Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The **women's football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics** was held held in Beijing and 4 other cities in the China. The tournament had 12 teams. The group stage began two days before the opening ceremony, August 6. The United States won the tournament against Brazil, winning their 3rd olympic gold medal.

## Qualification

The following teams qualified:

- China (Host nation)
- Japan
- North Korea
- Nigeria
- United States
- Canada
- Argentina
- New Zealand
- Germany
- Norway
- Sweden
- Brazil

### Group E

|width=175|Team|width=20 abbr="Played"|Pld|width=20 abbr="Won"|W|width=20 abbr="Drawn"|D|width=20 abbr="Lost"|L|width=20 abbr="Goals for"|GF|width=20 abbr="Goals against"|GA|width=20 abbr="Goal difference"|GD|width=20 abbr="Points"|Pts|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left|China|3|2|1|0|5|2|+3|**7**|||||||||
|align=left|Sweden|3|2|0|1|4|3|+1|**6**|||||||||
|align=left|Canada|3|1|1|1|4|4|0|**4**|||||||||
|align=left|Argentina|3|0|0|3|1|5|–4|**0**|||||||||

### Group F

|width=175|Team|width=20 abbr="Played"|Pld|width=20 abbr="Won"|W|width=20 abbr="Drawn"|D|width=20 abbr="Lost"|L|width=20 abbr="Goals for"|GF|width=20 abbr="Goals against"|GA|width=20 abbr="Goal difference"|GD|width=20 abbr="Points"|Pts|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left|Brazil|3|2|1|0|5|2|+3|**7**|||||||||
|align=left|Germany|3|2|1|0|2|0|+2|**7**|||||||||
|align=left|North Korea|3|1|0|2|2|3|–1|**3**|||||||||
|align=left|Nigeria|3|0|0|3|1|5|–4|**0**|||||||||

### Group G

|width=175|Team|width=20 abbr="Played"|Pld|width=20 abbr="Won"|W|width=20 abbr="Drawn"|D|width=20 abbr="Lost"|L|width=20 abbr="Goals for"|GF|width=20 abbr="Goals against"|GA|width=20 abbr="Goal difference"|GD|width=20 abbr="Points"|Pts|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left|United States|3|2|0|1|5|2|+3|**6**|||||||||
|align=left|Norway|3|2|0|1|4|5|–1|**6**|||||||||
|align=left|Japan|3|1|1|1|7|4|+3|**4**|||||||||
|align=left|New Zealand|3|0|1|2|2|7|–5|**1**|||||||||

### Ranking of third place teams

|width=175|Team|width=20 abbr="Played"|Pld|width=20 abbr="Won"|W|width=20 abbr="Drawn"|D|width=20 abbr="Lost"|L|width=20 abbr="Goals for"|GF|width=20 abbr="Goals against"|GA|width=20 abbr="Goal difference"|GD|width=20 abbr="Points"|Pts|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left|Japan|3|1|1|1|7|4|+3|**4**|||||||||
|align=left|Canada|3|1|1|1|4|4|0|**4**|||||||||
|align=left|North Korea|3|1|0|2|2|3|–1|**3**|||||||||

## Knockout stage

The games had a single-elimination format.  When a team lost a match, the tournament was ended for them.  In other words, when a team won, the women continued to play until only one team remained as the Olympic champion.

The US and Brazilian women won the opportunity to compete for the gold medal and the Olympic championship.

### Gold medal match

|width=10|Rank|width=120|Team|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|style="text-align:left;"|United States||
|2|style="text-align:left;"|Brazil||
|3|style="text-align:left;"|Germany||
|4|style="text-align:left;"|Japan||

## Statistics

- Top scorer :  Cristiane
- Own goal :  Gunhild Følstad

## Related pages

- 2008 Summer Olympics

## Infobox (international football competition)

- **tourney name**: 2008 Women's Olympic
football tournament
- **country**: China
- **dates**: 6 August - 21 August
- **num teams**: 12
- **venues**: 5
- **cities**: 5
- **champion**: United States
- **count**: 3
- **second**: Brazil
- **third**: Germany
- **fourth**: Japan
- **matches**: 26
- **goals**: 64
- **top scorer**: Cristiane
- **attendance**: 740014
- **prevseason**: Football at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, 2004
- **nextseason**: Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, 2012
- **image**: FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 Final - Alex Morgan and Stefanie van der Gragt.jpg
- **image size**: 250px