Everything you need to know about Olympic football at Tokyo 2020

Football is one of 33 sports that will take place at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021.

But which teams will be involved? who are the ones to watch? When will competition take place, and where will it be held?

Here is our guide to the top things to know about Olympic football.

Top Football Players to Watch at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021

In the women’s competition the United States, reigning FIFA Women’s World Cup champions, will be bringing their star-studded squad to Tokyo. Megan Rapinoe will likely feature at her third Games alongside Alex Morgan who, after giving birth in May 2020, would have been an unlikely inclusion had the competition taken place during its original dates.

Great Britain qualified through England’s performance at the FIFA Women World’s Cup in 2019, where they finished as one of the three highest European teams and thus earned one of the three qualification spots allocated to UEFA. Lucy Bronze, The Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2020, will almost definitely be in the 18-player squad, which can also include players from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

You should expect a lot of goals in Tokyo too. Some of the world’s most prolific strikers, such as Australia’s Sam Kerr, Vivianne Miedema of the Netherlands and the world-record holder for most international goals, Canada’s Christine Sinclair, should all feature.

Due to the nature of the competition in men’s football at the Olympics, it is difficult to identify the stars because it is unclear who will be available.

Historically taking place after major continental tournaments (as is the case in 2021 with UEFA EURO and Copa America) and being considered an Under-23 competition, the squads are often not fully known until weeks before the Games begin.

That is not to say there will not be stars at Tokyo – 2018 FIFA World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe was in France’s preliminary list before COVID-19 shutdown the sporting calendar in March 2020, while the legendary Real Madrid and Spain captain Sergio Ramos has been linked with one of Spain’s “overaged” spots too.

For the hosts, Real Madrid’s Kubo Takefusa is one to watch. The Japanese international, who turns 20 in June, could likely feature in Tokyo after impressing in La Liga for Mallorca and Villarreal on-loan, and is currently featuring for Getafe.

Olympic Football schedule at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021

The football events will take place from 21 July to 7 August 2021.

Here is the complete schedule and all times are in Japan Standard Time (JST).

Olympic football competition format at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021

The women’s competition will feature 12 full national teams, divided into three groups of four. From each group, the top two teams will automatically reach the quarter-finals, and the two remaining spots going to the two best third-placed teams from the first round. The two losing semi-finalists will contest a bronze medal match the day before the gold medal match, which takes place on Friday 6th August.

There will be 16 teams competing in the first round of the men’s competition, split into four groups of four, in a “round-robin” format. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knock-out stage of the tournament, beginning with the quarter-finals. From here, it follows the same structure as the women, with the gold medal match taking place on Saturday 7th August.

Men's tournament:

The last of the 16 spots for the men's competition were decided in March 2021 with London 2012 gold medallists Mexico and Honduras progressing from the CONCACAF qualifiers in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The event hosts beat Canada 2-0 to book their place in Tokyo while Honduras reached a fourth consecutive Games with a 2-1 victory over the USA.

Brazil will defend their title in Tokyo after coming through CONMEBOL qualifying last year along with Argentina with Rio 2016 runners-up Germany hoping to go one better in Japan.

The first match of the men's tournament will see Mexico play France on 22 July 2021 at the Tokyo Stadium with hosts Japan taking on South Africa later that day.

If you want to know more about the men's football draw, here.

Women's tournament:

The United States will start their campaign against the team who put them out of Rio 2016: Sweden.

The current World Cup holders went out to Sweden on penalties in the quarter-finals in Rio, ending their hopes of a fourth consecutive gold and failing to reach the Olympic final for the first time.

The last berth in the 12-team competition went to Chile who drew 0-0 with Cameroon to go through 2-1 on aggregate in Antalya, Turkey and reach their first women's Olympic football tournament.

Also on 13 April, two strikes from Wang Shuang - including the only goal in extra time - saw Rio 2016 quarter-finalists China beat South Korea 4-3 on aggregate in Suzhou.

Rio gold medallists Germany failed to qualify having been beaten by Sweden in the quarter-finals of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Hosts Japan will kick things off with a game against Canada.

If you want to know more about the women's football draw, here.

Olympic Football Venues at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021

The majority of the matches will take place in Tokyo and the surrounding cities of Yokohama, Saitama, Kashima and further north in Sendai. Sapporo, in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, will also host fixtures during Tokyo 2020.

Football fans will be familiar with a lot of the stadiums and locations that will be used during the Games, as many were built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup which Japan hosted along with Korea Republic. The venue from the final of that competition, the International Stadium in Yokohama, will host the men’s football gold medal match on Saturday 7 August.

Check all the details about Tokyo Stadium, Sapporo Dome, Saitama Stadium, Miyagi Stadium, International Stadium Yokohama, Ibaraki Kashima Stadium and Olympic Stadium.