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. 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.

Nigeria defeated Argentina 3–2 in the final for their first gold medal.

Competition schedule

The match schedule of the tournament.

{| class="wikitable olympic-schedule football"

! 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

|-

| class="team-group" |G || class="team-group" |G ||class="team-group" |G || class="team-group" |G || class="team-group" |G|| class="team-group" |G|| ||class="team-qf" |¼ ||class="team-qf" |¼ || ||class="team-sf" |½ ||class="team-sf" |½ || ||class="team-bronze" |B || class="team-final" |F

|}

Venues

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

! colspan=2| Athens, Georgia

! colspan=2| Birmingham, Alabama

! colspan=2| Miami, Florida

! rowspan="8" |

|-

| colspan=2| Sanford Stadium

| colspan=2| Legion Field

| colspan=2| Orange Bowl

|-

| colspan=2| Capacity: 86,100

| colspan=2| Capacity: 81,700

| colspan=2| Capacity: 74,476

|-

| colspan=2| 160x160px

| colspan=2| 145x145px

| colspan=2| 160x160px

|-

! colspan=3| Orlando, Florida

! colspan=3| Washington, D.C.

|-

| colspan=3| Citrus Bowl

| colspan=3| Robert F. Kennedy Stadium

|-

| colspan=3| Capacity: 65,000

| colspan=3| Capacity: 56,500

|-

| colspan=3| 180x180px

| colspan=3| 182x182px

|}

Qualification

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

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Means of qualification !! Berths !! Qualified

|-

| Host nation || style="text-align:center;"| 1 ||

|-

| 1996 CONCACAF Preliminary Competition|| style="text-align:center;"| 1 || (winner)

|-

| 1996 AFC Preliminary Competition || style="text-align:center;"| 3 || (winner)<br /> (runner-up)<br /> (third-place)

|-

| 1996 CAF Preliminary Competition || style="text-align:center;"| 3 || <br /><br />

|-

| 1996 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament || style="text-align:center;"| 2 || (winner)<br /> (runner-up)

|-

| CONCACAF–OFC play-off || align="center"| 1 ||

|-

| 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship || style="text-align:center;"| 5 || (winner)<br /> (runner-up)<br /> (third-place)<br/> (5th)<br /> (6th)

|-

! Total !! 16 !!

|}

Match officials

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Referees

|-

! Confederation

! Referee

|-

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center; background:whitesmoke;" | Male officials

|-

| rowspan="2" | AFC

| Omer Al Mehannah (Saudi Arabia)

|-

| Pirom Un-prasert (Thailand)

|-

| rowspan="2" | CAF

| Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)

|-

| Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

|-

| rowspan="2" | CONCACAF

| Benito Archundia (Mexico)

|-

| Esfandiar Baharmast (United States)

|-

| rowspan="2" | CONMEBOL

| Antônio Pereira (Brazil)

|-

| Roberto Ruscio (Argentina)

|-

| OFC

| Eddie Lennie (Australia)

|-

| rowspan="3" | UEFA

| Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

|-

| Hugh Dallas (Great Britain)

|-

| José María García-Aranda (Spain)

|}

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Fourth officials

|-

! Confederation

! Referee

|-

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center; background:whitesmoke;" | Female officials

|-

| UEFA

| Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden)

|}

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Assistant referees

|-

! Confederation

! Assistant referee

|-

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center; background:whitesmoke;" | Male officials

|-

| rowspan="2" | AFC

| Jeon Young-hyun (South Korea)

|-

| Mohamed Al-Musawi (Oman)

|-

| rowspan="2" | CAF

| Dramane Dante (Mali)

|-

| Amir Osman Mohamed Hamid (Sudan)

|-

| rowspan="2" | CONCACAF

| Peter Kelly (Trinidad and Tobago)

|-

| Luis Fernando Torres Zúñiga (Costa Rica)

|-

| rowspan="2" | CONMEBOL

| Jorge Luis Arango (Colombia)

|-

| Carlos Velázquez (Uruguay)

|-

| OFC

| Lencie Fred (Vanuatu)

|-

| rowspan="3" | UEFA

| Yuri Dupanov (Belarus)

|-

| Heiner Neuenstein (Germany)

|-

| Akif Uğurdur (Turkey)

|-

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center; background:whitesmoke;" | Female officials

|-

| CONCACAF

| María del Socorro Rodríguez (Mexico)

|-

| rowspan="2" | 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.

{| class="wikitable" width=98%

|-

!width=20%|Pot 1: Host, Top-Seeded teams from Africa, Europe and South America

!width=25%|Pot 2: Asia, Non-top seeded team from South America

!width=25%|Pot 3: Non-top seeded teams from Europe

!width=25%|Pot 4: Non-top seeded teams from Africa and North America, Inter-continental playoff winner

|-

|valign="top"|

|valign="top"|

|valign="top"|

|valign="top"|

  • <sup>1</sup>
  • <sup>2</sup>

|}

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

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

Squads

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

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<section begin="Q2" />

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Semi-finals

<section begin=S1 /><section end="S1" />

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<section begin=S2 /><section end="S2" />

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

{| style="font-size:90%;margin:0.2em auto;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"

|-

!width="25"| !!width="25"|

|-

|GK || 18 || Joseph Dosu ||

|-

|RB || 17 || Mobi Oparaku || ||

|-

|CB || 5 || Uche Okechukwu

|-

|CB || 3 || Taribo West

|-

|LB || 2 || Celestine Babayaro

|-

|DM || 15 || Sunday Oliseh ||

|-

|RM || 7 || Tijani Babangida

|-

|LM || 11 || Victor Ikpeba || ||

|-

|AM || 10 || Jay-Jay Okocha || ||

|-

|CF || 14 || Daniel Amokachi

|-

|CF || 4 || Nwankwo Kanu (c)

|-

|colspan=3|Substitutes:

|-

|MF || 13 || Garba Lawal || ||

|-

|MF || 8 || Wilson Oruma || ||

|-

|MF || 6 || Emmanuel Amunike || ||

|-

|colspan=3|Manager:

|-

|colspan=4| Jo Bonfrère

|}

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="font-size:90%;margin:0.2em auto;"

|-

!width="25"| !!width="25"|

|-

|GK || 12 || Pablo Cavallero

|-

|RB || 4 || Javier Zanetti

|-

|CB || 2 || Roberto Ayala

|-

|CB || 6 || Roberto Sensini ||

|-

|LB || 3 || José Chamot

|-

|DM || 5 || Matías Almeyda

|-

|RM || 10 || Ariel Ortega

|-

|CM || 15 || Christian Bassedas (c)

|-

|LM || 11 || Hugo Morales || ||

|-

|CF || 7 || Claudio López

|-

|CF || 9 || Hernán Crespo

|-

|colspan=3|Substitutes:

|-

|MF || 8 || Diego Simeone || ||

|-

|colspan=3|Manager:

|-

|colspan=4|Daniel Passarella

|}

Final ranking

<!--RANKING CRITERIA (5th to 12th): ROUND (Group Stage, Quarter-finals); POINTS; GOAL DIFFERENCE; GOALS FOR.-->

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.

;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)

References

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