| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Spain |
| Dates | 24 July – 8 August |
| Teams | 16 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 5 (in 4 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Spain (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Poland |
| Third place |  Ghana |
| Fourth place | .svg.png){kind=small} Australia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 87 (2.72 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Andrzej Juskowiak (7 goals) |
The football competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics was the first Olympic football tournament dedicated for under-23 teams. The competition featured 16 men's national sides from the six continental confederations. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four and each group played a round-robin tournament. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage, beginning with the quarter-finals and culminating with the gold medal match at Camp Nou on 8 August 1992.[1]
Notably, these were the first matches played with football's new back-pass rule.[2]
Qualification
The following 16 teams qualified for the 1992 Olympic men's football tournament:
| Means of qualification | Berths | Qualified |
|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 | Spain |
| AFC Preliminary Competition | 3 |  Qatar.svg.png){kind=small} South Korea Kuwait |
| CAF Preliminary Competition | 3 |  Egypt Ghana Morocco |
| 1992 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament | 2 |  Mexico United States |
| 1992 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament | 2 |  Colombia.svg.png){kind=small} Paraguay |
| OFC – UEFA play-off[3] (OFC Pre-Olympic Tournament) | 1 | Australia |
| 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship | 4 |  Italy Sweden Denmark Poland |
| Total | 16 |
Venues
| Barcelona | Barcelona | Valencia |
|---|---|---|
| Camp Nou | Estadi de Sarrià | Estadio Luis Casanova |
| Capacity: 100,000 | Capacity: 42,000 | Capacity: 50,000 |
.jpg')) | ) | ) |
| Sabadell | ||
| Estadi de la Nova Creu Alta | ||
| Capacity: 16,000 | ||
) | ||
| Zaragoza | ||
| Estadio La Romareda | ||
| Capacity: 43,001 | ||
) | ||
)
Match officials
Squads
Group stage
Group A
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 5 |
| Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 |
| United States | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 3 |
| Kuwait | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
Source:
| Italy | 0–3 | Poland |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Juskowiak  5'Staniek 48'Mielcarski 90' |
Group B
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +8 | 6 |
| Qatar | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 |
| Egypt | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 2 |
| Colombia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 |
Source:
| Egypt | 0–1 | Qatar |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Mustafa 74' |
| Colombia | 1–1 | Qatar |
|---|---|---|
| Aristizábal 62' | Report | Soufi 89' |
| Colombia | 3–4 | Egypt |
|---|---|---|
| Gaviria 9', 84' Pacheco 14' | Report | Youssef 27' El-Masry 47'Khashaba 91', 94' |
Group C
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 4 |
| Paraguay | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 |
| South Korea | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Morocco | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 1 |
Source:
| Paraguay | 0–0 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Sweden | 1–1 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Rödlund 52' | Report | Seo Jung-won 28' |
Group D
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghana | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 4 |
| Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 3 |
| Mexico | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Denmark | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 |
Source:
| Denmark | 0–0 | Ghana |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Mexico | 1–1 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Castañeda 63' | Report | Arambasic 20' |
Knockout stage
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | ||||||||
| 1 August – Valencia | ||||||||||
| Spain | 1 | |||||||||
| 5 August – Valencia | ||||||||||
| Italy | 0 | |||||||||
| Spain | 2 | |||||||||
| 2 August – Zaragoza | ||||||||||
| Ghana | 0 | |||||||||
| Paraguay | 2 | |||||||||
| 8 August – Barcelona (Camp Nou) | ||||||||||
| Ghana (aet) | 4 | |||||||||
| Spain | 3 | |||||||||
| 1 August – Barcelona (Camp Nou) | ||||||||||
| Poland | 2 | |||||||||
| Poland | 2 | |||||||||
| 5 August – Barcelona (Camp Nou) | ||||||||||
| Qatar | 0 | |||||||||
| Poland | 6 | |||||||||
| 2 August – Barcelona (Camp Nou) | ||||||||||
| Australia | 1 | Bronze medal match | ||||||||
| Sweden | 1 | |||||||||
| 7 August – Barcelona (Camp Nou) | ||||||||||
| Australia | 2 | |||||||||
| Ghana | 1 | |||||||||
| Australia | 0 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Bronze Medal match
Gold Medal match
Team details
Medal winners
Goalscorers
With seven goals, Andrzej Juskowiak of Poland is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 87 goals were scored by 57 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.
- 7 goals
- 6 goals
- 5 goals
Kiko
- 4 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- Own goals
.svg.png)
Shaun Murphy (playing against Poland)
Joachin Yaw Acheampong (playing against Paraguay)
Final ranking
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Spain (ESP) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 12 |
| 2 |  Poland (POL) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 9 |
| 3 |  Ghana (GHA) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 8 |
| 4 |  Australia (AUS) | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 5 |
| 5 |  Italy (ITA) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 |
| 6 |  Sweden (SWE) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 4 |
| 7 | .svg.png){kind=small} Paraguay (PAR) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 |  Qatar (QAT) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 |
| 9 |  United States (USA) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 3 |
| 10 |  Mexico (MEX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | .svg.png){kind=small} South Korea (KOR) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 |  Egypt (EGY) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 2 |
| 13 |  Denmark (DEN) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 |
| 14 |  Colombia (COL) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 |
| 15 |  Morocco (MAR) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 1 |
| 16 |  Kuwait (KUW) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
Source: [4]
References
- ^ "Football at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- ^ Miller, Nick (18 February 2015). "Who was the last goalkeeper to legally pick up a backpass?". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
- ^ Chris Curulli. The Dutch sledge that 'riled up' Australia & inspired dramatic Olympics qualification. Football Federation Australia. 8 April 2020
- ^ "Football Tournament 1992 Olympiad". www.rsssf.com.