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.
Six venues were used during the tournament, four of them outside of Beijing at cities around China. Beijing National Stadium hosted the final.
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]
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.
Group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.
Source for cards:[6]
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.
Lautaro Acosta Diego Buonanotte Juan Román Riquelme.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Australia_(converted).svg.png){kind=small}
Ruben Zadkovich.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small}
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
Ryan Babel Otman Bakkal
Jeremy Brockie
Olubayo Adefemi Victor Anichebe Peter Odemwingie Chibuzor Okonkwo Isaac Promise.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Serbia_(2004%E2%80%932010).svg.png){kind=small}
Miljan Mrdaković Slobodan Rajković Đorđe Rakić
Jozy Altidore Stuart Holden Slobodan Rajković (playing against Ivory Coast)