The
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
tournament at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
was held from 25 July to 11 August, and was the only sport to begin before the official opening day of the Olympic Games, two days before the
opening ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event. . It was also the only sport to be held at multiple venues outside
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
(the host city of the Olympics), with
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
and
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
all hosting matches. The finals were played at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
. Associations affiliated with
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
were invited to send their senior women's and men's under-23 national teams to participate; men's teams were allowed to augment their squads with three players over the age of 23. Five hundred and four football players competed for two sets of gold medals.
For these games, the men competed in a 16-team tournament and the women in a 12-team tournament. The draw for the tournament took place on 24 April 2012.
Venues
There were six stadiums that hosted matches:
The stadiums represent London itself and
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...
, the
English Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
,
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
and
North East England
North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
in England, as well as
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
NOTE: The Ricoh Arena was known as the City of Coventry Stadium due to the no-commercialization policy.
Competition schedule
Qualified nations
Men's tournament
*Locations are those of final tournaments, various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues.
*Senior ranking shown for comparison only. This is an under-23 competition, which does not award ranking points for the
FIFA World Rankings
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...
, neither takes it into consideration.
*England's ranking.
Women's tournament
*Locations are those of final tournaments, various qualification stages may precede matches at these specific venues.
*England's ranking.
United Kingdom/Great Britain teams
A men's football team representing Great Britain competed in the Olympics until
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
, albeit failing to qualify for the main tournament after
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
. After the Football Association abolished the distinction between amateur and professionals, a ruling that came into force in 1974, Great Britain did not subsequently attempt to qualify in football, although after the rules on Olympic eligibility were relaxed in 1984, they would have been permitted to do so.
On 24 August 2008,
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
suggested that the presence of a GB team at the 2012 games was "vital".
He said that he had approached
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
manager
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...
to coach such a team.
The
Scottish,
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
and
Northern Irish
Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...
football associations opposed such a move in case it would affect their status within the governing body of football,
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
.
On 29 May 2009, after last-ditch talks prompted by a FIFA deadline to settle the row, the four associations sent a letter to FIFA stating that while the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish associations would not participate in a unified UK men's or women's teams at the Olympic Games, they would not prevent England from fielding teams under that banner.
However, Britain's FIFA Vice-President
Jim Boyce stated that
Gareth Bale
Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...
,
Aaron Ramsey
Aaron James Ramsey (born 26 December 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice and the Wales national team. Ramsey mainly plays as a box-to-box midfielder, but has also been deployed on the left ...
,
Craig Bellamy
Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward and is current assistant manager at EFL Championship side Burnley. Born in Cardiff, Bellamy began his senior playing career with Norw ...
,
Charlie Adam
Charles Graham Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Adam started his senior career with Rangers. He spent much of his early senior career on loan to Ross County and St Mirren. ...
and other non-English players would have the legal right to be considered for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. The deal among the four "home nations" was challenged by the British Olympic Association. Boyce said there was no legal restriction as to why a player from Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland could be stopped from playing.
Ultimately, five Welsh players were included in the 2012 Great Britain Olympic football squad, with
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...
– included as one of the three players over the age of 23 permitted – selected as team captain. Giggs would score during the tournament, in a 3–1 defeat of the United Arab Emirates at Wembley. None of the Great Britain men's football squad came from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Tie breakers
This tournament differs from other modern major international football tournaments, in that head-to-head records is not the primary way to break ties.
The ranking of the teams in each group shall be determined as follows:
# greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
# goal difference in all group matches;
# greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
# greatest number of points obtained in all group matches between the teams concerned;
# goal difference resulting from all group matches between the teams concerned;
# greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
# drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
Men's tournament
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
Squad restrictions
The same restrictions used for recent Olympiads are applied, in which each squad is to consist of eighteen players, of which no more than three may be over the age of 23 before the beginning of the next year. In the case of the 2012 Summer Olympics, this restricts players born before 1 January 1989.
Women's tournament
Group E
Group F
Group G
Knockout stage
Squad restrictions
There were no age restrictions in the women's tournament.
