Football at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

2020 Men's Olympic Football Tournament

Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Dates	22 July – 7 August 2021
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Brazil (2nd title)
Runners-up	Spain
Third place	Mexico
Fourth place	Japan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	93 (2.91 per match)
Attendance	14,291 (447 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Richarlison (5 goals)
← 2016 2024 →

Football at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Qualification
	men	women
Tournament
	men	women
Squads
	men	women
v t e

The men's football tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 22 July to 7 August 2021. Originally, it was to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2020, but the Summer Olympics were postponed to the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the official name of the games remains the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[1] It was the 27th edition of the men's Olympic football tournament. Together with the women's competition, the 2020 Summer Olympics football tournament was held at six stadiums in six cities in Japan. The final was hosted at the International Stadium in Yokohama. Teams participating in the men's competition were restricted to under-24 players (born on or after 1 January 1997) with a maximum of three overage players allowed. The men's tournament is typically restricted to under-23 players though following the postponement of the Olympics by a year, FIFA decided to maintain the restriction of players born on or after 1 January 1997.^[2]

Brazil were the defending champions and successfully retained their title.^[3]

The match schedule of the tournament as of 5 December 2018.^[4]

Legend

G

Group stage

¼

Quarter-finals

½

Semi-finals

B

Bronze medal match

F

Gold medal match

22 Thu	23 Fri	24 Sat	25 Sun	26 Mon	27 Tue	28 Wed	29 Thu	30 Fri	31 Sat	1 Sun	2 Mon	3 Tue	4 Wed	5 Thu	6 Fri	7 Sat
G			G			G			¼			½			B	F

In addition to host nation Japan, 15 men's national teams will qualify from six separate continental confederations. The Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions ratified the distribution of spots at their meeting on 14 September 2017.^[5]

Means of qualification	Ref.	Dates1	Venue(s)1	Berth(s)	Qualified
Host nation	[6]	—	—	1	Japan
2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship	[7]	16–30 June 2019	Italy  San Marino	4	Spain  Germany  France  Romania
2019 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament	[8]	21 September – 5 October 2019	Fiji	1	New Zealand
2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations	[9]	8–22 November 2019	Egypt	3	Egypt  Ivory Coast  South Africa
2020 AFC U-23 Championship	[10]	8–26 January 2020	Thailand	3	South Korea  Saudi Arabia  Australia
2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament	[11]	18 January – 9 February 2020	Colombia	2	Argentina  Brazil
2020 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship	[12]	18–30 March 2021	Mexico	2	Mexico  Honduras
Total				16

Chōfu (Tokyo Area)	Saitama	Yokohama
Tokyo Stadium	Saitama Stadium 2002	International Stadium Yokohama
Capacity: 49,970	Capacity: 63,700	Capacity: 72,327
Kashima	Yokohama Saitama Rifu Tokyo Kashima Sapporo
Ibaraki Kashima Stadium[13]
Capacity: 37,638
Rifu
Miyagi Stadium
Capacity: 49,133
Sapporo
Sapporo Dome
Capacity: 42,065

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, most matches were played behind closed doors without any spectators. However, Miyagi Stadium allowed a limited audience to attend matches and Kashima Stadium permitted local schoolchildren as part of the school program but Olympic spectators were still not allowed.^[14]

The men's tournament was an international tournament with restrictions on age: players had to be born on or after 1 January 1997, with three overage players allowed for each squad in the final tournament. Traditionally the roster rules required each team to submit a squad of 18 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers. Each team also named a list of four alternate players, who could replace any player in the squad in case of injury during the tournament.^[15] In late June 2021 the International Olympic Committee and FIFA announced that all 22 players of each team would be available for selection before each match. Prior to each match, the teams chose from their total of 22 players, a roster of 18 players to be available for play in that match.^[16] The rule change was made in regards to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[17]

In June 2020, FIFA approved the use of the video assistant referee (VAR) system for the tournament.^[18] The match officials were announced on 23 April 2021.^[19][20]

The draw for the tournament was held on 21 April 2021, 10:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland.^[21] It was conducted by Sarai Bareman, FIFA chief women's football officer, while Samantha Johnson presented the ceremony. Lindsay Tarpley and Ryan Nelsen acted as the draw assistants.^[22]

The sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.^[23] The hosts Japan were automatically seeded into Pot 1 and assigned to position A1, while the remaining teams were seeded into their respective pots based on their results in the last five Olympics (more recent tournaments weighted more heavily), with bonus points awarded to confederation champions. No group could contain more than one team from each confederation.^[24]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Japan (assigned to A1)  Brazil  Argentina  South Korea	Mexico  Germany  Honduras  Spain	Egypt  New Zealand  Ivory Coast  South Africa	Australia  Saudi Arabia  France  Romania

The competing countries were divided into four groups of four teams, denoted as groups A, B, C and D. Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin basis with the top two teams of each group advancing to the quarter-finals.

All times are local, JST (UTC+9).^[25]

The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:^[15]

1. Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat);
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Number of goals scored in all group matches;
4. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
5. Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
6. Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
7. Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
   • Yellow card: −1 point;
   • Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
   • Direct red card: −4 points;
   • Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
8. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan (H)	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Mexico	3	2	0	1	8	3	+5	6
3	France	3	1	0	2	5	11	−6	3
4	South Africa	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	2	0	1	10	1	+9	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	New Zealand	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Romania	3	1	1	1	1	4	−3	4
4	Honduras	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Egypt	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4
3	Argentina	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
4	Australia	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Ivory Coast	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	Germany	3	1	1	1	6	7	−1	4
4	Saudi Arabia	3	0	0	3	4	8	−4	0

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In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.^[15]

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal match
	31 July – Yokohama
	South Korea	3
					3 August – Kashima
	Mexico	6
					Mexico	0 (1)
	31 July – Saitama
					Brazil (p)	0 (4)
	Brazil	1
									7 August – Yokohama
	Egypt	0
									Brazil (a.e.t.)	2
	31 July – Kashima
									Spain	1
	Japan (p)	0 (4)
					3 August – Saitama
	New Zealand	0 (2)
					Japan	0
	31 July – Rifu
					Spain (a.e.t.)	1			Bronze medal match
	Spain (a.e.t.)	5
									6 August – Saitama
	Ivory Coast	2
									Mexico	3
									Japan	1

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There were 93 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.91 goals per match.

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: FIFA

As 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	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Brazil	6	4	2	0	10	4	+6	14	Gold medal
2	Spain	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	11	Silver medal
3	Mexico	6	4	1	1	17	7	+10	13	Bronze medal
4	Japan (H)	6	3	1	2	8	5	+3	10	Fourth place
5	South Korea	4	2	0	2	13	7	+6	6	Eliminated in quarter-finals
6	New Zealand	4	1	2	1	3	3	0	5
7	Ivory Coast	4	1	2	1	5	7	−2	5
8	Egypt	4	1	1	2	2	2	0	4
9	Germany	3	1	1	1	6	7	−1	4	Eliminated in group stage
10	Argentina	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
11	Romania	3	1	1	1	1	4	−3	4
12	Australia	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3
13	France	3	1	0	2	5	11	−6	3
14	Honduras	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3
15	Saudi Arabia	3	0	0	3	4	8	−4	0
16	South Africa	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0

• Men's Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020, FIFA.com