Football at the Summer Olympics

This article is about the history of association football, also known as soccer, at the Olympics. For gridiron football, see American football at the Summer Olympics. For the Australian rules football demonstration, see Australian football at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Football at the Summer Olympics
IOC CodeFBL
Governing bodyFIFA
Events2 (men: 1; women: 1)
Summer Olympics
Tournaments (men・women)

Association football[note 1] has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 (the inaugural Games) and 1932 (in an attempt to promote the new FIFA World Cup tournament). Women's football was added to the official program at the Atlanta 1996 Games.[1][2]

In order to avoid competition with the World Cup, FIFA have restricted participation of elite players in the men's tournament in various ways: currently, squads for the men's tournament are required to be composed of players under 23 years of age, with three permitted exceptions.[3][4][5]

By comparison, the women's football tournament is a full senior-level international tournament, second in prestige only to the FIFA Women's World Cup.[6][7][8]

Another major difference between the men's and women's tournaments is that the men's tournament is not included in the FIFA International Match Calendar,[9] while the women's tournament is included.[10][11] This in turn means that clubs are not required to release players for the men's tournament, but must release players for the women's event.[12][13]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "Tokyo 2020 Football - Olympic Results by Discipline". Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Team sports: how can your Team Qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics?". Olympics.com. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  3. ^ Hartman, Ike (23 July 2021). "Why Olympic Men's Soccer Has An Age Limit". The18. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  4. ^ Hanley, Liam (9 July 2021). "Explaining The New Age-Limit Rules For Olympic Men's Soccer". The18. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  5. ^ Anderson, Jason. "Olympic men's soccer bracket: Standings, schedule and what to know". USA TODAY. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  6. ^ Goff, Steven (19 July 2021). "What to know about soccer at the Tokyo Olympics". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  7. ^ Creditor, Avi. "The USWNT and Sweden: A Frequent Tale on the Tournament Stage". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  8. ^ Cons, Roddy (25 July 2024). "Why is there no age restriction in the women's Olympic soccer tournament?". AS USA. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Men's International Match Calendar 2023–2030" (PDF). FIFA.com. April 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Women's International Match Calendar 2024–2025" (PDF). FIFA.com. January 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  11. ^ "Women's International Match Calendar 2026–2029" (PDF). FIFA.com. May 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  12. ^ Borden, Sam (23 July 2024). "2024 Olympics: What to know about USA men's, women's soccer". ESPN.com. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  13. ^ Twomey, Liam. "Why clubs are denying players a place at Olympic Games - and why it is allowed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 August 2024.