Football at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
2024 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
Tournament details

Host country	France
Dates	25 July – 10 August
Teams	12 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	7 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (5th title)
Runners-up	Brazil
Third place	Germany
Fourth place	Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	76 (2.92 per match)
Attendance	398,699 (15,335 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Marie-Antoinette Katoto (5 goals)
← 2020 2028 →

The women's football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics was a big event held from July 25 to August 10, 2024. This was the eighth time the women's Olympic football tournament took place. It was part of the 2024 Summer Olympics football competition in France. Games were played at seven different stadiums in seven cities.

The United States won the gold medal. This was their fifth gold medal, which is a record! They had not won since 2012. They beat Brazil 1–0 in the final match. This exciting game happened at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris.

Canada were the champions from the 2020 Olympics. However, they were knocked out of the tournament this time. Germany defeated them in the quarter-finals.

Tournament Schedule
How Teams Qualified
Stadiums and Cities
Team Squads
Match Officials
The Draw
Group Stage
- How Teams Were Ranked
Knockout Stage
Top Goalscorers
Final Standings
Images for kids
See also

Tournament Schedule

The tournament had a clear schedule for all the matches.

Legend
G	Group stage	¼	Quarterfinals	½	Semifinals	B	Bronze medal match	F	Gold medal match

Thu 25	Fri 26	Sat 27	Sun 28	Mon 29	Tue 30	Wed 31	Thu 1	Fri 2	Sat 3	Sun 4	Mon 5	Tue 6	Wed 7	Thu 8	Fri 9	Sat 10
GS			GS			GS			QF			SF			B	F

GS means Group Stage. This is where teams play against others in their group.
QF means Quarter-finals. These are the first knockout matches.
SF means Semi-finals. Winners go to the final.
B means Bronze medal match. This is for third place.
F means Final. This is for the gold medal.

How Teams Qualified

Besides France, who hosted the games, eleven other women's national teams earned a spot. They qualified through different tournaments held by six football groups around the world. FIFA, the world football organization, decided how many spots each region would get.

Many teams tried to qualify for the Olympics. For example, Sweden had been runners-up in the last two Olympics (2016 and 2020). But they did not qualify for the 2024 tournament. They were knocked out during the UEFA Women's Nations League.

Stadiums and Cities

The matches were played in seven different stadiums across seven cities in France. These stadiums are famous for hosting big football games.

Marseille	Décines-Charpieu (Lyon area)	Paris
Stade de Marseille	Stade de Lyon	Parc des Princes
Capacity: 67,394	Capacity: 59,186	Capacity: 47,929
Stade de Marseille	Stade de Lyon	Parc des Princes in Paris
		Bordeaux
		Stade de Bordeaux
		Capacity: 42,115
		Stade de Bordeaux
Saint-Étienne	Nice	Nantes
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard	Stade de Nice	Stade de la Beaujoire
Capacity: 41,965	Capacity: 36,178	Capacity: 35,322
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard	Stade de Nice	Stade de la Beaujoire

Team Squads

Each team in the women's tournament had 18 players. Two of these players had to be goalkeepers. There were no age limits for the players in this tournament. Teams could also name four extra players. These "alternate" players could join the squad if someone got injured during the tournament.

Match Officials

FIFA chose the referees and other officials for the Olympic Games. These officials came from different football groups around the world. They made sure the games were played fairly according to the rules.

The Draw

The draw for the tournament happened on March 20, 2024. It took place in Saint-Denis, France. The 12 qualified teams were put into three groups of four teams each. France, as the host country, was automatically placed in Group A.

The other teams were put into different "pots" based on their FIFA Women's World Ranking. This ranking shows how well teams have been playing. The rules for the draw made sure that no group had more than one team from the same part of the world (confederation).

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
France (France) Spain (Spain) United States (United States)	Germany (Germany) Japan (Japan) Canada (Canada)	Brazil (Brazil) Australia (Australia) Colombia (Colombia)	New Zealand (New Zealand) Nigeria (Nigeria) Zambia (Zambia)

Group Stage

The tournament started with a group stage. The 12 countries were divided into three groups: A, B, and C. Each team played against every other team in its group once. This is called a round-robin format.

After all the group matches, the top two teams from each group moved on. Also, the two best third-placed teams from all groups combined also advanced. These teams then went into the knockout stage.

All game times were local to France, which is Central European Summer Time (CEST).

How Teams Were Ranked

If teams had the same number of points in the group stage, these rules decided who ranked higher:

1. The total points earned in all group matches. (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss).
2. The Goal difference in all group matches. (Goals scored minus goals against).
3. The total number of goals scored in all group matches.
4. Points earned in matches played only between the tied teams.
5. Goal difference in matches played only between the tied teams.
6. Goals scored in matches played only between the tied teams.
7. Fair play points in all group matches. (Teams lost points for yellow or red cards).
8. A drawing of lots (a random draw).

Knockout Stage

After the group stage, the tournament moved to the knockout stage. In this stage, if a match was tied after the normal playing time, extra time was played. This meant two extra periods of 15 minutes each. If the score was still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out decided the winner. The losing team was eliminated from the tournament.