Olympic Tournament Rules

[beachesl]

The Regulations for the Olympic tournaments (Mens and Womens)

http://www.fifa.com/documents/tournaments/olympic/Olympia_e.pdf

Highlights:

1. For Mens, 18-Player Rosters for entire tournament in Greece. Three of these may be overagers (born before Jan 1 / 1981), who were not allowed to compete in the qualifiers. A minumum of two of these must be goalkeepers. All of the roster may sit on the bench and be substitutes (3 per match allowed). the rosters must be submitted to FIFA by July 21.

2. The women have similiar roster rules, but no age limits at all.

3. The teams may also name 4 Alternate Players, who are not to be on the bench. They may only be activated for the roster upon proof of incapacitating injury or force majeure (deaths, serious reasons permitting absences, etc.), and after a hearing in which all parties may make submissions.

4. Tiebreakers for End of Group Stages:

1. Total Group Match Points
2. Total Group Goal Difference
3. Total Group Goals Scored
4. If still equal, then Match Points between tied teams
5. Goal Difference Between Tied Teams
6. goals scored between tied teams
7. Fair play quotient (yellow and red card acculmulation)
8. If still equal, and the tied teams play in the final match
of Group play together, after regulation time, the tie
shall be determined by Penalty Kicks at the end of
that match
9. Lots

5. Acculmulation of Cards

The Competition Regualtions are silent on this, so the FIFA Disciplinary Code applies: The cards do not carry-over from the qualifying matches to Greece (Art. 36), because they are separate cpmpetitions. However, the cards from the Group stages in Greece will carry over to the playoff rounds, unless the Disciplinary committee for the tournament makes a decision otherwise ( I am not aware of whether they have).

6. Extra Time

Extra time is the new FIFA standard of a full 30 minutes, followed by penalty kicks if still tied after 30 minutes. Therefore, no more "goldens goals". The only exception is the women's bronze medal match, which will only be penalty kicks after regulation time because of scheduling (it is played just before the women's final as a apart of a doubleheader).

[vipnerd]

6. Extra Time

Extra time is the new FIFA standard of a full 30 minutes, followed by penalty kicks if still tied after 30 minutes. Therefore, no more "goldens goals". The only exception is the women's bronze medal match, which will only be penalty kicks after regulation time because of scheduling (it is played just before the women's final as a apart of a doubleheader).


This is the way all competitions should be played! ... I'm so glad.

When the Golden and later the Silver goal were placed ... FIFA killed a part of the natural flow of football. Why can;t we see plenty of goals in ET!

Some of the most epic matches in football history have been matches that went to ET. (Note I said "some")

Can't freaking wait. :D

[El Ardillo]

yeah, me neither, the olympics look like they will be worth the effort to watch this year. especially b/c the soccer.

[Cattfish]

In the FIFA rules, the first tie-breaker is the match between the two, correct?

[beachesl]

In the FIFA rules, the first tie-breaker is the match between the two, correct?

For the World Cup (qualifiers and final competition) yes, not for the Olympics.

There is no one set of FIFA rules for competitions. There are Competition
Regulations for each FIFA competition, just as there are for various Confederation, national and league competitions. A list of some of the current
FIFA competition regualtions can be found at:
http://www.fifa.com/en/regulations/regulation/0,1584,6,00.html

The World Cup 2006 Competion Regualtions are set out in:
http://www.fifa.com/wc/2006/WC06-English.pdf
The tiebreakers for both the Group stages of WC qualifiers (Article 7, section 7, at page 6) and the final Tournament in Germany (Article 31, at page 31)
say that match point ties are first solved by looking at the results between only the teams involved in the tie.

However, that is not the rule for the Olympics.
http://www.fifa.com/documents/tourn...c/Olympia_e.pdf
For both the qualifiers (Article 5, at pages9-10) and the tournament in Greece (Article 32, pages 36-37) , the Regs are quite clear that if there is a match point tie in the groups, then total goal differential and then goals between all the teams in the groups is considered, and only if that is the same then results between the tied teams are looked at.

Why the difference between the World Cup and the Olympics? That is not set out in anything I've seen. I am guessing, but it is probably because each competition has evolved it's own set of rules to meet different conditions over the years.

