Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

1996 Men's Olympic Football Tournament
Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	July 20 – August 3
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Nigeria (1st title)
Runners-up	Argentina
Third place	Brazil
Fourth place	Portugal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	90 (2.81 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Bebeto ; Hernán Crespo ; (6 goals each)
	← 1992 2000 →

The 1996 Men's Olympic Football Tournament, played as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics, was hosted in Birmingham, Alabama, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Florida, Miami, Florida and Athens, Georgia.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] From 1992 onwards, male competitors should be under 23 years old and starting from this tournament, a maximum of three over-23 players are allowed per squad. The tournament featured 16 national teams from the six continental confederations. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four and each group played a round-robin tournament. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage, beginning with the quarter-finals and culminating with the gold medal match at Sanford Stadium on August 3, 1996.^[5]

Competition schedule

The match schedule of the tournament.^[6]

Legend
G	Group stage	¼	Quarter-finals	½	Semi-finals	B	Bronze medal match	F	Gold medal match

20 Sat	21 Sun	22 Mon	23 Tue	24 Wed	25 Thu	26 Fri	27 Sat	28 Sun	29 Lun	30 Tue	31 Wed	1 Thu	2 Fri	3 Sat
G	G	G	G	G	G		¼	¼		½	½		B	F

Venues

Athens, Georgia	Birmingham, Alabama		Miami, Florida
Sanford Stadium	Legion Field		Orange Bowl
Capacity: 86,100	Capacity: 81,700		Capacity: 74,476

Orlando, Florida		Washington, D.C.
Citrus Bowl		Robert F. Kennedy Stadium
Capacity: 65,000		Capacity: 56,500

Qualification

The following 16 teams qualified for the 1996 Olympic men's football tournament:

Means of qualification	Berths	Qualified
Host nation	1	United States
1996 CONCACAF Preliminary Competition	1	Mexico (winner)
1996 AFC Preliminary Competition	3	South Korea (winner) Japan (runner-up) Saudi Arabia (third-place)
1996 CAF Preliminary Competition	3	Ghana Tunisia Nigeria
1996 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament	2	Brazil (winner) Argentina (runner-up)
CONCACAF–OFC play-off	1	Australia
1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship	5	Italy (winner) Spain (runner-up) France (third-place) Hungary (5th) Portugal (6th)
Total	16

Match officials

Referees
Confederation	Referee
Male officials
AFC	Omer Al Mehannah (Saudi Arabia)
AFC	Pirom Un-prasert (Thailand)
CAF	Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)
CAF	Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)
CONCACAF	Benito Archundia (Mexico)
CONCACAF	Esfandiar Baharmast (United States)
CONMEBOL	Antônio Pereira (Brazil)
CONMEBOL	Roberto Ruscio (Argentina)
OFC	Eddie Lennie (Australia)
UEFA	Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
	Hugh Dallas (Great Britain)
	José María García-Aranda (Spain)

Fourth officials
Confederation	Referee
Female officials
UEFA	Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden)

Assistant referees
Confederation	Assistant referee
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)
CONCACAF	Luis Fernando Torres Zúñiga (Costa Rica)
CONMEBOL	Jorge Luis Arango (Colombia)
CONMEBOL	Carlos Velázquez (Uruguay)
OFC	Lencie Fred (Vanuatu)
UEFA	Yuri Dupanov (Belarus)
	Heiner Neuenstein (Germany)
	Akif Uğurdur (Turkey)
Female officials
CONCACAF	María del Socorro Rodríguez (Mexico)
UEFA	Gitte Holm (Denmark)
UEFA	Nelly Viennot (France)

Seeding

The draw for the tournament took place on 5 May 1996. The United States, Spain, Ghana and Brazil were seeded for the draw and placed into groups A–D, respectively. The remaining teams, excluding those from Europe, were drawn away from teams of the same region.

Pot 1: Host, Top-Seeded teams from Africa, Europe and South America	Pot 2: Asia, Non-top seeded team from South America	Pot 3: Non-top seeded teams from Europe	Pot 4: Non-top seeded teams from Africa and North America, Inter-continental playoff winner
United States Spain Ghana Brazil	Argentina Japan South Korea Saudi Arabia	France Hungary Italy Portugal	Nigeria Tunisia Mexico¹ Australia²

¹ 1996 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament Champions, team not determined at time of draw.

² CONCACAF–OFC play-off winner, team not determined at time of draw.

