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
GGroup stage½SemifinalsB3rd place play-offFFinal Sun 21 Mon 22 Tue 23 Wed 24 Thu 25 Fri 26 Sat 27 Sun 28 Mon 29 Tue 30 Wed 31 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.Women's Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta 1996
Asia (AFC)
South America (CONMEBOL)
Europe (UEFA)
North and Central America (CONCACAF) – host nation
Venues The tournament was held in five stadiums across five cities: 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
Squads
Match officials
+ Referees Confederation Referee Female officials CONCACAF Sonia Denoncourt (Canada) CONMEBOL Cláudia Vasconcelos (Brazil) UEFA Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden) 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) José María García-Aranda (Spain) + Fourth officials Confederation Referee Male officials AFC Pirom Un-prasert (Thailand) CONMEBOL Antônio Pereira (Brazil) Roberto Ruscio (Argentina)
+ Assistant referees Confederation Assistant referee Female officials CONCACAF Janice Gettemeyer (United States) María del Socorro Rodríguez (Mexico) UEFA Gitte Holm (Denmark) Nelly Viennot (France) Male officials AFC Jeon Young-hyun (South Korea) Mohamed Al-Musawi (Oman) CAF Dramane Dante (Mali) Amir Osman Mohamed Hamid (Sudan) CONCACAF Peter Kelly (Trinidad and Tobago) CONMEBOL Jorge Luis Arango (Colombia) Carlos Velázquez (Uruguay) OFC Lencie Fred (Vanuatu) UEFA Yuri Dupanov (Belarus)
Group stage Group E
Group F
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
Bronze medal match
Gold medal match
Statistics Goalscorers
Assists
FIFA Fair Play Award Winner:
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
References
External links Olympic Football Tournaments Atlanta 1996 - Women, FIFA.com RSSSF Summary FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3) and (Part 4)