Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

The women's qualification for football tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Qualifications

A total of twelve teams will participate in the finals of the Olympic tournament for women. These finalists were:^[1]

Confederation/Region	Berths	Qualified Teams
Host nation (automatically qualified)	1	China PR
UEFA (Europe)	3	Germany  Norway  Sweden
CONMEBOL (South America)	1	Argentina
CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean)	2	United States  Canada
CAF (Africa)	1	Nigeria
AFC (Asia)	2	North Korea  Japan
OFC (Oceania)	1	New Zealand
Inter-continental play-off (CAF-CONMEBOL)	1	Brazil

UEFA (Europe)

UEFA announced that the 2007 Women's World Cup in the People's Republic of China will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics. Originally it was thought that, should England make the top three European teams, they would compete under the United Kingdom banner. However, on 6 September 2007, FIFA issued a press release indicating that England are ineligible to participate in the 2008 Olympics as England does not have its own Olympic Committee.

There has been some further confusion over the identity of the UEFA qualifiers stemming from conflicting media releases from UEFA and FIFA. The FIFA release noted that "teams eliminated at the end of the group phase will have the same ranking irrespective of their position, number of points or goal differences" implying that Sweden and Denmark will require a playoff for the final qualification spot. While UEFA initially stated that no playoff was required , this was amended fairly rapidly .

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg / 08.11.2007	2nd leg / 28.11.2007
Denmark	3–7	Sweden	2–4	1–3

CONMEBOL (South America)

CONMEBOL announced that the 2006 Sudamericano Femenino in Argentina would also serve as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics. Argentina won the tournament, and qualified for the Olympics. The runners-up Brazil advanced to the inter-continental play-off.

CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean)

Central America

Two home and away series will be played, with the winners moving on to the final round. The first leg will play on October 6, 2007. The second leg will play on October 13, 2007. The winners of the ties will play in the decisive final round on October 20 and October 27, 2007.^[2]

Panama withdrew from their scheduled match against Costa Rica, so Costa Rica advance to the 2nd Round where they will play the winner of El Salvador v Nicaragua.

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
El Salvador	1–5	Nicaragua	1–2	0–3
Nicaragua	0–9	Costa Rica	0–3	0–6

Caribbean

The system is a two round single round robin format, in October. Four groups will play the first round (3 groups of 4 and one group of 3), with the winners moving on to a second round group.

Group 1 (in Suriname)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Trinidad and Tobago	3	3	0	0	19	1	+18	9
Suriname	3	2	0	1	17	6	+11	6
Grenada	3	1	0	2	4	13	−9	3
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	3	0	0	3	2	22	−20	0

October 2, 2007

Trinidad and Tobago	9–0	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname	6–1	Grenada

October 4, 2007

Trinidad and Tobago	6–0	Grenada
Suriname	10–1	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

October 7, 2007

Grenada	3–1	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname	1–4	Trinidad and Tobago

Group 2 (in Dominican Republic)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cuba	3	3	0	0	37	1	+36	9
Dominican Republic	3	2	0	1	22	2	+20	6
U.S. Virgin Islands	3	1	0	2	5	18	−13	3
British Virgin Islands	3	0	0	2	0	43	−43	0

October 3, 2007

Dominican Republic	4–0	U.S. Virgin Islands
Cuba	21–0	British Virgin Islands

October 5, 2007

Cuba	14–0	U.S. Virgin Islands
Dominican Republic	17–0	British Virgin Islands

October 7, 2007

U.S. Virgin Islands	5–0	British Virgin Islands
Dominican Republic	1–2	Cuba

Group 3 (in Antigua and Barbuda)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Jamaica	3	3	0	0	24	0	+24	9
Bermuda	3	2	0	1	12	4	+8	6
Antigua and Barbuda	3	1	0	2	3	16	−13	3
Dominica	3	0	0	3	0	19	−19	0

October 3, 2007

Jamaica	4–0	Bermuda
Antigua and Barbuda	3–0	Dominica

October 5, 2007

Bermuda	8–0	Dominica
Antigua and Barbuda	0–12	Jamaica

October 7, 2007

Jamaica	8–0	Dominica
Antigua and Barbuda	0–4	Bermuda

Group 4 (in Cayman Islands)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Puerto Rico	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5	6
Haiti	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
Cayman Islands	2	0	0	2	2	7	−5	0

October 24, 2007

Cayman Islands	0–4	Puerto Rico

October 26, 2007

Haiti	0–1	Puerto Rico

October 28, 2007

Cayman Islands	2–3	Haiti

Second Round

The 4 remaining teams were drawn into 2 pairings. The winners of each tie will progress to the CONCACAF Finals. Both Puerto Rico v Trinidad & Tobago matches will be played in Puerto Rico on 23 & 25 November 2007. Cuba will play both legs at home against Jamaica on 29 November and 1 December 2007, with the second match counting as Jamaica's home match for away goals purposes.

