The 2024 Summer Olympics are a time for football players, both male and female, to take part in a competition that few people have the honour of experiencing.
As the tournament is only held every four years and qualification is very tough due to the relatively small number of participants, very few players have the chance to compete for an Olympic medal.
While the competition works pretty much like most international football tournaments, there are some differences, especially in the men’s branch, where rosters are largely limited to young players. Also, the competition is a bit condensed compared to other well-known major competitions, and the matches come quickly.
Jugo Mobile looks at the format, eligibility, rules and qualification for this summer’s Olympic Games, which will officially be held in Paris but for this sport will be staged across the country of France.
Football at the 2024 Olympics: format and eligible ages
Men’s tournament
The men’s football tournament at the Olympic Games is officially an under-23 competition. Therefore, only players who are 23 years old or younger will be allowed to participate as of 1 January 2024. However, teams are allowed to have up to three players over 23 years old in their squad.
Despite the tournament falling during the summer international break, FIFA rules state that clubs can refuse to call up a player to youth tournaments, meaning some male players were excluded by their clubs from participating in the Olympics.
Sixteen nations have qualified for the men’s football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Those teams are pided into four groups of four, where a round-robin play-off will be played. The top two teams from each group will advance to the eight-team knockout stage, where the winner will be decided by single-elimination.
Teams that make it to the semi-finals are guaranteed two more matches. The winner of the final will take home the gold medal, while the loser of the final will win the silver. A third-place match will determine the winner of the bronze medal, while the loser of that match will not make it onto the podium.
Women’s tournament
There is no age limit for the women’s football tournament at the Olympic Games, although clubs cannot refuse to enter the competition.
Twelve teams have qualified for the women’s Olympic tournament, pided into three groups of four. The top two teams from each group will advance, along with the two third-placed teams.
This group stage format completes an eight-team knockout stage, which is conducted by single elimination to determine the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals, as in the men’s event.
Group stage tiebreakers
In the men’s and women’s tournaments, the first tiebreaker between two teams tied on points in the group stage standings will be goal difference followed by goals scored, points for fair play and then a draw.
If three or more teams are tied on points and goal difference, head-to-head points totals will be used before fair play points are reached.
How football teams qualified for the 2024 Olympics
A total of 16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams have qualified to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in France.
Each confederation held its own qualifying competition to nominate its participants, in both men’s and women’s football, which is detailed below. Some confederations held specific qualifying tournaments, while others used pre-existing competitions to serve as entry points to the Olympic Games.
In both cases, the host country, France, qualified automatically and does not count towards its own confederation’s total entries.
Men’s tournament
In addition to the direct qualification spots from each confederation, one men’s team earned a spot through the AFC-CAF playoff match when the two confederations contested a one-off match in France for final position in the tournament.
| Confederacy | Moorings | Tournament | Participants | Qualified Nations |
| Host country | 1 | — | — | France |
| Financial Association | 3 | U-23 Asian Cup 2024 | 43 (16) | Japan Uzbekistan Iraq |
| cyf | 3 | 2023 Africa Cup of Nations U-23 | 38 (8) | Morocco Egypt Mali |
| CONCACAF | 2 | U-20 Championship 2022 | twenty | USA Dominican Republic |
| CONMEBOL | 2 | 2024 Pre-Olympic Tournament | 10 | Paraguay Argentina |
| FROM C | 1 | 2023 Olympic qualifying tournament | 8 | New Zealand |
| UEFA | 3 | European Under-21 Championship 2023 | 53 (16) | Spain Israel Ukraine |
Women’s tournament
| Confederacy | Moorings | Tournament | Participants | Qualified Nations |
| Host country | 1 | — | — | France |
| Financial Association | 2 | 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament | 31 | Australia Japan |
| cyf | 2 | 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament | 25 | Nigeria Zambia |
| CONCACAF | 2 | CONCACAF Women’s Championship 2022 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers |
32 | USA Canada |
| CONMEBOL | 2 | Women’s Copa America 2022 | 10 | Brazil Colombia |
| FROM C | 1 | 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament | 8 | New Zealand |
| UEFA | 2 | 2024 Women’s Nations League Finals | 16 (4)* | Spain Germany |
* France reached the final of the 2024 UEFA Women’s Nations League but as they had already qualified for the competition as hosts, the winner of the third-place play-off, Germany, was awarded UEFA’s second place instead.
Is there extra time and penalties at the Olympics?
While some competitions are doing away with extra time at the end of a knockout match that ends in a draw, that is not the case this summer.
At the 2024 Olympic Games, Knockout stage matches that end in a draw will advance to a 30-minute overtime period. consists of two 15-minute periods. If the score remains tied at the end of that period, A penalty shootout would take place to determine the winner.
Why is the men’s Olympic football event a youth tournament?
While the women’s Olympic tournament is a fully-fledged senior competition in which all players are eligible to participate, the men’s competition is restricted to players born on or before 1 January 2001, with the exception of three spots for over-age players allocated to each participating nation.
The men’s match calendar is hugely congested, both at club and international level, with the summer of Olympic years often coinciding with other major international tournaments such as the Copa America and the European Championships.
These tournaments are much more prestigious than the Olympic Games for the international men’s teams and are therefore almost always a priority for the players. So, in an attempt to solve this problem, the Olympic Games leaned slightly towards the idea of ”amateurism” and designated the men’s competition as a youth tournament.
However, the tournament is not a completely amateur competition, as most of the participants are professional players contracted by various clubs around the world. Clubs can therefore refuse to call up players, as FIFA rules on international breaks do not apply to youth competitions.
It is very unusual for players to participate in a major international tournament at senior level (such as the Copa America or the Euro Cup). and The Olympics, too, would put enormous strain on a player’s body during what would otherwise be his offseason in the middle of the European club calendar. There are a few players who are doing double duty this summer, such as Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi, Spain’s Fermin Lopez or the United States’ Miles Robinson, but almost all of them saw little to no action in senior competition, serving as reserves.
