Explainers

IF Euro 2020 wasn’t exciting enough, there’s plenty more football at the Tokyo Olympics.And Team GB have their women’s side BACK at the Games, where they are looking to go for the gold they missed out on at London 2012.
Brazil took gold last time out at Rio 2016, after beating Germany in a penalty shoot-out in the finalCredit: Splash News
Team GB’s women starred at the London 2012 Games but were knocked out in the semi finalsCredit: Getty Images – Getty
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The likes of France, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Germany will be competing in Japan as football makes it’s long awaited return to the Olympics.
The Team GB women’s football team will be right in the mix as well.
The tournament itself will start on Wednesday, July 22 – two days before the opening ceremony – until Saturday, August 8.
Hege Riise’s women’s side are due to play Chile in the first match of the tournament in Group E, on July 21 before also playing Canada and Chile in their other initial group games, which will all be played at the Sapporo Stadium. 
Team GB women’s Group E fixtures:

Wednesday, July 21 – Great Britain 2-0 Chile – 8.30am UK (4.30pm Japan)
Saturday, July 24 – Japan 0-1 Great Britain – 11am UK approx (7pm Japan)
Tuesday, July 27 – Canada 1-1 Great Britain – 11.30am UK approx (7.30pm Japan)

*Kick off times marked approximate are because games are clustered into sets of two, the Olympic organisers only give kick-off times for the early matches.
What are the Olympic football groups?
The men’s competition will consist of sixteen teams split up four by four per group and the women’s competition will consist of 12 teams split up in three groups.
Men’s groups

Group A: Japan, South Africa, Mexico, France
Group B: New Zealand, South Korea, Honduras, Romania
Group C: Egypt, Spain, Argentina, Australia
Group D: Brazil, Germany, Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia

Women’s groups

Group E: Japan, Great Britain, Chile, Canada
Group F: Brazil, Netherlands, China, Zambia
Group G: USA, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand

The GB Women’s team qualified for the Olympics by virtue of England’s performance at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, when they finished fourth in France.
Defending champions Germany will not field a women’s side at the Olympics after they lost their World Cup quarter-final to Sweden.
And unlike the men’s event – which is an under-23 tournament – the Olympics is one of women’s football’s biggest events, with no age restrictions.
Olympic football fixtures in full
Games in the same group are being played two at a time in various stadia, so second kick-off times are approximate.
Wednesday July 21 – Women

E: Great Britain 2-0 Chile
E: Japan 1-1 Canada
F: China 0-5 Brazil
F: Zambia 3-10 Netherlands
G: Sweden 3-0 USA
G: Australia 2-1 New Zealand

Thursday July 22 – Men

C: Egypt 0-0 Spain
C: Argentina 0-2 Australia
A: Mexico 4-1 France
A: Japan 1-0 South Africa
B: New Zealand 1-0 South Korea
B: Honduras 0-1 Romania
D: Ivory Coast 2-1 Saudi Arabia
D: Brazil 4-2 Germany

Saturday July 24 – Women

E: Chile 1-2 Canada
E: Japan 0-1 Great Britain
F: China 4-4 Zambia
F: Netherlands 3-3 Brazil
G: Sweden 4-2 Australia
G: New Zealand 1-6 USA

Sunday July 25 – Men

C: Egypt 0-1 Argentina
C: Australia 0-1 Spain
B: New Zealand 2-3 Honduras
B: Romania 0-4 South Korea
A: France 4-3 South Africa
A: Japan 2-1 Mexico
D: Brazil 0-0 Ivory Coast
D: Saudi Arabia 2-3 Germany

Tuesday July 27 – Women

G: New Zealand 0-2 Sweden
G: USA 0-0 Australia
E: Chile 0-1 Japan
E: Canada 1-1 Great Britain
F: Brazil 1-0 Zambia
F: Netherlands 8-2 China

Wednesday July 28 – Men

D: Germany 1-1 Ivory Coast
D: Saudi Arabia 1-3 Brazil
C: Australia 0-2 Egypt
C: Spain 1-1 Argentina
B: Romania 0-0 New Zealand
B: South Korea 6-0 Honduras
A: South Africa 0-3 Mexico
A: France 0-4 Japan

Friday July 30 – Women’s quarter-finals

Canada vs Brazil – 9am UK (5pm Japan)
Great Britain vs Australia – 10am UK (6pm Japan)
Sweden vs Japan – 11am UK (7pm Japan)
Netherlands vs United States – 12 noon UK (8pm Japan)

Saturday July 31 – Men’s quarter-finals

Spain vs Ivory Coast – 9am UK (5pm Japan)
Japan vs New Zealand – 10am UK (6pm Japan)
Brazil vs Egypt – 11am UK (7pm Japan)
South Korea vs Mexico – 12 noon UK (8pm Japan)

Monday August 2 – Women’s semi-finals

Netherlands/United States vs Canada/Brazil – 9am UK (5pm Japan)
Great Britain/Australia vs Sweden/Japan – 12 noon UK (8pm Japan)

Tuesday August 3 – Men’s semi-finals

South Korea/Mexico vs Brazil/Egypt – 9am UK (5pm Japan)
Japan/New Zealand vs Spain/Ivory Coast – 12 noon UK (8pm Japan)

Thursday August 5 – Women

Women’s bronze medal match – 9am UK (5pm Japan)

Friday August 6 – Women and Men

Women’s gold medal final – 3am UK (11am Japan)
Men’s bronze medal match – 12 Noon UK (8pm Japan)

Saturday August 7 – Men

Men’s gold medal final – 12.30pm UK (8.30pm Japan) More

THE TOKYO OLYMPICS sees Great Britain field a women’s football team this summer, but there’s NO men’s side.Hege Riise, the Team GB head coach, named an 18-person squad for the games and they have already qualified for the quarter-finals.
Team GB’s women were the first Brits to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as they beat Chile 2-0 in their football opener
Why is there no Great Britain men’s football team at the Olympics?
When London won the rights to hold the Olympics in 2012, Great Britain immediately began plans to enter a men’s team for the games.
The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish FA, however, expressed doubts over taking part over fears they would lose their Home Nations status which had been established by Fifa.

Fifa president at the time Sepp Blatter assured all four nations that their individuality would not be lost, despite combining to create Team GB for the Olympics.
A compromise was reached and only English and Welsh players took part for Team GB in London.
Plans were put forward for a team to be created for the Rio Olympics in 2016, but they were once again rejected by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish associations.
And subsequently, no efforts were made for a men’s team to enter the Tokyo games.

Ryan Giggs captained the men’s Team GB side at the 2012 OlympicsCredit: PA:Press Association
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But Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England says that potential success from the women’s team may spark up a revival for the men’s side.
He said: “I would absolutely love to take a men’s football team to the Olympic Games.
“I think the experiences that the women have had through the home country FAs hopefully will be that positive step and impetus for an open dialogue on men’s teams in the future.
“Obviously the strength now that we can see in women’s football (means) we’d be very disappointed if, in France in Paris in 2024 and on to Los Angeles in 2028, we weren’t fielding competitive teams across all sports but in particular competitive teams in football as well.”
However, even if the four football associations had agreed to a Team GB men’s side, they would not have qualified for the Olympics this year.
The women qualified for the Olympic Games by virtue of England’s run to the semi-final of the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
However, qualification for the men’s tournament was decided by performance in the 2019 Under-21 European Championship.
And in that tournament, England failed to get out of the group stage after being beaten by France and Romania.
As a result of their runs to the semi-finals of that competition, France, Romania, Germany and Spain are Uefa’s representatives at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. More