The 28 teams that have qualified for the Olympic football tournaments will discover their first opponents in the draw, to be held on 21 April at 10:00 CET, at the Home of FIFA in Zurich.
Hosts Japan will take the lead spot in Group A (men’s) and Group E (women’s), with the men’s teams allocated into four pots based on a ranking built according to performances at the past five Olympic football tournaments. The ranking is weighted so that recent performances play a more prominent role, and a bonus is given to those nations who finished their qualifying competition as continental champions.
The 16 sides will be drawn into four groups of four (Groups A to D), and the pot allocation for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament is as follows
The women’s sides will also be split into four pots, but their allocation to the pots will be based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking released on 16 April 2021. The 12 sides will be drawn into three groups of four (Groups E to G), and the pot allocation for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament is as follows:
The general principle for each tournament’s draw is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation. A more detailed breakdown of the draw mechanics, constraints, and seeding can be found in the Men’s Draw Procedures and Women’s Draw Procedures.
Tokyo Stadium will be the stage for the first match of the Japanese men’s team, while the women’s finalists will battle it out for the gold medal at the city’s iconic new Olympic Stadium, which will also be the setting for the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies. Sapporo, Miyagi, Kashima, Saitama and Yokohama will contribute to the Olympic passion by hosting exciting games from 21 July until 7 August 2021. More details can be found in the match schedule.
FIFA.com
