The 1996 Summer Olympics—based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States—marked the first time that women participated in the Olympic association football tournament. The tournament featured eight women's national teams from four continental confederations. The teams were drawn into two groups of four and each group played a round-robin tournament (which was held in Miami, Orlando, Birmingham and Washington, D.C.). At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the knockout stage (which was held at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia), beginning with the semi-finals and culminating with the gold medal match on August 1, 1996.