Brazil claimed the gold medal after winning the final 9–3 against Russia who settled for silver. Meanwhile, Iran defeated Italy in the bronze medal match to claim the remaining place on the podium.[6]
Competition schedule
The tournament began on 11 October, one day before the opening ceremony, and ended on the final day of the Games, 16 October.[4][7]
Matches deciding medal winners took place exclusively on 16 October.[7]
The six continental zones of FIFA were each allocated a share of 16 berths at the Games,[2] ensuring all continents would be represented at the event. The following teams qualified from their zones via regional preliminary tournaments or based on their world ranking (hosts Qatar were eligible to enter a team automatically however declined to enter):[1][3]
a. Tahiti are the highest ranked team from the OFC. However, they are ineligible to enter since French Polynesia is not a member of ANOC. Therefore, the berth has been given to the OFC's next highest ranked team that is a member.[9]
b. The dates of teams who qualified via their world ranking refer to when they were publicly revealed by the qualification organisers.
Venues
Katara Beach, Doha
The matches were held on the Katara Beach[5] at the Beach Soccer Arena which consisted of two venues: the larger-capacity main stadium that hosted the majority of games and located adjacent, a smaller-capacity secondary stadium known as "Pitch 1" for all other matches which was only used during the group stage.[14][15][16]
For the purpose of the draw, the 16 teams were split into four pots of four according to their world ranking with the highest ranked teams placed in Pot 1, down to the lowest ranked teams placed in Pot 4.[18] One team from each pot was placed into each of the four groups. Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group, except for UEFA nations for which one group was permitted to contain two.[18] At the start of the draw, two teams from Pot 1 were automatically allocated to the groups – Brazil, as the ranking leaders, were assigned to position A1 and Russia, as the second best ranked team, were assigned to position D1.[18]
The composition of the pots is shown below (World Ranking in parentheses):[20]
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