Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

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]

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 →

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		Orlando Birmingham Miami Washington D.C. Athens
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) Pirom Un-prasert (Thailand) CAF Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt) Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger) CONCACAF Benito Archundia (Mexico) Esfandiar Baharmast (United States) CONMEBOL Antônio Pereira (Brazil) 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) Mohamed Al-Musawi (Oman) CAF Dramane Dante (Mali) Amir Osman Mohamed Hamid (Sudan) CONCACAF Peter Kelly (Trinidad and Tobago) Luis Fernando Torres Zúñiga (Costa Rica) CONMEBOL Jorge Luis Arango (Colombia) 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) 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

Main article: Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's team 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

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

20 July 1996
15:00

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

Attendance: 34,796

Referee: Pereira (BRA)

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

20 July 1996
19:30

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 83,183

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

---

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

22 July 1996
19:30

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

Attendance: 25,811

Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)

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

22 July 1996
19:30

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 45,687

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

---

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

24 July 1996
19:30

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 16,826

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

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

24 July 1996
19:30

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

Spain	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Óscar 80'	Report

20 July 1996
18:30

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 28,774

Referee: Collina (ITA)

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

20 July 1996
18:30

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 14,322

Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

---

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

22 July 1996
19:00

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 16,773

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

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

22 July 1996
19:00

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 5,997

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

---

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

24 July 1996
19:00

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 12,050

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

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

24 July 1996
19:00

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

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

21 July 1996
12:00

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

Attendance: 45,946

Referee: Lennie (AUS)

Mexico	1–0	Italy
Palencia 83'	Report

21 July 1996
17:00

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 44,211

Referee: Dallas (GBR)

---

Mexico	0–0	South Korea
	Report

23 July 1996
20:00

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 26,111

Referee: Bouchardeau (NIG)

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

23 July 1996
21:00

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

Attendance: 27,849

Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

---

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

25 July 1996
21:00

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

Attendance: 30,237

Referee: Pereira (BRA)

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

25 July 1996
21:00

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 28,319

Referee: Ruscio (ARG)

Group D

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

Source: FIFA

Japan	1–0	Brazil
Itō 72'	Report

21 July 1996
18:30

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 46,713

Referee: Archundia (MEX)

Nigeria	1–0	Hungary
Kanu 77'	Report

21 July 1996
18:30

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 25,303

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

---

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

23 July 1996
20:30

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 34,871

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

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

23 July 1996
20:30

Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 22,734

Referee: Collina (ITA)

---

Brazil	1–0	Nigeria
Ronaldo 30'	Report

25 July 1996
21:00

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 55,650

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

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

25 July 1996
21:00

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

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

27 July 1996
18:00

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 22,339

Referee: Collina (ITA)

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

27 July 1996
19:30

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 43,507

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

---

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

28 July 1996
16:00

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Attendance: 44,788

Referee: Al Mehannah (KSA)

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

28 July 1996
18:00

Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

Attendance: 45,257

Referee: Un-Prasert (THA)

Semi-finals

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

30 July 1996
18:00

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 78,212

Referee: Baharmast (USA)

---

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'

31 July 1996
18:00

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 78,587

Referee: Garcia Aranda (ESP)

Bronze medal match

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

August 2, 1996
18:00

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Attendance: 68,173

Referee: Al-Ghandour (EGY)

Gold medal match

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

August 3, 1996

15:45

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

• Hernán Crespo
• Bebeto

5 goals

• Ronaldo

4 goals

• Marco Branca

3 goals

• Flávio Conceição
• Florian Maurice
• Nwankwo Kanu

2 goals

• Claudio López
• Ariel Ortega
• Aurelio Vidmar
• Christian Saba
• Csaba Madar
• Masakiyo Maezono
• Celestine Babayaro
• Jay-Jay Okocha
• Afonso Martins
• Óscar
• Raúl
• Brian Maisonneuve

1 goal

• Gustavo Adrián López
• Diego Simeone
• Peter Tsekenis
• Mark Viduka
• Juninho
• Sylvain Legwinski
• Robert Pirès
• Antoine Sibierski
• Felix Aboagye
• Augustine Ahinful
• Charles Akonnor
• Ebenezer Hagan
• Tamás Sándor
• Teruyoshi Itō
• Kenichi Uemura
• José Manuel Abundis
• Francisco Palencia
• Daniel Amokachi
• Emmanuel Amunike
• Victor Ikpeba
• Paulo Alves
• José Calado
• Capucho
• Nuno Gomes
• Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi
• Fuad Anwar Amin
• Lee Ki-hyung
• Yoon Jong-hwan
• Santi
• Mohamed Mkacher
• Jovan Kirovski
• Claudio Reyna

Own goals

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