Olympic Games

Football at the Summer Olympics, commonly known as football or soccer, has been included in Summer Olympic Games as a men’s competition sport. Men’s soccer has been a part of the Olympics since 1900, and women’s soccer has been a part of the Olympics since 1996.

Since soccer was incorporated into the Olympic games in 1900 there has only been one Olympic Games where soccer did not feature, and, interestingly the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and FIFA disagree on whether the first two Olympic games where soccer took part should even be recognized.

To qualify for the Olympic Games a national soccer team has to finish as the winners, or amongst the top teams, in a regional qualifying tournament preceding the Olympic Games.

The specific tournament depends on the region the qualifying nation is from. The specific region also affects how many nations can qualify for the Olympic Games.

In men’s soccer the qualifying process for the Olympic Games looks like this:

1. Nations from Africacompete in the CAF U-23 Cup of Nations. The teams who finish in the top 3 positions qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.
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2. Nations from Asiacompete in the AFC U-23 Championship. The teams finishing in the top 3 positions qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.
3. Nations from Europecompete in the UEFA European U-21 Championship. The top 4 teams in this tournament all qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.
4. In North, Central America and the Caribbeanteams compete in the CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship. The top 2 teams qualify for the upcoming Olympics.
5. In Oceania,nations compete in the OFC Men’s Olympic Tournament. Only the top team qualifies for the upcoming Olympic Games.
6. In South America,nations compete in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament. The top 2 teams qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.

The qualifying process for women’s soccer at the Olympic Games operates as follows:

1. Nations from Africacompete in a home-and-away series format consisting of four qualifying rounds. The team who finishes first automatically qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games while the team finishing second play against the second-place team from South America to decide which team qualifies for the upcoming Olympic Games.
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2. Nations from Asiacompete in the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The teams finishing in the top 2 positions qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.
3. Nations from Europecompete in the FIFA Women’s World Cup to decide which teams qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games. The top 3 European teams in this tournament all qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.
4. In North, Central America and the Caribbeanteams compete in a qualifying championship which precedes the Olympic Games. The top 2 teams qualify for the upcoming Olympics.
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5. In Oceania,nations compete in the OFC Women’s Nations Cup. Only the top team in this tournament qualifies for the upcoming Olympic Games.
6. In South America,nations compete in the Copa America preceding the Olympic Games. The top team in this tournament automatically qualifies for the upcoming Olympic Games. While the second-place team plays in an intercontinental play-off against the second-placed team from Africa to decide which team qualifies for the upcoming Olympic Games.

With both the men’s and women’s qualifying processes it’s important to note that the host nation’s team automatically qualifies for the Olympic soccer tournament.

Some regions use tournaments that are already taking place to decide which teams qualify for the Olympics while other regions organize a stand-alone tournament to determine which nations qualify for the Olympic soccer tournament.

The rules for Olympic soccer games are almost entirely the same as the rules for any professional soccer game. For example, an Olympic soccer game lasts for 90 minutes plus overtime if needed and an Olympic soccer field must meet the same requirements as any other soccer field.

The only difference in the rules is that there is an age limit regarding which players are eligible to take part in the tournament.

Only 3 players over the age of 23 are allowed to compete for each team and the reason for this is to prevent the Olympic soccer tournament from being too similar to the FIFA World Cup.

Prior to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona professional soccer players were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. The 1992 Olympic Games was the first time the IOC allowed professional players to compete but enforced an age limit on the players who could participate.

This age limit of 23 that is mentioned above was an agreement between the IOC and FIFA which paved the way for professional players to compete.

However, FIFA still does not consider the Olympics as a full soccer tournament and therefore many of the top players do not compete in the competition as the teams are not under any obligation to send their best players.

Due to the number of large stadia required for the Olympic tournament, venues in distant cities – often more than 200 km (120 mi) away from the main host – are typically used for the football tournament.