Football at the 1972 Summer Olympics

The 16 teams were again separated into four four-team groups, but this time the top two in each group only advanced to another series of group round-robins, with two semi-final groups of four teams each. The top two from each semi-final group then advanced to the semi-finals. The matches were played in six stadia in West Germany – Drei-Flüsse-Stadion, Passau; ESV-Stadion, Ingolstadt; Jahnstadion, Regensburg; Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München; Rosenau-Stadion, Augsburg; and Städtisches Stadion, Nürnberg.

The 16 nations qualified as follows – German Federal Republic (West) as the host nation; Hungary as the defending champion; four teams from a European Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Soviet Union, Poland, German Democratic Republic (GDR) [East], Denmark); two teams from a South American Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Brazil, Colombia); two teams from a North and Central American Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Mexico, United States); three teams from an African Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Morocco, Ghana, Sudan); and three teams from an Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Malaysia, Burma, Iran).

Hungary had won the last two gold medals and again made the final, but was defeated by Poland, 2-1. A new rule was enacted in the bronze-medal match, which stated that if it was tied, no re-play or tie-breaker would be used, but the two teams would share the bronze medal. This came into effect as the GDR and the Soviet Union played to a 2-2 tie.