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Puerto Rico	2–2*	Trinidad and Tobago	1–2	1–0
Cuba	0–3	Jamaica	0–1	0–2

• Note – Trinidad & Tobago qualify for the CONCACAF Finals on away goals. Even though they played both matches away from home, the 2nd Leg was treated as the home leg for Trinidad & Tobago. Puerto Rico scored one goal compared to Trinidad & Tobago's two in the first game, and so Trinidad & Tobago progress.

Final Round

6 teams will qualify for the final round.^[2] The final round will be held at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, from April 2–13. The draw was held at 11:00 am (EST) on February 25.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	2	2	0	0	9	1	+8	6
Mexico	2	1	0	1	9	4	+5	3
Jamaica	2	0	0	2	1	14	−13	0

April 2, 2008

Mexico	8–1	Jamaica

April 4, 2008

United States	6–0	Jamaica

April 6, 2008

Mexico	1–3	United States

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Canada	2	2	0	0	7	0	+7	6
Costa Rica	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1
Trinidad and Tobago	2	0	1	1	2	8	−6	1

April 2, 2008

Trinidad and Tobago	0–6	Canada

April 4, 2008

Costa Rica	2–2	Trinidad and Tobago

April 6, 2008

Canada	1–0	Costa Rica

Semifinals/Qualifiers

Played 9 April 2008

Team 1	Score	Team 2
United States	3–0	Costa Rica
Canada	1–0	Mexico

Final

Played 12 April 2008. Both USA and Canada already qualified for 2008 Olympic women's football tournament.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
United States	1 – 1 (pso 6 – 5)[3]	Canada

CAF (Africa)

Preliminary competition was divided in four rounds. First three rounds was knock-out rounds, and the final round was a group stage.

The winners of the final round would qualify for the Olympics. The runners-up of the round would advance to inter-continental play-off.

Preliminary Round

First leg played from October 27 to October 29, 2006. Second leg played from November 10 to November 12, 2006.

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola		Tanzania*
Mozambique	12–5	Comoros	7–2	5–3
Guinea-Bissau	2–4	Guinea	1–1	1–3
*Benin		Namibia
*Uganda		Eritrea

* = withdrew

First Round

First leg played on February 17 and February 18, 2007. Second leg will play from March 9 to March 11, 2007. Eritrea and Morocco will play their matches on March 10 and March 24, 2007. Guinea and Zimbabwe only played one leg in Zimbabwe due to political unrest in Guinea.^[4]

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola	1–4	Ghana	1–2	0–2
Equatorial Guinea	4–5	South Africa	2–1	2–4
Liberia	0–5	Ethiopia	0–3	0–2
Nigeria	w/o	Senegal*	—	—
Mozambique	1–12	Algeria	0–3	1–9
Eritrea	4–4 (a)	Morocco	3–2	1–2
Namibia	5–8	DR Congo	3–3	2–5
Guinea	1–6	Zimbabwe	—	1–6

* = withdrew

Second Round

First leg played from June 1 to June 3, 2007. Second leg played from June 15 to June 17, 2007.

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ghana	4–1	DR Congo	3–1	1–0
Algeria	1–6	Nigeria	1–0	0–6
South Africa	5–3	Zimbabwe	2–1	3–2
Ethiopia	(a)2–2	Morocco	1–0	1–2

Final Round

Matches played between July 27, 2007 and March 14, 2008. Ethiopia withdrew.^[5]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nigeria	4	3	0	1	8	1	+7	9
Ghana	4	3	0	1	4	3	+1	9
South Africa	4	0	0	4	1	9	−8	0
Ethiopia	withdraw

July 28, 2007

Nigeria	5–0	South Africa
Ethiopia	1–3 (later annulled)	Ghana

August 12, 2007

Ghana	1–0	Nigeria

August 26, 2007

South Africa	0–1	Ghana

December 9, 2007

Ghana	2–1	South Africa

February 16, 2008

South Africa	0–1	Nigeria

March 15, 2008

Nigeria	2–0	Ghana

Nigeria qualified for the Olympics. Ghana advanced to the inter-continental play-off.