Squads

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
Portugal	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
United States	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

Source: FIFA

20 July 1996
15:00

Portugal	2–0	Tunisia
Martins 13', 68'	Report

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 34,796

Referee: Pereira (BRA)

20 July 1996
19:30

United States	1–3	Argentina
Reyna 1'	Report	G. López 26' Crespo 55' Simeone 90'

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 83,183

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

22 July 1996
19:30

Argentina	1–1	Portugal
Ortega 45'	Report	Nuno Gomes 70'

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 25,811

Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)

22 July 1996
19:30

United States	2–0	Tunisia
Kirovski 38' Maisonneuve 90'	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 45,687

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

24 July 1996
19:30

Argentina	1–1	Tunisia
Ortega 5'	Report	Mkacher 74'

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 16,826

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

24 July 1996
19:30

United States	1–1	Portugal
Maisonneuve 75'	Report	Paulo Alves 33'

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 58,012

Referee: Lennie (AUS)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
Spain	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
Australia	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
Saudi Arabia	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0

Source: FIFA

20 July 1996
18:30

Spain	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Óscar 80'	Report

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 28,774

Referee: Collina (ITA)

20 July 1996
18:30

France	2–0	Australia
Pires 11' Maurice 74'	Report

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 14,322

Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

22 July 1996
19:00

France	1–1	Spain
Legwinski 38'	Report	Óscar 85'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 16,773

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

22 July 1996
19:00

Australia	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Tsekenis 11' Viduka 63'	Report	Al-Khilaiwi 37'

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 5,997

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

24 July 1996
19:00

Spain	3–2	Australia
Raúl 40', 90' Santi 86'	Report	Vidmar 3', 12'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 12,050

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

24 July 1996
19:00

France	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Maurice 20' (pen.) Sibierski 49'	Report	Anwar 26'

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 4,615

Referee: Archundia (MEX)

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Ghana	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
South Korea	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Italy	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3

Source: FIFA

21 July 1996
12:00

South Korea	1–0	Ghana
Yoon Jong-hwan 41' (pen.)	Report

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 45,946

Referee: Lennie (AUS)

21 July 1996
17:00

Mexico	1–0	Italy
Palencia 83'	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 44,211

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

23 July 1996
20:00

Mexico	0–0	South Korea
	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 26,111

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

23 July 1996
21:00

Ghana	3–2	Italy
Saba 15', 74' Ahinful 63' (pen.)	Report	Branca 8', 44' (pen.)

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 27,849

Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

25 July 1996
21:00

Mexico	1–1	Ghana
Abundis 65'	Report	Ebenzer 44'

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 30,237

Referee: Pereira (BRA)

25 July 1996
21:00

Italy	2–1	South Korea
Branca 24', 82'	Report	Lee Ki-hyung 62'

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 28,319

Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

Group D

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	2	1	4	2	+2	6
Nigeria	3	2	1	3	1	+2	6
Japan	3	2	1	4	4	0	6
Hungary	3	0	3	3	7	−4	0

Source: FIFA

21 July 1996
18:30

Japan	1–0	Brazil
Itō 72'	Report

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 46,713

Referee: Archundia (MEX)

21 July 1996
18:30

Nigeria	1–0	Hungary
Kanu 77'	Report

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 25,303

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

23 July 1996
20:30

Brazil	3–1	Hungary
Ronaldo 35' Juninho 61' Bebeto 84'	Report	Madar 58'

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 34,871

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

23 July 1996
20:30

Nigeria	2–0	Japan
Akiba 83' (o.g.) Okocha 90' (pen.)	Report

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 22,734

Referee: Collina (ITA)

25 July 1996
21:00

Brazil	1–0	Nigeria
Ronaldo 30'	Report

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 55,650

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

25 July 1996
21:00

Japan	3–2	Hungary
Maezono 39' (pen.), 90+1' Uemura 90'	Report	Sandor 2' Madar 48'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 20,834

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Gold medal match

July 27 – Miami, FL

Portugal (asdet)	2
		July 30 – Athens, GA
France	1
		Portugal	0
July 27 – Birmingham, AL
		Argentina	2
Argentina	4
				August 3 – Athens, GA
Spain	0
				Argentina	2
July 28 – Birmingham, AL
				Nigeria	3
Mexico	0
		July 31 – Athens, GA
Nigeria	2
		Nigeria (asdet)	4
July 28 – Miami, FL
		Brazil	3	Bronze medal match
Brazil	4
				August 2 – Athens, GA
Ghana	2
				Portugal	0

				Brazil	5

Quarter-finals

27 July 1996
18:00

Portugal	2–1 (a.e.t./g.g.)	France
Capucho 7' Calado 105' (pen.)	Report	Maurice 49' (pen.)

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 22,339

Referee: Collina (ITA)

27 July 1996
19:30

Argentina	4–0	Spain
Crespo 47', 88' (pen.) Aranzábal 52' (o.g.) C. López 66'	Report

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 43,507

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

28 July 1996
16:00

Mexico	0–2	Nigeria
	Report	Okocha 20' C. Babayaro 84'

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 44,788

Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)

28 July 1996
18:00

Brazil	4–2	Ghana
Dodoo 18' (o.g.) Ronaldo 56', 62' Bebeto 72'	Report	Akonnor 23' Aboagye 53'

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 45,257

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

Semi-finals

30 July 1996
18:00

Portugal	0–2	Argentina
	Report	Crespo 55', 61'

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 78,212

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

31 July 1996
18:00

Nigeria	4–3 (a.e.t./g.g.)	Brazil
Roberto Carlos 20' (o.g.) Ikpeba 78' Kanu 90', 94'	Report	Flávio 1', 38' Bebeto 28'

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 78,587

Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

Bronze medal match

August 2, 1996
18:00

Brazil	5–0	Portugal
Ronaldo 5' Flávio 11' Bebeto 47', 54', 75'	Report

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 68,173

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

Gold medal match

August 3, 1996

15:45

Nigeria	3–2	Argentina
Babayaro 28' Amokachi 74' Amunike 90'	Report	C. López 3' Crespo 50' (pen.)

