Football at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament – Group A facts for kids
Group A of the women's football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics was played from 25 to 31 July 2024. This group was one of three groups with four teams each, all competing in the first stage of the Olympic tournament. The teams in Group A were Canada, Colombia, the host country France, and New Zealand.
The top two teams, France and Canada, moved on to the knockout stage. Colombia, which finished third, also advanced as one of the two best third-placed teams from all three groups.
Contents
Teams in Group A
Four exciting teams competed in Group A of the women's football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Here's a quick look at them:
- France: As the host nation, France automatically qualified for the Olympics. They had previously reached fourth place in the 2012 Olympics.
- Colombia: Colombia earned their spot by being one of the top two teams in the 2022 Copa América Femenina. This was their third time at the Olympics.
- Canada: Canada qualified by winning the CONCACAF play-off. They are the defending champions, having won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics!
- New Zealand: New Zealand secured their place by winning the Oceania Qualifier. This was also their fifth Olympic appearance.
Group Standings
The standings show how each team performed in the group stage. Teams earned points for wins and draws.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
After the group stage, the teams moved on to the quarter-finals:
- France, as the winners of Group A, played against Brazil from Group C.
- Canada, who finished second in Group A, faced Germany from Group B.
- Colombia, as one of the best third-placed teams, played against Spain, the winners of Group C.
Matches Played
All match times are listed in Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).
Canada vs New Zealand
Canada  |
2–1 |  New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
|
|
          Canada
|
    New Zealand
|
France vs Colombia
France  |
3–2 |  Colombia |
|---|---|---|
|
|
     France
|
    Colombia
|
New Zealand vs Colombia
New Zealand  |
0–2 | Colombia |
|---|---|---|
|
   New Zealand
|
Colombia
|
France vs Canada
|
France
|
    Canada
|
New Zealand vs France
| New Zealand |
1–2 |  France |
|---|---|---|
Taylor  43' |
Katoto 22', 49' |
|
New Zealand
|
     France
|
Colombia vs Canada
 Colombia
|
Canada
|
Fair Play and Penalties
In football, "fair play" points can be used to decide which team ranks higher if other tie-breaking rules (like goals scored) are the same. These points are based on how many yellow or red cards a team receives during matches.
- A yellow card means minus 1 point.
- An indirect red card (getting a second yellow card in the same game) means minus 3 points.
- A direct red card (sent off immediately for a serious foul) means minus 4 points.
- If a player gets a yellow card and then a direct red card, it's minus 5 points.
Only one of these penalties applies per player per match.
Canada's Point Deduction: Canada was given a penalty of 6 points by FIFA. This was because of an off-field issue involving their coaching staff. The decision was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on July 31.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| New Zealand |
1 | –1 | |||||||||||
| France |
1 | –1 | |||||||||||
.svg){kind=small} Canada |
1 | 1 | 1 | –3 | |||||||||
| Colombia |
1 | 3 | –8 | ||||||||||
