How Does Qualifying for Football at the Olympics Work
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will take place from Friday, 26 July until Sunday 11 August. It’s officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, also referred to as Paris 2024.
One of the events you can look forward to at the upcoming 2024 Olympics is football (soccer) at the Stade de France in Paris. The question being asked here is, how does the qualifying process for football at the Olympics work? Let’s dive straight in to find out.
How does the qualifying process for football work at the Summer Olympics?
The Summer Olympics football category has a tournament for men’s and women’s teams. There are no age restrictions in the women’s football teams, but only three players can be older than 23 in the men’s event. The rest of the players must be 23 years old or younger.
Also, each of the six confederations has a specific quota on how many teams can play in the Olympic Games, defined beforehand. For example, only 12 women’s teams and 16 men’s teams can compete at Paris 2024.
In other words, the number of teams allowed from each continent are the following:
- Oceana – 1 team
- North America, Central America, and the Caribbean – 2 teams
- South America – 2 teams
- Africa – 3 or 4 teams
- Asia – 3 or 4 teams
- Europe – 4 teams, which includes the host nation, France
One team, the host nation, will always automatically qualify. The +1 team from Africa and Asia works as follows: A 4th team from both confederations will have a play-off match against each other, and the winner of this match will qualify for the tournament.
Where will I be able to watch the Paris 2024 Olympics football matches?
The streaming platform Unibet TV is just one of several trusted websites where you will be able to watch coverage of the men’s and women’s Olympic football matches.
There will be many other major streaming sites that will also provide coverage. Some of these services are free, for example, on YouTube, but may only be available in certain regions.
Other trusted sports streaming sites, apps, and channels that will also be providing Olympic football coverage are Discovery Sports (Discovery+), Eurosport, BBC iPlayer, 9Now, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, and TNT Sports, to name a few.
Don’t forget that depending on which country you live in will often determine exactly how you can watch certain major sporting events like the Summer Olympics.
Who won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan?
In the men’s tournament, Brazil came out on top, beating Spain (a.e.t) 2-1 in the final to secure the gold medal, meaning Spain walked away with the silver medal after losing to Brazil.
The two semi-finalist losers, Mexico and Japan, both played each other for the bronze medal. Mexico beat host nation Japan 3-1 to secure the bronze medal.
In the women’s tournament, Canada beat Sweden 3-2 on penalties in the final. Canada walked away with the gold medal, and Sweden took the silver medal.
The two semi-finalist losers, Australia and the United States, both played each other for the bronze medal. The US beat Australia 4-3 to secure the bronze medal.
Which countries are the most successful in football at the Summer Olympics?
Hungary and Great Britain, who have both won on three separate occasions, are the two joint most successful nations in the football category at the Summer Olympics. However, neither team has won gold since 1968.
Hungary won gold in 1952, 1964, and 1968, and Great Britain won gold in 1900, 1908, and 1912. You then have Brazil, who have won gold twice (2016 and 2020), Argentina (2004 and 2008), the Soviet Union (1956 and 1988), and Uruguay (1924 and 1928). 13 other nations have won gold at least once.
