| Tourney Name: | Men's Olympic Football Tournament |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Size: | 150px |
| Country: | China |
| Dates: | 7–23 August |
| Num Teams: | 16 |
| Confederations: | 6 |
| Venues: | 6 |
| Cities: | 5 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Matches: | 32 |
| Goals: | 75 |
| Attendance: | 1404254 |
| Top Scorer: |  Giuseppe Rossi(4 goals) |
| Prevseason: | 2004 |
| Nextseason: | 2012 |
The men's football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and four other cities in the People's Republic of China from 7 to 23 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to enter their men's under-23 teams in regional qualifying competitions, from which 15 teams, plus the host nation, reached the final tournament. Men's teams were allowed to augment their squads with up to three players over the age of 23.
For these Games, the men competed in a 16-team tournament. Preliminary matches commenced on 7 August, the day before the Games' opening ceremony. The teams were grouped into four pools of four teams each for a round-robin preliminary round. The top two teams in each pool advanced to an eight-team single-elimination bracket.
The tournament was won by Argentina, who beat Nigeria 1–0 in the final, as part of a record streak of 12 consecutive wins in football competitions at the Summer Olympics (six wins in 2004, six wins in 2008).
Despite the absence of an official best player award, the FIFA website highlighted Lionel Messi's campaign by stating that he "posed defenders more problems than anyone else in the tournament".[1] Juan Román Riquelme and Javier Mascherano also received special mentions.[2]
A National Olympic Committee may enter one men's team in football competitions.
See main article: Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification.
| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Berths | Qualified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 | ||||
| February – November 2007 | – | 3 | |||
| September 2006 – March 2008 | – | 3 | |||
| August 2007 – March 2008 | 2 | ||||
| 7–28 January 2007 | 2 | ||||
| 1–9 March 2008 | 1 | ||||
| 10–23 June 2007 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 16 | ||||
Six venues were used during the tournament, four of them outside of Beijing at cities around China. Beijing National Stadium hosted the final.
| Beijing | Shanghai | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing National Stadium | Beijing Workers' Stadium | Shanghai Stadium | |
| Capacity: 91,000 | Capacity: 65,094 | Capacity: 72,000 | |
| Tianjin | Shenyang | Qinhuangdao | |
| Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium | Shenyang Olympic Stadium | Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium | |
| Capacity: 54,696 | Capacity: 60,000 | Capacity: 33,000 | |
See main article: Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads. For the men's tournament, each nation submitted a squad of 18 players, 15 of whom had to be born on or after 1 January 1985, and three of whom could be overage players, by 23 July 2008.[3] A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) had to be included in the squad.[3]
On 22 April 2008, FIFA released the list of match referees that will officiate at the Olympics.[4]
| Confederation | Referee | Assistants |
|---|---|---|
| AFC | Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) | Mohammed Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Hamdi Al Kadrie (Syria) |
| Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman) | Khaled Al Allan (Bahrain) Saleh Al Marzouqi (United Arab Emirates) | |
| Masoud Moradi (Iran) | Hassan Kamranifar (Iran) Luay Subhi Adib (Iraq) | |
| CAF | Jerome Damon (South Africa) | Enock Molefe (South Africa) Célestin Ntagungira (Rwanda) |
| Badara Diatta (Senegal) | Bechir Hassani (Tunisia) Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon) | |
| CONCACAF | Roberto Moreno (Panama) | Daniel Williamson (Panama) Hairo Fuentes (Panama) |
| Jair Marrufo (United States) | Kermit Quisenberry (United States) Ricardo Morgan (Jamaica) | |
| CONMEBOL | Héctor Baldassi (Argentina) | Ricardo Casas (Argentina) Hernán Maidana (Argentina) |
| Pablo Pozo (Chile) | Patricio Basualto (Chile) Julio Díaz (Chile) | |
| Martín Vázquez (Uruguay) | Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay) Miguel Nievas (Uruguay) | |
| OFC | Michael Hester (New Zealand) | Tevita Makasini (Tonga) Michael Joseph (Vanuatu) |
| UEFA | Thomas Einwaller (Austria) | Roland Heim (Austria) Norbert Schwab (Austria) |
| Viktor Kassai (Hungary) | Gábor Erős (Hungary) Tibor Vámos (Hungary) | |
| Stéphane Lannoy (France) | Eric Dansault (France) Frédéric Cano (France) | |
| Damir Skomina (Slovenia) | Primož Arhar (Slovenia) Marco Stancin (Slovenia) | |
| Wolfgang Stark (Germany) | Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany) Volker Wezel (Germany) |
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8).
The draw for the tournament took place on 20 April 2008. Argentina, the Netherlands, China and Cameroon were seeded for the draw and placed into groups A–D, respectively. The remaining teams were drawn from four pots with teams from the same region kept apart.
| width=25% | Pot 1: Asia | width=25% | Pot 2: Africa and Oceania | width=25% | Pot 3: Europe | width=25% | Pot 4: Americas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.
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See main article: article and Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament – Final.
Source for cards:[5]
With four goals, Giuseppe Rossi of Italy was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 75 goals were scored by 53 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.
Sergio Agüero Ángel Di María Ezequiel Lavezzi Lionel Messi
Kevin Mirallas
Diego Jô Thiago Neves Ronaldinho Rafael Sóbis
Sekou Cissé Salomon Kalou
Chinedu Obasi
Sacha Kljestan Lautaro Acosta Diego Buonanotte Juan Román Riquelme
Ruben Zadkovich Laurent Ciman Faris Haroun Anderson Hernanes Marcelo Alexandre Pato
Georges Mandjeck Stéphane Mbia
Dong Fangzhuo Robert Acquafresca Sebastian Giovinco Riccardo Montolivo Tommaso Rocchi Gervinho
Yohei Toyoda
Kim Dong-jin Park Chu-young
Jeremy Brockie Olubayo Adefemi Victor Anichebe Peter Odemwingie Chibuzor Okonkwo Isaac Promise
Miljan Mrdaković Slobodan Rajković Đorđe Rakić Jozy Altidore Stuart Holden Slobodan Rajković (playing against Ivory Coast)