Football at the 2020 Summer Olympics
The football tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 21 July to 7 August 2021 in Japan.
In addition to the Olympic host city of Tokyo, matches were also played in Kashima, Saitama, Sapporo, Rifu and Yokohama.
Two events were contested: a men's and women's competitions. Associations affiliated with FIFA may send teams to participate in the tournament. There were no age restrictions on women's teams, while men's teams were restricted to under-24 players with a maximum of three overage players allowed. The men's tournament is typically restricted to under-23 players, though following the postponement of the Olympics by a year, FIFA decided to maintain the restriction of players born on or after 1 January 1997. In June 2020, FIFA approved the use of the video assistant referee system at the Olympics. Teams were restricted to 18 athletes, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rosters were allowed to consist of up to 22 athletes.
[Brazil national under-23 association football|football team|Brazil] were the men's defending champions. Germany won the previous women's tournament, but failed to qualify after losing to Sweden in the quarter-finals of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Schedule
| 21 Wed | 22 Thu | 23 Fri | 24 Sat | 25 Sun | 26 Mon | 27 Tue | 28 Wed | 29 Thu | 30 Fri | 31 Sat | 1 Sun | 2 Mon | 3 Tue | 4 Wed | 5 Thu | 6 Fri | 7 Sat | |
| Men | G | G | G | ¼ | ½ | B | F | |||||||||||
| Women | G | G | G | ¼ | ½ | B | F |
Venues
A total of six venues were used:Qualification
The Organizing Committee for FIFA Competitions ratified the distribution of spots at their meeting on 14 September 2017.Men's qualification
In addition to the host nation Japan, 15 men's national teams qualified from six separate continental confederations.Women's qualification
In addition to hosts Japan, 11 women's national teams qualified from six separate continental confederations.For the first time, as per an agreement between the four British football associations, Great Britain qualified for the Olympics through England's performance in the World Cup. Scotland also participated in the World Cup but, under the agreement whereby the highest ranked home nation is nominated to compete for the purposes of Olympic qualification, their performance was not taken into account.