Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | July 21-August 1 |
| Teams | 8 (from 4 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 6 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 United States(1st title)
|
| Runners-up |
 China PR
|
| Third place |
 Norway
|
| Fourth place |
 Brazil
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 53 (3.31 per match) |
| Attendance | 691,762 (43,235 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Ann Kristin Aarønes Linda Medalen Pretinha (4 goals) |
The 1996 Summer Olympics—based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States—marked the first time that women would participate in the association football (soccer) tournament. The tournament features 8 women's national teams from four continental confederations. The 8 teams are drawn into two groups of four and each group plays a round-robin tournament (which was held in Miami, Orlando, Birmingham and Washington, D.C.). At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage (which was held at Sanford Stadium), beginning with the semi-finals and culminating with the gold medal match on August 1, 1996.
Since there was no time to hold a qualifying tournament, the eight best teams at the Women's World Cup in 1995 were automatically selected for the Olympic tournament (which meant no teams from Africa or Oceania could take part in this tournament). The only exception was the inclusion of Brazil in place of England (who, under the regulations of the International Olympic Committee are ineligible). The following eight teams qualified for the 1996 Olympics football tournament:
Team:
01 - GK - Briana Scurry
06 - DF - Brandi Chastain
04 - DF - Carla Overbeck
14 - DF - Joy Fawcett
13 - MF - Kristine Lilly
11 - MF - Julie Foudy
15 - MF - Tisha Venturini
08 - MF - Shannon MacMillan
09 - FW - Mia Hamm sub 75'
10 - FW - Michelle Akers sub 62'
16 - FW - Tiffeny Milbrett sub 66'
...
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