AFC (Asia)

China was automatically qualified for the Olympics as host.

First Round

Japan and North Korea received bye for the final round. Other 12 teams are divided into 3 groups, where top two teams in each group would advance to the final round.

Group A was played as a knockout tournament of two-legged (Home&Away) matches. Each of Group B and Group C was played as a single round robin.

Group A

First leg played on February 17, 2007. Second leg played on February 25, 2007.

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hong Kong		Jordan*
South Korea	8–0	India	5–0	3–0

Hong Kong through to the final after Jordan withdrew from the tournament. The final first and second leg played on March 10, 2007 and March 18, 2007 respectively.^[6]

Team 1	Agg	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hong Kong	3–2	South Korea	2–2	1–0

Group B

All matches were held at Thai-Japanese Stadium (Bangkok, Thailand).^[7]

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Thailand (host)	9	3	3	0	0	15	0	+15
Vietnam	6	3	2	0	1	8	1	+7
Singapore	3	3	1	0	2	6	8	−2
Maldives	0	3	0	0	3	0	20	−20

February 19, 2007

Maldives	0–6	Singapore
Thailand	1–0	Vietnam

February 21, 2007

Thailand	5–0	Singapore
Vietnam	5–0	Maldives

February 23, 2007

Vietnam	3–0	Singapore
Thailand	9–0	Maldives

Group C

All matches were held at Zhongshan Soccer Stadium (Taipei, Taiwan).^[7]

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Australia	9	3	3	0	0	20	1	+19
Chinese Taipei (host)	6	3	2	0	1	4	8	−4
Myanmar	1	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3
Uzbekistan	1	3	0	1	2	1	13	−12

February 21, 2007

Chinese Taipei	2–0	Uzbekistan
Australia	2–0	Myanmar

February 23, 2007

Chinese Taipei	1–0	Myanmar
Uzbekistan	0–10	Australia

February 25, 2007

Chinese Taipei	1–8	Australia
Uzbekistan	1–1	Myanmar

Final Round

Group winners would qualify for the Olympics. Matches played from April 7 to August 12, 2007.

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Japan	16	6	5	1	0	27	3	+24
South Korea	8	6	2	2	2	8	12	−4
Thailand	7	6	2	1	3	7	11	−4
Vietnam	3	6	1	0	5	3	19	−16

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Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
North Korea	18	6	6	0	0	51	0	+51
Australia	12	6	4	0	2	40	5	+35
Chinese Taipei	6	6	2	0	4	12	31	−19
Hong Kong	0	6	0	0	6	1	68	−67

April 7, 2007

Australia	15–0	Hong Kong
North Korea	8–0	Chinese Taipei

April 15, 2007

Chinese Taipei	0–10	Australia
Hong Kong	0–14	North Korea

June 3, 2007

North Korea	2–0	Australia
Chinese Taipei	6–0	Hong Kong

June 10, 2007

Australia	0–2	North Korea
Hong Kong	0–6	Chinese Taipei

August 4, 2007

Hong Kong	1–8	Australia
Chinese Taipei	0–6	North Korea

August 12, 2007

Australia	7–0	Chinese Taipei
North Korea	19–0	Hong Kong

OFC (Oceania)

The 2007 Pacific Games was played as the first part of Oceania qualification for the 2008 Olympics. The winners of the Pacific Games, Papua New Guinea, met New Zealand in a playoff in March 2008 for a place in the Olympic Games Finals. This had originally been scheduled over two legs (on 8 March and 12 March) but the New Zealand leg was cancelled by mutual consent, leaving a single play-off match in Papua New Guinea.

Team 1	Result	Team 2
Papua New Guinea	0–2	New Zealand

Inter-continental play-off

An inter-continental play-off was to held between the second placed South American and African teams, which were Brazil and Ghana, respectively.

The play-off was held as one match on Workers Stadium in Beijing on April 19, 2008. Brazil beat Ghana for the final spot in the Olympics.

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References

External links

• Fixtures and results on AFC's website (Women's tournament)