Medal summary
Medal table
Medalists
Notable events and controversies
South Korean political statements
After
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
defeated
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in the Bronze Medal match at
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
on 10 August, South Korean player
Park Jong-woo walked around the field holding a banner with a message written in Korean, "독도는 우리 땅!" (''dokdo neun uri ttang'' lit. "
Dokdo
The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise t ...
is our territory!). As both IOC and FIFA statutes prohibit any political statements being made by athletes at their respective sporting events, the IOC barred Park from the bronze medal ceremony and did not permit him to receive his medal. In addition, it asked FIFA to discipline Park, and stated that it may decide on further sanctions at a later date. FIFA failed to reach a conclusion on the case at a meeting at its Zürich headquarters held on 5 October, and the disciplinary committee discussed the case again on the following week, then failed to reach a verdict again. The case was heard again by the committee on 20 November, and FIFA decided on 3 December to suspend Park for two matches after he was considered to have breached the
FIFA Disciplinary Code The FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) is a set of codes and regulations promulgated by FIFA's judicial bodies which are composed by its "Disciplinary Committee" and its "Appeal Committee".
The FDC regulates almost all issues related to doping, corrupti ...
and the Regulations of the Olympic Football Tournaments. FIFA also imposed a warning on the
Korea Football Association
The Korea Football Association () is the governing body of football and futsal within South Korea. It sanctions professional, semi-professional and amateur football in South Korea. Founded in 1933, the governing body became affiliated with F ...
and reminded it of its obligation to properly instruct its players on all the pertinent rules and applicable regulations before the start of any competition, in order to avoid such incident in the future. The Korea Football Association was warned that should incidents of such nature occur again in the future, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may impose harsher sanctions on the Korea Football Association.
Iranian women's team dress code violations
Iran's women's team and three Jordanian players were banned during the second round of the
Asian qualification tournament due to not adhering to FIFA dress code; the players were allowed to play while covering their head in the first round. FIFA banned the
hijab
In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...
in 2007, although FIFA now allows the
hijab
In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...
to be worn after overturning the 2007 decision in 2012.
Use of incorrect flag for North Korea
Following the South Korean flag being put on display on the stadium screen at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
when the teams were being announced before the Colombia versus North Korea women's match, the North Korea team protested against this action by refusing to take to the pitch. As a result of the wrong flag being displayed, the kick-off was delayed.
Canada–United States semi-final
During the semi-final match between
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, a time-wasting call was made against the Canadian goalkeeper,
Erin McLeod
Erin Katrina McLeod (born February 26, 1983) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Stjarnan of the Icelandic Besta deild kvenna.
She first appeared for the Canada women's national soccer team at the 2002 Algarve Cup and ...
, when she held the ball longer than the allowed six seconds. This violation is called in international play, and is intended to be used during instances of time-wasting. As a result, the American side was awarded an indirect free-kick in the box. On the ensuing play, Canada was penalized for a handball in the penalty box, with the American team being awarded a penalty kick, which
Abby Wambach converted to tie the game at 3–3. The Americans went on to win the match in extra time, advancing to the gold medal game. After the match, Canada forward
Christine Sinclair
Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward and captains both National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club Portland Thorns FC and the Canadian national team. An Olympic go ...
stated, "the ref decided the result before the game started." FIFA responded by stating that the refeering decisions were correct and saying it was considering disciplinary action against Sinclair, but that any disciplinary action would be postponed until after the end of the tournament.
See also
*
Football 5-a-side at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Football 5-a-side at the 2012 Summer Paralympics was held in London at the Riverbank Arena, from 31 August to 8 September. Football 5-a-side is played by athletes with visual impairment, with a ball with a noise making device inside.[Football 7-a-side at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Football 7-a-side at the 2012 Summer Paralympics was held in London at the Olympic Hockey Centre, from 1 September to 9 September. Football 7-a-side is played by athletes with cerebral palsy, a condition characterized by impairment of muscular ...]
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Events at the 2012 Summer Olympics
O
2012 Summer Olympics events
2012
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2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
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File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...