Football at the 1984 Summer Olympics

1984 Olympic Football Tournament
Tournament details
Host countryUnited States
DatesJuly 29 – August 11, 1984
Teams16 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions France (1st title)
Runners-up Brazil
Third place Yugoslavia
Fourth place Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored84 (2.63 per match)
Attendance1,425,181 (44,537 per match)
Top scorer(s)Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Borislav Cvetković
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Stjepan Deverić
France Daniel Xuereb
(5 goals each)
1980
1988

The association football (soccer) tournament at the 1984 Summer Olympics started on July 29 and ended on August 11, taking place throughout the United States.[1] It was the first Olympic soccer competition in which officially professional players were allowed. Until then, the amateur-only rule had heavily favored socialist countries from the Eastern Bloc whose players were professionals in all but name. However, as agreed with FIFA to preserve the importance of the World Cup, the Olympic competition was restricted to players with no more than five "A" caps at tournament start, regardless of age. Specifically, they allowed teams from countries outside of UEFA and CONMEBOL to field their strongest sides, while restricting UEFA and CONMEBOL (the strongest confederations whose teams had played all finals and won every single World Cup title) countries to players who had not played in a World Cup.[2][3][4][5]

The soccer tournament was held in four venues:

The Gold medal game between France and Brazil at the Rose Bowl attracted an Olympic Games soccer attendance record of 101,799. This remained the record attendance for a soccer game in the United States until 2014, breaking the previous Olympic record attendance of 100,000 set at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia for the game of the 1956 Olympic Games played between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The Rose Bowl attendance would remain the Olympic record until 104,098 attended the game of the 2000 Summer Olympics between Cameroon and Spain at the Stadium Australia in Sydney.

The attendance also stood as the highest for a soccer game in the United States until 109,318 saw Manchester United defeat Real Madrid during the 2014 International Champions Cup at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

  1. ^ "Football at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  2. ^ Summer Olympics Football
  3. ^ "Olympics Define Soccer Eligibility". New York Times. July 16, 1983. p. 20, Section 1. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  4. ^ Harvey, Randy (December 12, 1986). "IOC Takes Pro and Con Positions on Pros". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  5. ^ Litsky, Frank (March 30, 1986). "I.O.C. EXPECTED TO EASE AMATEUR POLICY". New York Times. p. 9, Section 5. Retrieved September 15, 2024.

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