A men's football tournament has been held at every Summer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932. Women's football was added in 1996.

History

Football was not on the original modern Olympic Games programme; perhaps unsurprisingly, as international football was still in its infancy in 1896. However an unofficial football tournament was organised during the first competition. Complete records have been lost but it seems that only two games may have been played. An Athens eleven lost to a team representing Smyrna (Izmir then part of the Ottoman Empire). Smyrna went on to be beaten 15-0 by a team from Denmark. Demonstration tournaments were also played at the 1900 and 1904 games, as well as at the "Intercalated Games" of 1906, but these were contested by various clubs and scratch teams, and are not considered to be official Olympic events. In 1906 teams from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Netherlands and France were withdrawn from an unofficial competition and left Denmark, Smyrna (1 Armenian, 2 Frenchmen and 8 Britons), Athens and Thessaloniki Music Club to compete. Denmark won the final against Athens 9-0.

It was not until the London Games of 1908 that a proper international tournament was organised, featuring just six teams, rising to 11 in 1912. These early matches were fairly unbalanced, as witnessed by some large scorelines; two players, Soren Nielsen in 1908 and Gottfried Fuchs in 1912 each scored 10 goals in a match, a record that would stand for over 90 years. All players were amateurs, in accordance with the Olympic spirit, which meant that some countries could not send their full international team. The United Kingdom (who compete at the Olympics under the name of Great Britain) got around this problem by sending the England national amateur team, who nevertheless managed to win the first two official tournaments convincingly, beating Denmark on both occasions.

With the launch of the Football World Cup in 1930, FIFA did not want the Olympic tournament to overshadow their own showpiece event, so football was dropped completely from the programme for the 1932 Los Angeles Games, although it returned at the 1936 Berlin Games. As professionalism spread around the world, the gap in quality betwen the two tournaments widened. The countries that benefited most were the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe, where the top athletes were state sponsored while retaining their status as "amateurs". Between 1948 and 1980, 23 out of 27 Olympic medals were won by Eastern European countries, with only Denmark, Sweden and Japan breaking the dominance.

For the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the IOC felt a change was necessary to bring interest back to the football competition, and decided to admit professional players. FIFA still did not want the Olympics to rival the World Cup, so a compromise was struck that allowed teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania to field their strongest professional sides, while only allowing European and American teams to pick players who had not previously played in a World Cup. Many teams therefore played very young teams, including France, who won the 1984 Olympic title in between two semi-final appearances at World Cups.

The idea of youth teams caught favour at both FIFA and the IOC, and since 1992 all players in the Olympics must be under 23 years of age, with three over overage players allowed per squad. The tournament is now effectively an "Under-23 World Cup", complementing FIFA's own tournaments at Under-20 and Under-17 levels. The new format allows teams from around the world to compete equally, and African countries have taken particular advantage of this, with Nigeria and Cameroon winning in 1996 and 2000 respectively.

Because of the unusual format, several of the strongest footballing countries have fairly unimpressive Olympic records. The Netherlands won bronze in the first three tournaments, but have not reached the finals since 1952. Uruguay won the tournament on their first two attempts, in 1924 and 1928, but those are their only finals appearances. Argentina have won silver twice, but their appearance at the 2004 Athens Games will be only their fifth overall.

Great Britain's performances also declined after 1912, and their last appearance at the finals was in 1960. After 1974, when the British football associations abolished the distinction between "amateur" and "professional" football, Great Britain no longer entered the qualifying competition, and this continued to be the case even after the change of format in 1984. The main obstacle these days to their participation is political, since the four UK nations - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - have separate international football teams, but compete together as Great Britain in the Olympics. Producing a single team for the Olympics may lead to calls for the UK's special four-team status to be abolished altogether. However, there has been speculation that the UK may field united men's and women's teams for the 2012 Games, especially if they are awarded to London. [1] (http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/NewsFromTheFA/Postings/2004/02/FABacksOlympicbid.htm)

Qualifying

The qualifying tournament, like that for the World Cup, is organised along continental lines. Most continental confederations organise a special Under-23 qualifying tournament, although the European qualifiers are drawn from the finalists of the UEFA Under-21 Championship. For the 2004 Athens Games, the number of places alllocated to each continent is as follows:

• Europe - 4 (including hosts Greece)
• Africa - 4
• Asia - 3
• South America - 2
• North America - 2
• Oceania - 1

Women's tournament

Unlike the men's tournament, the women's tournament is contested between full national sides, with no age restrictions.

The first women's Olympic tournament was held at the 1996 Atlanta Games, with the hosts, the United States, being arguably the strongest team in the world. The United States did indeed win the gold medal, and picked up silver in 2000 after an extra time defeat to Norway.

Qualifying for the women's tournament is much less organised, due to the lack of countries playing at a high enough standard. The allocation of places for the 2004 Games is as follows:

• Europe - 3 (including hosts Greece)
• Africa - 1
• Asia - 2
• South America - 1
• North America - 2
• Oceania - 1

Medallists

Men

Women