From 8 p.m., the two French selections led by Thierry Henry and Hervé Renard will meet their first opponents during the Olympic football tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games.
Who will France’s opponents be in the men’s and women’s football tournaments during the Olympic Games 2024 ? This evening, the selectors of the women’s team and the men’s hopefuls will be able to truly launch their program towards the prestigious competition. If the Olympic Games are held from July 26 to August 11, the competition will begin two days before the start of the Olympics to give the players some rest. For the Bleuets, Thierry Henry will have the opportunity to select three players over 23 years old, while the name of captain Kylian Mbappé comes up repeatedly like that of Antoine Griezmann. For All Sportthe Espoirs coach how to build the best possible group: “The Olympic Games are not on Fifa dates. (…) It’s a bit like the world turned upside down. (…) We’re going to try to have the best team, that’s the most important thing, and a team that we can prepare.”
While he will leave the head of the French women’s team at the end of the 2024 Olympics, Hervé Renard has a clear objective: to finish on the podium. “I told Hervé Renard, the women’s coach, and Thierry Henry, the boys’ coach, that we had to be at least on the podium. It’s an ambitious goal because the Games are here and because “We are clear-minded about the quality of our teams. France, for several years, has been in the elite of international football, whether for boys or girls.”, declared Philippe Diallo, the president of the French Football Federation, last January. Les Bleues will have to achieve the feat to capture the Olympic title in Paris where the final will take place. For this, they will be able to rely on a good performance in the Nations League where they failed in the final against Germany. In its history, this is the third time that the French women’s team has qualified for the Olympics after 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio).
The draw for the group stage of the 2024 Olympic football tournaments will take place on Wednesday March 20 at 8 p.m. at the headquarters of the Paris 2024 organizing committee.
The draw will be broadcast on France 3. FIFA+ and FIFA.com will also stream the draw. Fabien Lévêque will present the ceremony. He will be accompanied by FIFA competitions director Jaime Yarza and women’s football division director Sarai Bareman. Former Argentina international Javier Saviola will be responsible for making the draw alongside former Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé, former Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba and French athletics legend Marie-José Pérec.
Seven stadiums in seven cities will host the women’s and men’s matches in the Olympic football tournaments:
- Parc des Princes in Paris
- Beaujoire stadium in Nantes
- Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Étienne
- Lyon Olympic Park in Décines-Charpieu
- Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux
- Stade Vélodrome in Marseille
- Allianz Riviera in Nice
In the men’s football tournament at the 2024 Olympics, 16 teams are competing for the Olympic title. For the moment, 12 teams are already known:
- France
- Spain
- Israel
- Ukraine
- Morocco
- Egypt
- Mali
- Dominican Republic
- UNITED STATES
- Paraguay
- Argentina
- New Zealand
In the women’s tournament, ten selections out of twelve participants are already known:
- France
- Brazil
- Colombia
- UNITED STATES
- Spain
- Germany
- Australia
- Japan
- New Zealand
- Canada
The groups are drawn using hats. Here is the identity of the hats for the men’s and women’s tournaments:
Men’s tournament:
- Hat #1: FranceArgentina, two qualifiers from the Asia zone
- Hat n°2: Spain, New Zealand, Paraguay, Morocco
- Hat n°3: United States, Egypt, Mali, a country in the Asia zone
- Hat n°4: Dominican Republic, Israel, Ukraine, the winner of the play-off between Guinea and a nation from the Asian zone
Women’s tournament:
- Hat #1: FranceSpain, United States
- Hat n°2: Germany, Japan, Canada
- Hat n°3: Brazil, Australia, Colombia
- Hat n°4: New Zealand, two qualifiers from the Africa zone
In the men’s tournament, sixteen qualified nations are divided into four groups of four teams. After the group stage matches, the top two from each group qualify for the knockout stage. The selections compete until the final and the small final, pitting the two losers against each other in the last four.
In the women’s tournament, twelve selections are divided into three groups of four teams. The top two nations from each group qualify for the quarter-finals and the top two third-placed teams also move on to the knockout stage. The selections face each other until the final and the small final, pitting the two defeated countries against each other in the last four.