In the World Cup, tiebreaker rules have been radically different over time. In the 30's, and 50'sfor instance, if there was a tie in Group points, the tied teams had to play a whole new match (this happened several times). Obviously, this palyed havoc with the schedule as well as tiring the advancing team who had to progress unfairly.

In the 60's WC's it was changed to drawing lots, even if one team beat the other in Group play. I think that this was actually resorted to only to determine who came first in the Group, not to determine who advanced to the playoffs.

From the 70's on, the system of tiebreakers as we know it today evolved, and the idea that the results between the teams were more important evolved with it because of worries and actual incidents of teams coming to understandings (ie:deliberate ties good enough to send the teams on).

The Olympics had tiebreaker rules for team sports, as well as individual sports such as fencing where there was group play, which required clear settling of match point ties because of the limited time involved. They also found that group results involving total goals or marks scored were better in terms of determining overall fitness to advance rather than just the results between the individual competitors or teams involved in the ties. Also. the groups were often uneven or sometimes the tied competitiors never actually met, so some kind of overall averaging was needed. The Olympics became an official Olympic sport in 1908, after 4 previous games had set up general procedures. They never had difficulties, or else they were not significant enough to more emphasize results between the two tied competitors.

When the World Cups started in 1930, FIFA pretty well let the individual countries organize each tournament, and only started get involved in the format organizing later on. The Olympic tournament developed it's own traditions, and those have continued, and FIFA has left the tiebreaking system (although not other things) there alone.

[vipnerd]

For the World Cup (qualifiers and final competition) yes, not for the Olympics.

There is no one set of FIFA rules for competitions. There are Competition
Regulations for each FIFA competition, just as there are for various Confederation, national and league competitions. A list of some of the current
FIFA competition regualtions can be found at:
http://www.fifa.com/en/regulations/regulation/0,1584,6,00.html

The World Cup 2006 Competion Regualtions are set out in:
http://www.fifa.com/wc/2006/WC06-English.pdf
The tiebreakers for both the Group stages of WC qualifiers (Article 7, section 7, at page 6) and the final Tournament in Germany (Article 31, at page 31)
say that match point ties are first solved by looking at the results between only the teams involved in the tie.

However, that is not the rule for the Olympics.
http://www.fifa.com/documents/tourn...c/Olympia_e.pdf
For both the qualifiers (Article 5, at pages9-10) and the tournament in Greece (Article 32, pages 36-37) , the Regs are quite clear that if there is a match point tie in the groups, then total goal differential and then goals between all the teams in the groups is considered, and only if that is the same then results between the tied teams are looked at.

Why the difference between the World Cup and the Olympics? That is not set out in anything I've seen. I am guessing, but it is probably because each competition has evolved it's own set of rules to meet different conditions over the years.

In the World Cup, tiebreaker rules have been radically different over time. In the 30's, and 50'sfor instance, if there was a tie in Group points, the tied teams had to play a whole new match (this happened several times). Obviously, this palyed havoc with the schedule as well as tiring the advancing team who had to progress unfairly.

In the 60's WC's it was changed to drawing lots, even if one team beat the other in Group play. I think that this was actually resorted to only to determine who came first in the Group, not to determine who advanced to the playoffs.

From the 70's on, the system of tiebreakers as we know it today evolved, and the idea that the results between the teams were more important evolved with it because of worries and actual incidents of teams coming to understandings (ie:deliberate ties good enough to send the teams on).

The Olympics had tiebreaker rules for team sports, as well as individual sports such as fencing where there was group play, which required clear settling of match point ties because of the limited time involved. They also found that group results involving total goals or marks scored were better in terms of determining overall fitness to advance rather than just the results between the individual competitors or teams involved in the ties. Also. the groups were often uneven or sometimes the tied competitiors never actually met, so some kind of overall averaging was needed. The Olympics became an official Olympic sport in 1908, after 4 previous games had set up general procedures. They never had difficulties, or else they were not significant enough to more emphasize results between the two tied competitors.

When the World Cups started in 1930, FIFA pretty well let the individual countries organize each tournament, and only started get involved in the format organizing later on. The Olympic tournament developed it's own traditions, and those have continued, and FIFA has left the tiebreaking system (although not other things) there alone.


Couldn't have said it any better.