeon Young-hyun (South Korea) |
| AFC | Mohamed Al-Musawi (Oman) |
| CAF | Dramane Dante (Mali) |
| CAF | Amir Osman Mohamed Hamid (Sudan) |
| CONCACAF | Peter Kelly (Trinidad and Tobago) |
| CONMEBOL | Jorge Luis Arango (Colombia) |
| CONMEBOL | Carlos Velázquez (Uruguay) |
| OFC | Lencie Fred (Vanuatu) |
| UEFA | Yuri Dupanov (Belarus) |

## Group stage
### Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 7 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | United States (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | Semi-finals |
| 3 | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 | |

### Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Norway | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 7 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | Brazil | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 | Semi-finals |
| 3 | Germany | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Japan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| July 28 – Athens, GA | July 28 – Athens, GA |
| China | 3 |
| China | 3 | August 1 – Athens, GA | August 1 – Athens, GA |
| Brazil | 2 | August 1 – Athens, GA | August 1 – Athens, GA |
| Brazil | 2 | China | 1 |
| July 28 – Athens, GA | July 28 – Athens, GA | | China | 1 |
| July 28 – Athens, GA | July 28 – Athens, GA | United States | 2 |
| Norway | 1 | United States | 2 |
| United States (AET) | 2 | | |
| United States (AET) | 2 | Third place | Third place |
| | | August 1 – Athens, GA | August 1 – Athens, GA |
| | | Brazil | 0 |
| | | Norway | 2 |

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

There were 53 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.31 goals per match. Brazil's Pretinha and Norway's Ann Kristin Aarønes and Linda Medalen finished as the top scorers of the tournament, with each scoring four goals.
4 goals
* Pretinha
* Ann Kristin Aarønes
* Linda Medalen
3 goals
* Sun Qingmei
* Shannon MacMillan
2 goals
* Shi Guihong
* Wei Haiying
* Bettina Wiegmann
* Marianne Pettersen
* Malin Swedberg
* Tiffeny Milbrett
* Tisha Venturini
1 goal
* Kátia
* Roseli
* Sissi
* Fan Yunjie
* Liu Ailing
* Sun Wen
* Zhao Lihong
* Helle Jensen
* Lene Madsen
* Heidi Mohr
* Birgit Prinz
* Pia Wunderlich
* Futaba Kioka
* Akemi Noda
* Hege Riise
* Trine Tangeraas
* Lena Videkull
* Michelle Akers
* Mia Hamm
1 own goal
* Yumi Tomei (against Germany)
* Carla Overbeck (against Sweden)
Source: FIFA

### Assists

4 assists
* Roseli
* Sun Qingmei
2 assists
* Shi Guihong
* Linda Medalen
1 assist
* Fanta
* Fan Yunjie
* Sun Wen
* Zhao Lihong
* Lisbet Kolding
* Gitte Krogh
* Lene Madsen
* Martina Voss
* Futaba Kioka
* Agnete Carlsen
* Gro Espeseth
* Hege Riise
* Brit Sandaune
* Tina Svensson
* Trine Tangeraas
* Kristin Bengtsson
* Ulrika Kalte
* Pia Sundhage
* Michelle Akers
* Julie Foudy
* Mia Hamm
* Kristine Lilly
Source: FIFA

### FIFA Fair Play Award

* Winner: United States
The United States won the FIFA Fair Play Award, given to the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament.

### 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 | E | United States (H) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 13 | Gold medal |
| 2 | E | China | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 10 | Silver medal |
| 3 | F | Norway | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 10 | Bronze medal |
| 4 | F | Brazil | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 5 | Fourth place |
| 5 | F | Germany | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 6 | E | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 7 | F | Japan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 8 | E | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |