We've got another feast of football coming up as France hosts the men's and women's Olympics football tournaments
(Image credit: Getty Images)
France will play host to a pair of intriguing football tournaments as part of the Olympic Summer Games this year, with kick-off in the football set for Wednesday 24th July.
16 men's teams and 12 women's teams will face off to determine the medalists in each tournament, each starting with a group stage before turning into a straight knockout campaign.
If you're keen to take in every second of it... well, you're going to need to dual-screen it during the group stage, we're afraid. But don't worry: here's every kick-off time so you don't want to miss a kick at the Olympics.
VIDEO Why England Just Lost The Euro 2024 Final
Olympics 2024 football schedule explained
Unlike most summer tournaments, which like to spread out as much as possible to ensure there are games on each day, football the Olympics is just one small part of an entire events programme and a premium is put on getting things done in a time-efficient way - especially as there are actually two tournaments running side by side.
That means that the men’s and women’s tournaments will play all their games in each stage (group game 1, group game 2, group game 3, quarter-finals, semi-final, bronze medal game and final) across one day apiece.
In the interests of brevity: the same stage of women’s tournament will be played the day after the men’s equivalent in the same time slots, the exception being that there are no 3pm kick-offs for the women in the group stage as there are only three groups (not four, as in the men’s tournament). The only time we get a men's game on the same day as a women's game is on Friday August 9, when the men's final and women's bronze will both take place.
Get the FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Team GB at the Olympics in 2021 (Image credit: Getty)
The group games for the men’s tournament will be held on Wednesday July 24, Saturday July 27 and Tuesday July 30, with two kick-offs at each of 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm French time (an hour ahead of UK time). These time slots are mixed between the groups other than in the third and final round of group games, where each pair of group games will kick off simultaneously.
All four men’s quarter-finals will be played on Friday August 2, with the same four time slots. That means that we may get games overlapping one another should they go to extra time and penalties, as they do in the event of a draw after 90 minutes.
The men’s semi-finals will be played on Monday August 5at 6pm and 9pm, followed by the bronze medal match at 5pm on Thursday 8th August and the final at 6pm on Friday 9th August.
Full 2024 Olympics football schedule
The full schedule is as follows (all times French time).
Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
