Women’s Football Olympics: Team Previews and Schedule

Women’s football made its debut at the Olympics at the Atlanta Games in 1996. The United States bagged the first-ever gold medal in the women’s football Olympics. 

Women’s football Olympics probably peaked at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Norway defeated the then-World Cup champions team USA in a dramatic match that went into extra time. Ultimately, this loss sparked a remarkable period of American dominance at the Olympic Games. The team clinched gold in 2004, 2008, and 2012, and a bronze in 2020. 

Germany, Canada, and Norway have also won one gold medal each at the football Olympics. Germany has won three bronze medals, the most by a team at the Olympics.

Let’s look at the teams and the schedule for this year’s Games.

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Women’s Football Results

The 2020 Women’s Football Olympics Tournament in Japan featured 12 teams, with Canada winning their first title by defeating Sweden in the final. The United States secured third place, and Australia finished fourth.

Canada won its first gold medal after securing bronze medals in 2012 and 2016. Sweden has won the silver medal in their last two outings in the Olympics.

The United States won the bronze medal for the first time at the Olympics in Tokyo. In the Rio Olympics 2016, the United States failed to make it past the quarter-finals. It was the only time the United States team didn’t win a single medal in the women’s football event.

A total of 101 goals were scored in 26 matches, resulting in an average of 3.88 goals per match. Vivianne Miedema of the Netherlands was the top scorer with 10 goals.

Women’s Football at Paris Olympics 2024

The 2024 women’s football Olympics tournament will be held in France from 25 July to 10 August 2024, featuring 12 teams competing in seven stadiums across seven cities in France. The final will be played at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

The tournament will include group-stage matches, quarterfinals, semifinals, the bronze medal match, and the gold medal match, with no age restrictions for players.

In the past, teams qualified for the Olympics based on their performance in the World Cup. However, for the Paris Olympics 2024, the qualification system shifted to rely on the results of the UEFA Nations League.

The top two teams from the 2023/24 UEFA Women’s Nations League were selected automatically for the Paris Games. A comparable qualification process was subsequently introduced for the American, Oceanic, Asian, and African confederations.

Teams were divided into four groups of four during the group stages of League A in the UEFA Women’s Nations League. The top four teams from each group advanced to the semi-finals.

The Netherlands, competing in Group A1 with England, Scotland, and Belgium, emerged as the group leaders with 12 points and a goal difference of eight. They defeated Belgium 4-0 in their final group match. This outcome led to the European Champions England missing out on qualification for Paris 2024, despite their 6-0 victory over Scotland in the final game. As a result, Team GB, which comprises England, Scotland, and Wales, will not be participating in the Olympics.

France secured the top spot in Group A2 with sixteen points, earning them a place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Nations League. Since France is the host nation for the upcoming Olympic Games, they have automatically qualified.

Germany claimed the top position in Group A3 by a single point, while Denmark narrowly missed out on qualifying for Paris 2024. Spain, the reigning FIFA World Cup champions, secured the remaining semi-final spot by finishing first in Group A4 with a five-point lead.

Spain defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the semi-final to secure their spot in Paris. Germany also secured their qualification by defeating the Netherlands 2-0 in the third-place play-off of the UEFA Women’s Nations League.

The United States team secured their place in Paris by winning the CONCACAF W Championship in July 2022, defeating the current Olympic Gold medallists Canada 1-0. Canada also qualified for Paris after a two-legged 4-1 victory over Jamaica in an Olympic Concacaf play-off match.

Brazil and Colombia secured their spots for Paris 2024 two years before the event by reaching the final of the Copa América Femenina in 2022. Brazil defeated Paraguay 2-0 in the semi-finals to advance to the final, while Colombia won 1-0 against Argentina. Ultimately, Brazil emerged as the champions with a 2-0 victory in the final.

Women’s Football Olympics: 2024 Games Schedule

Women’s football Games will be held on the following dates and venues:

25th July

28th July

31st July

• Saturday, 3rd August: Women’s Quarterfinal Matches
• Tuesday, 6th August: Women’s Semi-final Matches
• Friday, 9th August: Women’s Bronze Medal Match
• Saturday, 10th August: Women’s Gold Medal Match