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 86,117

Referee: Collina (ITA)

Team details

Nigeria

Argentina


GK	18	Joseph Dosu	90'
RB	17	Mobi Oparaku		61'
CB	5	Uche Okechukwu
CB	3	Taribo West
LB	2	Celestine Babayaro
DM	15	Sunday Oliseh	22'
RM	7	Tijani Babangida
LM	11	Victor Ikpeba		74'
AM	10	Jay-Jay Okocha		59'
CF	14	Daniel Amokachi
CF	4	Nwankwo Kanu (c)
Substitutes:
MF	13	Garba Lawal		59'
MF	8	Wilson Oruma	70'	61'
MF	6	Emmanuel Amunike		74'
Manager:
Jo Bonfrère


GK	12	Pablo Cavallero
RB	4	Javier Zanetti
CB	2	Roberto Ayala
CB	6	Roberto Sensini	12'
LB	3	José Chamot
DM	5	Matías Almeyda
RM	10	Ariel Ortega
CM	15	Christian Bassedas (c)
LM	11	Hugo Morales		58'
CF	7	Claudio López
CF	9	Hernán Crespo
Substitutes:
MF	8	Diego Simeone		58'
Manager:
Daniel Passarella

Final ranking

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Nigeria (NGR)	6	5	0	1	12	6	+6	15
2	Argentina (ARG)	6	3	2	1	13	6	+7	11
3	Brazil (BRA)	6	4	0	2	16	8	+8	12
4	Portugal (POR)	6	2	2	2	6	10	−4	8
5	France (FRA)	4	2	1	1	6	4	+2	7
6	Spain (ESP)	4	2	1	1	5	7	−2	7
7	Mexico (MEX)	4	1	2	1	2	3	−1	5
8	Ghana (GHA)	4	1	1	2	6	8	−2	4
9	Japan (JPN)	3	2	0	1	4	4	0	6
10	United States (USA)	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
11	South Korea (KOR)	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
12	Italy (ITA)	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
13	Australia (AUS)	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
14	Tunisia (TUN)	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1
15	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0
16	Hungary (HUN)	3	0	0	3	3	7	−4	0

Source: FIFA

Goalscorers

With six goals, Hernán Crespo of Argentina and Bebeto of Brazil are the top scorers of the tournament. In total, 90 goals were scored by 55 different players, with four of them credited as own goals.

Hernán Crespo (left) and Bebeto (right), top scorers with 6 goals each.

6 goals

5 goals

Ronaldo

4 goals

Marco Branca

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goals

Roberto Carlos (playing against Nigeria)
Afo Dodoo (playing against Brazil)
Tadahiro Akiba (playing against Nigeria)
Agustín Aranzábal (playing against Argentina)

References

^ "The inside story of Nigeria's Atlanta '96 gold medal – SuperSport – Football". SuperSport. July 25, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ Penner, Mike (August 1, 1996). "Defense Rests for a Stunned Brazil – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ Penner, Mike (August 4, 1996). "Nigeria's Eagles Catch Argentina in Its Own Trap – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ "Football at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
^ "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

External links

Olympic Football Tournaments Atlanta 1996 – Men, FIFA.com
RSSSF Summary
FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3) and (Part 4)

[1] "The inside story of Nigeria's Atlanta '96 gold medal – SuperSport – Football". SuperSport. July 25, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[2] Penner, Mike (August 1, 1996). "Defense Rests for a Stunned Brazil – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[3] Penner, Mike (August 4, 1996). "Nigeria's Eagles Catch Argentina in Its Own Trap – Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[4] "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[SR-5] "Football at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2018.

[6] "Soccer : Results : Men's Competition Notebook". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

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v t e Summer Olympics men's football tournament winners
List of Olympic medalists
1900: Upton Park FC (GBR) 1904: Galt FC (CAN) 1908: Great Britain (GBR) 1912: Great Britain (GBR) 1920: Belgium (BEL) 1924: Uruguay (URU) 1928: Uruguay (URU) 1932: Not included in the Olympics 1936: Italy (ITA) 1948: Sweden (SWE) 1952: Hungary (HUN) 1956: Soviet Union (URS) 1960: Yugoslavia (YUG) 1964: Hungary (HUN) 1968: Hungary (HUN) 1972: Poland (POL) 1976: East Germany (GDR) 1980: Czechoslovakia (TCH) 1984: France (FRA) 1988: Soviet Union (URS) 1992: Spain (ESP) 1996: Nigeria (NGR) 2000: Cameroon (CMR) 2004: Argentina (ARG) 2008: Argentina (ARG) 2012: Mexico (MEX) 2016: Brazil (BRA) 2020: Brazil (BRA) 2024: Spain (ESP)
Related tournaments 1896: Denmark XI (DEN) (Unofficial) 1906: Copenhagen XI (DEN) (Intercalated Games)