Sydney Olympics 2000: Australia's greatest football crowd that no one remembers

Kieran Francis

Sydney Olympics 2000: Australia's greatest football crowd that no one remembers image

When you think of huge Australian football crowds, thoughts immediately turn to the 95,446 fans at the MCG for Melbourne Victory v Liverpool friendly or possibly the 82,698 supporters at Stadium Australia that saw John Aloisi's penalty get the Socceroos to the 2006 World Cup.

But neither match comes close to the record crowd for a football game in Australia that was achieved in the men's gold medal match at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

A crowd of 104,098 packed into the Olympic Stadium to watch underdogs Cameroon upset favourites Spain on penalties after a 2-2 draw at the end of extra time.

With Stadium Australia in its special initial configuration designed to fit in massive crowds for the Games, some supporters could barely see the action on the pitch, as evidenced in the photo below.

MORE: 'Gattuso sliced me up!' - The Olyroos' unforgettable Italy clash during Sydney 2000 GamesHow to watch the Olyroos and Matildas at the Tokyo Olympics

Olympic 2000 football final

It was a tournament when many of football's recent icons started their development as talented players to eventually become the superstars of the game.

Spain was led by the likes of Xavi and Carlos Puyol, Brazil featured Ronaldinho and Adriano, while Italy boasted Andrea Pirlo and Alessandro Nesta in their squad.

But incredibly it was Cameroon who won the gold medal, beating Kuwait, Brazil and Chile before stunning Spain in the final - in front of the Australian record crowd for a football match.

It was the first trophy the Indomitable Lions had ever won outside of the African Cup of Nations, with talent such as Samuel Eto'o, Lauren and Geremi engineering a stunning smash-and-grab of the gold medal.

After squeezing through a group featuring USA, Czech Republic and Kuwait in second place - and with one win and two draws in their group matches - the unfancied Cameroonians were drawn to play Brazil in the last eight.

Despite leading for 77 minutes, Cameroon lost the advantage in the 94th minute via a Ronaldinho equaliser, before they nicked the winner in extra time.

In the semi-final against Chile, Cameroon trailed by a goal with six minutes to play before two goals in next 300 seconds secured a place in the final.

In front of the heaving Stadium Australia crowd, Spain scored twice in the first half through Xavi and Gabri to establish a comfortable advantage against the Africans. But in the second half, Cameroon struck back twice by the 54th minute, with Eto'o grabbing the all-important equaliser.

Samuel Eto

With the match going to penalties after the deadlock could not be broken in extra-time, Cameroon scored all five penalties with Ivan Amaya's miss meaning the gold medal was heading to Africa.

The 100,000-plus crowd witnessed one of the biggest upsets in a major football final of all-time, with Cameroon striker Patrick Suffo admitting his nation didn't attend the Olympics to win gold.

"We hadn't necessarily gone to Sydney to win," Suffo told ESPN. "We'd gone for an adventure.

"It was only when we were there that we realised, as the matches went on, that we could write another chapter in our history.

"As the matches went on, a belief in our ability to win began to develop, and that's how we knew we could do it."

Australia's Olyroos and 15 other nations featuring the stars of tomorrow will compete for gold in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, in a tournament scheduled from July 21 to August 7.

But sadly we won't see a repeat of the mammoth crowds during Sydney 2000, with COVID-19 meaning most events will be held behind closed doors without fans.

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.