SI.com - Soccer factbox for Athens 2004 - Wednesday August 11, 2004 1:06AM

ATHENS (Reuters) -- Factbox on soccer at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Men's soccer was a demonstration sport in the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens when a Greek team were beaten 15-0 by a Danish side. It became an official Olympic sport in the 1908 Games in London.

Women's soccer was added to the Olympic programme at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Until the 1984 Games, participation was restricted to amateur players and Olympic Football was dominated by eastern European countries.

EVENTS

Sixteen men's teams and 10 women's compete in 11-a-side tournaments. Each men's squad of 18 players must have at least 15 members aged 23 or under in the year of the Games. Women players must be aged at least 16 in the Olympic year.

The men's competition has four rounds and the women's has three.


    2000 CHAMPIONS
    Men: Cameroon
    Women: Norway

    OLYMPIC PROGRAM
    August 11: Women's and men's preliminaries
    August 12: Men's preliminaries
    August 14: Men's and women's preliminaries
    August 15: Men's preliminaries
    August 17: Women's and men's preliminaries
    August 18: Men's preliminaries
    August 20: Women's quarter-finals
    August 21: Men's quarter-finals
    August 23: Women's semi-finals
    August 24: Men's semi-finals
    August 26: Women's bronze-medal match
               Women's final
    August 27: Men's bronze-medal match
    August 28: Men's final

    VENUES (capacity in brackets)
    Karaiskaki Stadium, Athens (30,000)
    Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Thessaloniki (25,000)
    Panthessaliko Stadium, Volos (21,000)
    Pankritio Stadium, Heraklio (27,000)
    Pampeloponnisiako Stadium, Patras (23,000)
    Olympic Stadium, Athens (75,000)


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