Football at the Summer Olympics
has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 and 1932. Women's football was added to the official program at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
In order to avoid competition with the World Cup, FIFA have restricted participation of elite players in the men's tournament in various ways: currently, squads for the men's tournament are required to be composed of players under 23 years of age, with three permitted exceptions.
By comparison, the women's football tournament is a full senior-level international tournament, second in prestige only to the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Another major difference between the men's and women's tournaments is that the men's tournament is not included in the FIFA International Match Calendar, while the women's tournament is included. This in turn means that clubs are not required to release players for the men's tournament, but must release players for the women's event.
History
Pre-World Cup era
Beginnings
Football was not included in the program at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, as international football was in its infancy at the time. However, sources claim that an unofficial football tournament was organised during the first competition, with participating teams including Athens and Smyrna, then part of the Ottoman Empire. However, according to Bill Mallon's research, this is an error which has been perpetuated in multiple texts.Tournaments were played at the 1900 and 1904 games and the Intercalated Games of 1906, but these were contested by various clubs and scratch teams. Although the IOC considers the 1900 and 1904 tournaments to be official Olympic events, they are not recognised by FIFA, and neither recognises the Intercalated Games today. In 1900 the competition was won by the London amateurs of Upton Park FC, representing Great Britain. The 1904 tournament was won by Canada, represented by Galt FC.
British successes
In the London Games of 1908 a proper international tournament was organised by the Football Association, featuring just six teams. The number of teams rose to eleven in 1912, when the competition was organised by the Swedish Football Association. Many of these early matches were unbalanced, as evidenced by high scoring games; two players, Sophus Nielsen in 1908 and Gottfried Fuchs in 1912, each scored ten goals in a single match. All players were amateurs, in accordance with the Olympic rules, which meant that countries could not send their full senior national teams. The National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Ireland asked the Football Association to send an English national amateur team. Some of the English members played with professional clubs, most notably Derby County's Ivan Sharpe, Bradford City F.C. Harold Walden and Chelsea's Vivian Woodward. England won the first two official tournaments convincingly, beating Denmark both times.1920s and the rise of Uruguay
During the 1920 final against Belgium, the Czechoslovakia national football team walked off the field to protest the refereeing of John Lewis and the militarised mood within the stadium in Antwerp. This would be the final all-European football competition at the Olympic games, with Egypt, the United States, and Uruguay participating in 1924. With teams from new regions the quality of play increased, as did fan interest. Uruguay dominated the tournament, winning their four games by a combined score of 15-1: the final was a 3–0 victory over Switzerland. In 1928, football was the most popular event at the games and the final was an all-South American affair. Because no other major international tournament existed yet, Uruguay defeated Argentina 2–1 in what David Goldblatt says was "football's first world championship". After these tournaments, FIFA realized that the Olympic movement prevented nations from competing on an equal footing and, given that the Olympics only permitted amateurs to participate, did not represent the true strength of the international game. The popularity of international soccer gave FIFA the incentive to create an international tournament, and FIFA began organising the World Cup.After the first World Cup
Tumultuous '30s
Following Jules Rimet's proposal in 1929 to initiate a professional World Championship of Football, the sport was dropped from the 1932 Los Angeles Games by FIFA in an attempt to promote the new tournament. Football returned to controversy at the 1936 Berlin Games. The German organisers were intent on the return of the game to the Olympic movement since it guaranteed income into the organisation's coffers. The Italian team intimidated a referee. Peru scored a contested victory over Austria in overtime, with a fan invasion of the field at the very end. The Austrian team asked for the result to be annulled, and the game repeated. FIFA agreed, but the Peruvian team refused and left the Olympics.Soviet Bloc dominance amid amateurism controversy
As professionalism spread around the world, the gap in quality between the World Cup and the Olympics widened. The countries that benefited most were the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe, where top athletes were state-sponsored while retaining their status as amateurs. As a result, young Western amateurs had to face seasoned and veteran Soviet Bloc teams, which put them at a significant disadvantage. All Olympic football tournaments from 1948 to 1980 were dominated by the Soviet Union and its satellites. Between 1948 and 1980, 23 out of 28 Olympic medals were won by Eastern Europe, with only Sweden, Denmark, and Japan breaking their dominance. The next two tournaments saw some changes due to FIFA's changing of the call-up rules, with only Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union winning medals for the Eastern Bloc.Changes and developments
For the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the IOC decided to admit professional players, however, FIFA still did not want the Olympics – or any other men’s soccer competitions to rival the World Cup.A compromise was struck that allowed teams from countries outside of UEFA and CONMEBOL to field their strongest sides, while restricting UEFA and CONMEBOL countries to players who had not played in a World Cup.
The 1984 rules were maintained also for the 1988 edition, but with an additional rider: any European and South American footballers who had previously played less than 90 minutes in one single match of the World Cup, were eligible.
1992–present: Age restrictions introduced
Since 1992, male competitors have been required to be under 23 years old, and since 1996, a maximum of three over-23-year-old players have been allowed per squad. African countries initially took advantage of this, with Nigeria and Cameroon winning in 1996 and 2000 respectively.Because of the unusual format and the separation from the main national teams that play the World Cup and top continental tournaments, historically strong men's national teams have unimpressive Olympic records. Uruguay, who won the two tournaments prior to the World Cup's creation, only qualified again in 2012, after an 84-year absence. Argentina won silver twice before the 2004 tournament, but its appearance in Athens 2004, in which it won the first gold medal, was only their seventh overall. Brazil's silver medals in the 1984, 1988 and 2012 editions were the best they had achieved until back-to-back golds in 2016 and 2020, the former on home soil. Italy has only won the Olympic title once, in 1936, although along with the two bronzes, the team has the highest number of appearances in the tournament, with 15, the last in 2008. France won the Olympic title in 1984, but only qualified twice ever since. A team from Germany won the gold medal only once, in 1976, and the reunified team did not make an Olympic appearance until 2016, when they won silver. Spain has won gold in 1992 and 2024, the former as hosts, and followed it with two silver medals, along with a few failures to qualify.
British non-involvement
has no single governing body, and there are separate teams for the UK's four Home Nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Further to this, only the English Football Association is affiliated to the British Olympic Association, and the FA entered "Great Britain" teams to the football tournaments until 1972.In 1950, the FA abolished the distinction between "amateur" and "professional" football, and ceased to enter the Olympics. Even though FIFA has allowed professionals at the Olympics since 1984, the FA did not re-enter, as the Home Nations were concerned that a united British Olympic team would set a precedent that might cause FIFA to question their separate status in other FIFA competitions, and even their status on or the existence of the International Football Association Board.
When London was selected to host the 2012 Games, there was pressure on the English FA to exercise the host nation's automatic right to field a team. In 2009 the plan agreed by the FA with the Welsh FA, Scottish FA and Irish FA was only to field English players; however the BOA overruled this, and ultimately there were Welsh players in the men's squad and Scots players in the women's squad. After the 2012 games, the FA decided that no team would be entered in subsequent men's tournaments, but was open to fielding a women's team again. The distinction recognised the importance and status of Olympic football in the women's international game.
For the 2020 tournament, FIFA stated that the women's UK team may enter the Olympics after the four FAs agreed, depending on the performance of women's English team in 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. This brought women's football under the BOA jurisdiction in line with the long-standing qualification rules in field hockey and rugby sevens, although the home nation's sevens teams were subsumed into a standing Great Britain team in 2022.