One of Rio de Janeiro’s trump cards to win the right to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games was the fact that the city was capable of accommodating all the sports competitions, including sailing and equestrian, within a radius of less than 30 kilometres, the only exception being football. The world’s most popular game will unite the whole of Brazil with matches held at four other cities: Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and São Paulo.

Seizing the opportunity of the impending Confederations Cup and the recent inaugurations of stadiums earmarked for use during the Olympic Games, the official Rio 2016™ website is launching its publication of its third sports special of the year this Wednesday, 22 March. After golf and handball, it is now football’s turn to feature in a series of reports.

The publication will feature both men and women’s football, 5-a-side and 7-a-side as well as an article on each sporting arena. It will also contain exclusive interviews with some of the games’ biggest names, such as the superstar Pelé, the striker Cristiane, leading scorer of all the editions of the Olympic Games with 12 goals, and Bill, from the state of Paraíba, a three-time Paralympic champion in 5-a-side football.

Brazil seeks its first gold

Despite having reached the podium in five of the last eight editions of the Games, Brazil has yet to win its first gold. An Olympic sport since the second edition of the Games, in 1900, men’s football has seen two countries win gold three times, Great Britain (1900, 1908 and 1912) and Hungary (1952, 1964 and 1968). Argentina (2004 and 2008), the Soviet Union (1956 and 1988) and Uruguay (1924 and 1928) have each stood atop the podium on two occasions.

In women’s football, the USA has won gold in four of the five Olympic editions (1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012) while also winning a silver following defeat to Norway in an epic match in the 2000 final. In the final of the London 2012 Games, Abby Wambach and goalkeeper Hope Solo’s team beat Japan, the current world champions, with two goals from their number 10, Carli Lloyd. Brazil, which won silver in 2004 and 2008, was eliminated by Japan in the quarter-finals.

Paralympic football, in turn, first featured in the 2004 Athens Games. The game is only played by men and is divided into 5-a-side (for blind participants) and 7-a-side (for participants suffering from cerebral palsy). In the blind category, Brazil maintained its hegemony and won for the third time running, with sterling performances from Jefinho, Ricardinho and Bill, as well as goalkeeper Fabio, currently the team’s manager.

In London, Ukraine attempted to retain its position as sole 7-a-side champion, having previously won gold in Athens and Peking. But their team was beaten 1-0 by Russia in a match that will be remembered as the final sporting event of the 2012 Paralympic Games.

The timeline appears below:

22/05
The start of 2013 sees the inauguration of four of the five Olympic stadiums
23/05
Brazil seeks supremacy in 5-a-side football and Ukraine attempts to win gold in 7-a-side
24/05
Olympic Games stricker Cristiane points to Japan and Germany as favourites for Rio 2016™
27/05
Latin America retains its position at the peak of Olympic Football in the 21st century