Football 2012

Football 2012
Dates:	Wednesday, July 25 - Saturday August, 11
Venues:	Multiple
Events:	2: Men's and Women's
2008 Winner:	Argentina - Men's. USA - Women's.
Learn More:	Football

Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London and several other cities in the United Kingdom, from 25 July to 11 August. The finals will be played at Wembley Stadium. Associations affiliated with FIFA are invited to send their full women's national teams and men's U-23 teams to participate. Men's teams are allowed to augment their squad with three players over the age of 23. 504 footballers are expected to compete for two sets of gold medals.

For these games, the men will compete in a 16-team tournament, and the women in a 12-team tournament. Football preliminaries will actually commence two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games on 27 July.

Schedule

Events

Men compete in a 16-team tournament with a total of 32 matches. The 16 teams are broken up into 4 groups (Groups A,B,C,D) of 4 teams each. The preliminary round of group matches begins with each team in a group playing the other 3 teams in a group. The preliminary matches are scored on a point system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The 2 teams from each group that have the most points advance, for a total of 8 teams advancing. The tournament continues with the quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze medal match, and gold medal match all determined by single elimination based on goals scored (or in the case of a tie penalty kicks).

Women compete in a 12-team tournament. The 12 teams are broken up into 3 groups (Groups E,F,G) of 4 teams each. The preliminary round of group matches begins with each team in a group playing the other 3 teams in a group. The preliminary matches are scored on a point system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The 8 teams that have the most points advance. The tournament continues with the quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze medal match, and gold medal match all determined by single elimination based on goals scored (or in the case of a tie penalty kicks).

Venues

• City of Coventry Stadium
• Hampden Park
• Millenium Stadium
• Old Trafford
• St. James' Park
• Wembley Stadium (finals)

Great Britain Team Controversy

On 24 August 2008, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown caused controversy when he suggested that there should be men and women's UK football teams at the 2012 games. Historically, Great Britain's four home nations have combined athletic forces for the Olympics, but haven't fielded a football team in many years because England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland exist independently within the governing body of football, FIFA. Brown said that he had approached Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to coach such a team, but the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland football associations opposed such a move in case it would affect their status within FIFA. Another suggested solution was that the four teams should compete in a small tournament, with the victor earning the chance to represent Great Britain at the Olympics.

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. [1]

On 5 April 2011, Britain's sports minister Hugh Robertson urged the football associations of Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland to allow their players to join the English in representing Great Britain at the Olympics. He guranteed that their status within FIFA would go untarnished, saying that he "would hate to see for political reasons any young man or woman denied a chance to compete for their country." [2] If Robertson's insistence is effective, the greatest benefit to the team would arguably be the Welshman Gareth Bale.

Men's Qualifying

Means of Qualifaction	Expected Date of Completion	Venue	Berths	Qualified
Host Nation				Great Britain
AFC	March 14 2012	?????	3	South Korea Japan U.A.E
CAF	December 10 2011	Morocco	3	Gabon Morocco Egypt
CONCACAF	April 2 2012	United States	2	Mexico Hondurus
CONMEBOL	February 12 2011	Peru	2	Brazil Uruguay
OFC	March 25 2012	New Zealand	1	New Zealand
UEFA	June 25 2011	Denmark	3	Spain Switzerland Belarus
AFC CAF Playoff	April 23 2012	U.K	1	Sengal
Total			16

Womens Qualifying

Means of Qualifaction	Expected Date of Completion	Venues	Berths	Qualified
Host Nation				Great Brtain
AFC	September 11 2011	China	2	Japan North Korea
CAF	October 22 2011		2	South Africa Cameroon
CONCACAF	January 29 2012	Canada	2	U.S.A Canada
CONMEBOL	November 21 2011	Ecuador	2	Brazil Colombia
OFC	April 4 2012	Tonga	1	New Zealand
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup (UEFA)	July 17 2011	Germany	2	Sweden France
Total			12

Related Links

• Football at the Olympics

Groups/Results

Men

Group A

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Great Britain	2	0	1	5	2	3	7
2	Senegal	1	0	2	4	2	2	5
3	Uruguay	1	2	0	2	4
3
4	United Arab Emirates	0	2	1	3	6
1

Group B

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Mexico	2	0	1	3	0	3	7
2	South Korea	1	0	2	2	1	1	5
3	Gabon	0	1	2	1	3	-2	2
4	Switzerland	0	2	1	2	4	-2	1

Group C

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Brazil	3	0	0	9	3	6	9
2	Egypt	1	1	1	6	5	1	4
3	Belarus	1	2	0	3	6
3
4	New Zealand	0	2	1	1	5
1

Group D

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Spain
1	Japan
1	Honduras
1	Morocco

Women

Group E

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Great Britain
1	Cameroon
1	Brazil
1	New Zealand

Group F

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Japan
1	Canada
1	Sweden
,1	South Africa

Group G

Rank	Team	Wins	Lost	Draw	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	USA
1	France
1	Colombia
1	North Korea