Women's Tournament
The women's tournament is contested between full national sides, with no age restrictions. One place is reserved for the host country. Of the remaining teams, as in World Cup contests a specific number of places are reserved for teams from each continental region; the European (UEFA) teams are chosen from the most successful European teams in the previous year's World Cup, whilst the other continental regions host their own qualifying tournaments in the build-up to the Olympics.
The first women's tournament was at the 1996 Atlanta Games. USA won the gold medal, and picked up silver in 2000 after an extra time defeat by Norway. The finals of the next two tournaments, in 2004 and 2008, also went to extra time, with USA defeating Brazil both times. In 2012 USA won their 4th the gold medal defeating Japan 2-1 in the final.
Allocation of places for each continent in the 2012 Games will be:
- Europe – 3 (including host Great Britain)
- Africa – 2
- Asia – 2
- South America – 2
- North America – 2
- Oceania – 1
Read more about this topic: Football At The Summer Olympics
Famous quotes containing the word women:
“A homely face and no figure have aided many women heavenward.”
—Minna Antrim (1861–?)