There will be 16 teams in the men's tournament, with a total of 288 athletes (18 per team). One quota place will be given to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) team of the host country (France), while the other 11 will be disputed by National Olympic Committees from around the world, through qualification tournaments.
There will be 12 teams in the women's tournament, with a total of 216 athletes (18 per team). The Finnish goal keeper, Olavi Laaksonen, fails to prevent Austria scoring a penalty goal during a football match at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics Number of teams Learn more about the football qualification system for Paris 2024. In all, there will be 28 teams competing (12 in the women’s tournament and 16 in the men’s) - the same number as Tokyo 2020, and the matches will played across six venues: The competition begins on 24 July, two days before the Opening Ceremony. Paris 2024 marks a return of the sport to the city where football debuted at the Games. The women’s game was added to the programme at Atlanta 1996 and has been a mainstay ever since. Football is one of the oldest sports on the Olympic programme, having been a fixture at the Games since 1900, with the exception of Los Angeles 1932.
