Previous Tournaments - FIFA.com

Argentina arrived in Greece billed as hot favourites - a mantle that had weighed heavily upon them at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Japan/Korea TM and the recent Copa America, where they were beaten in the final by Brazil. This time, however, the Albicelestes stood firm to win their first-ever Olympic Football Tournament gold medal, having twice fallen at the final hurdle, in 1928 and 1996.

Nigeria made Olympic football history by becoming the first African and non-European and South American team to win the gold medal. While the football tournament remained primarily an Under-23 competition, each of the 16 competing countries were allowed to use as many as three overage players in a compromise between FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.

The Soviet Union sometimes lived on the edge at the 1988 Summer Games, but proved to be difficult to beat for their second Olympic football gold medal.

The Communist countries held their own private Eastern bloc party in 1980 because a number of nations boycotted the Olympics. U.S. President Jimmy Carter refused to send American teams to Moscow after the Soviets' Afghanistan invasion. Six other countries that had qualified for the football tournament followed suit -- Argentina, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Malaysia and Norway.

Hungary tried to make it three straight in West Germany, but fell to midfielder Kazimierz Deyna and Poland in the final, 2-1. Trailing 1-0 at halftime, Poland took advantage of near gale-force winds at their backs to pull out the win before 80,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium.

The football tournament added another tier as the second-place team in each of the four groups also qualified for the quarter-finals. Even before the opening kick-off, the 1964 event was marred because 328 people were killed during rioting at a qualifying match between Peru and Argentina in Lima.

Because of the Hungarian Revolution and the Soviet Union's reaction to it, only 11 countries participated in this tournament, making it the smallest football competition since the 1908 & 1912 Summer Games.

Due to World War II, there were 12 years between Olympics. In the meantime, the professional game flourished and became stronger.

If there was any doubt about Uruguay's prowess at the 1924 Summer Games, it was all but dispelled four years later, as the South Americans captured their second successive crown. The Uruguayans were led by eight returnees from the 1924 squad, including Andrade, Jose Nasazzi, and Hector Scarone.

After an eight-year hiatus due to World War I, football returned to the global arena in Belgium as the Olympic flag and its famous five rings was hoisted for the first time. Slowly but surely the football tournament was expanding as 14 countries participated, including a non-European nation for the first time -- Egypt.

After tries in Athens (1896), Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904), the first official Olympic Football Tournament was held in London as host Great Britain won the first of two consecutive gold medals. Eight teams entered the competition -- two from France and one each from Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Hungary and Bohemia, although the latter two later withdrew.