[1][2] The tournament featured 10 women's national teams from six continental confederations.

At the end of the group stage, the top teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage, beginning with the quarter-finals and culminating with the gold medal match at Karaiskakis Stadium on 26 August 2004.

Several qualification tournaments were held to determine the participating nations.

Cristiane of Brazil and Birgit Prinz of Germany finished as the top scorers of the tournament, with each scoring five goals.

[3] Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.