Twelve teams competed in the women's football tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In addition to Brazil's host nation, 11 women's national teams were qualified from six continental confederations.
Table In addition to Brazil's host nation, 11 women's national teams were qualified from six continental confederations. FIFA ratified the distribution of spots at the executive committee meeting in March 2014.
Means of qualification Dates Venue Berths QualifiedHost country2 October 2009 Denmark12014 Copa América11–28 September 2014 12015 FIFA World Cup(for UEFA eligible teams)6 June – 5 July 2015 22015 CAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament2–18 October 2015Various (home and away) 22016 OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament23 January 2016 12016 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship10–21 February 2016 22016 AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament29 February – 9 March 2016 22016 UEFA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2–9 March 2016 1 Total 12
The dates and venues are those of the final tournaments (or final round of the qualification tournaments), various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues. England finished in the top three among UEFA teams in the World Cup, however England is not an IOC member and talks for them to compete as Great Britain broke down. Nations making their Olympic tournament debut
AFC
Australia and China PR earned Olympic qualification places by finishing in the top two of the standings of the final round.
First round Group AGroup BGroup C
Second round
Final round
CAF
South Africa and Zimbabwe earned Olympic qualification places by winning their fourth-round ties.
First round
Second round
Third round
Fourth round
CONCACAF
The United States and Canada earned Olympic qualification places by winning their semi-final matches.
Preliminary round
Caribbean Zone
First round Group 1Group 2Group 3Group 4
Final round
Central American Zone
Group stage Group AGroup B
Knockout stage
CONMEBOL
Colombia earned an Olympic qualification place by finishing second in the Copa América Femenina. Brazil automatically qualified as the Olympic host.
First stage Group AGroup B
Final stage
OFC
New Zealand earned an Olympic qualification place by winning their second round tie.
First stage
Group stage Group AGroup B
Knockout stage
Second stage
UEFA Similar to the qualification process for previous Olympics, UEFA used the FIFA Women's World Cup to determine which women's national teams from Europe qualify for the Olympic football tournament. The three teams from UEFA that progressed the furthest in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup played in Canada, other than ineligible England, would qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Brazil. If teams in contention for the Olympic spots were eliminated in the same round, ties would not be broken by their overall tournament record, and play-offs or a mini-tournament to decide the spots would be held provisionally in February/March 2016.
England was ineligible for the Olympics as it was not an Olympic nation, although Great Britain did compete in 2012 as the host nation. The Football Association had originally declared on 2 March 2015 its intention to enter and run teams on behalf of the British Olympic Association at the 2016 Olympics should England qualify. Following strong objections from the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations, and a commitment from FIFA that they would not allow entry of a British team unless all four Home Nations agreed, the Football Association announced on 30 March 2015 that they would not seek entry into the Olympic tournament.
After England eliminated Norway in the round of 16 on 22 June 2015, it was confirmed that two of the three spots would go to quarter-finalists France and Germany because there could not be more than three eligible European teams in the quarter-finals. Eventually, no other eligible European team reached the quarter-finals, so the four teams eliminated in the round of 16 (Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland) would compete in the UEFA play-off tournament to decide the last spot.
Sweden earned UEFA's last Olympic qualification place by winning the qualifying tournament.
FIFA Women's World Cup
+UEFA teams qualified for 2015 FIFA Women's World CupTeamFinal result in2015 FIFA Women's World CupQualification for2016 Summer Olympics Third place Ineligible Fourth place Qualified Eliminated in quarter-finals Eliminated in round of 16 Play-off tournament Eliminated in group stage
Olympic qualifying tournament
References