12 of 16 men's football teams have booked their tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympics following the conclusion of the South American Olympic qualifier, which saw Argentina oust defending champions Brazil.
While 10 teams had already confirmed their spots, two South American sides confirmed their berths on Sunday (February 11). Four other teams will book their spots via the Asian Olympic qualifier and the AFC vs CAF playoff.
In the decisive South American Olympic qualifier, Luciano Gondou scored the winner for the Argentina under-23 team coached by Javier Mascherano after he headed a cross from Valentin Barco past goalkeeper Mycael in the 78th minute at the Brigido Iriarte Stadium in Caracas.
Brazil won gold at men's soccer in the last two olympic events at Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics. But the football giants will not be going to the Olympics in Paris.
South America's Olympic qualifying for men's soccer offered two spots in Paris. Paraguay ended on the top of the table of the final group stage with seven points in three matches after its 2-0 win on Sunday against host Venezuela.
The Paraguayan team, which didn't have star players like its two bigger continental rivals, also beat Brazil to secure its spot for France. Argentina finished the tournament with five points, two more than Brazil, which only managed to beat Venezuela in the final stage.
France qualify automatically as hosts, while they will be joined by fellow UEFA teams Spain, Israel and Ukraine, who booked their berths via the European Olympic qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the winners, runners up and third-placed teams from the U23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament - Morocco, Egypt and Mali confirmed their spots from CAF.
USA and Dominican Republican punched their tickets to Paris via the CONCAF qualifiers, while New Zealand sealed their spot in the OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The remaining four spots will be confirmed by the end of May 2024. Here is a look at the teams that qualified:
A total of 12 teams have booked their spots for the Paris Olympics football competition, which is scheduled to be held across 7 venues including the Summer Olympic Games host city of Paris, from July 24 to August 10. Here is a look Paris 2024 football teams:
Team | Confederation |
France (Host) | UEFA |
Spain | UEFA |
Ukraine | UEFA |
Israel | UEFA |
USA | CONCAF |
Dominican Republic | CONCAF |
New Zealand | OCF |
Morocco | CAF |
Egypt | CAF |
Mali | CAF |
Argentina | CONMEBOL |
Paraguay | CONMEBOL |