The women's association football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing and four other cities in the People's Republic of China from 6 to 21 August. Associations affiliated with FIFA were invited to send their full women's national teams.
For these Games, the women competed in a 12-team tournament. Preliminary matches commenced on 6 August, two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games. The teams were grouped into three pools of four teams each for a round-robin preliminary round. The top two teams in each pool, as well as the best two third-place finishing teams, advanced to an eight-team single-elimination bracket.
The tournament was won by the United States, which beat Brazil 1–0 in the gold medal game. Carli Lloyd scored the game-winning goal in the 96th minute for the United States, which collected their third Olympic gold medal.[1][2]
A National Olympic Committee may enter one women's team for the football competition.
The tournament was held in five venues across five cities:
The women's tournament is a full international tournament with no restrictions on age. Each nation must submit a squad of 18 players by 23 July 2008. A minimum of two goalkeepers (plus one optional alternate goalkeeper) must be included in the squad.
Group winners and runners-up, plus two best third place teams advanced to quarter final round. Groups are lettered sequentially from the last letter in the Men's Football tournament (which has Groups A through D).
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)
There were 66 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2.54 goals per match.
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Ludmila Manicler
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Candace Chapman Kara Lang Melissa Tancredi
Gu Yasha Han Duan
Kerstin Garefrekes Simone Laudehr Anja Mittag Birgit Prinz Kerstin Stegemann
Eriko Arakawa Ayumi Hara Yukari Kinga Aya Miyama Yūki Nagasato
Amber Hearn Kirsty Yallop
Perpetua Nkwocha
Kim Kyong-hwa Ri Kum-suk
Guro Knutsen Leni Larsen Kaurin Siri Nordby
Nilla Fischer
Lori Chalupny Natasha Kai Amy Rodriguez Lindsay Tarpley1 own goal
Florencia Quiñones (against China PR) Gunhild Følstad (against Japan)Source: FIFA[4]
3 assists
2 assists
1 assist
Mariela Coronel Marta Maycon Rosana Kara Lang Clare Rustad Rhian Wilkinson Bi Yan Zhang Na Renate Lingor Anja Mittag Birgit Prinz Yukari Kinga Yūki Nagasato Ali Riley Ri Un-gyong Gunhild Følstad Leni Larsen Kaurin Ane Stangeland Horpestad Jessica Landström Therese Sjögran Shannon Boxx Rachel Buehler Lindsay TarpleySource: FIFA[4]
China PR won the FIFA Fair Play Award, given to the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament. Every match in the final competition is taken into account but only teams that reach the second stage of the competition are eligible for the Fair Play Award.[4]
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.