Groups and match schedule defined for Rio 2016 Olympic football tournaments
Olympic champions Mexico against world champions Germany among mouth-watering matches as men’s and women’s groups are drawn at Maracanã Stadium
Brazilian footballers Ronaldinho and Aline helped with the draw at the Maracanã (FIFA)
This article was amended on 4 May 2016. The link to the match schedule was updated to reflect changes to the times of two men’s matches on 4 August: Mexico v Germany and Fiji v Republic of Korea.
The draw for the football tournaments at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games threw up some mouth-watering clashes as the groups were defined at the Maracanã Stadium on Thursday morning (14 April) morning.
Highlights included defending men’s champions Mexico in the same group as world champions Germany, along with London 2012 bronze medallists the Republic of Korea and minnows Fiji, while Argentina will face Portugal, along with Honduras and Algeria. Brazil’s quest for a first Olympic gold got off to a good start with a less challenging group featuring South Africa, Iraq and Denmark.
In the women’s tournament, Brazil were drawn in a difficult group with Sweden, China and South Africa, while Olympic and world champions the USA will face New Zealand, France and Colombia. Three of the sides most expected to challenge the USA – Germany, Canada and Australia – were drawn together with Zimbabwe.
The teams were drawn by a host of big names in Brazilian sport – former Barcelona star and FIFA world player of the year Ronaldinho, former Brazil women’s football captain Aline Pellegrino, retired basketball star Janeth Arcain and 2008 long jump Olympic champion Maurren Maggi – in the main auditorium at the Maracanã, the legendary stadium that will host the women’s and men’s finals on 19 and 20 August.
Become an Olympic football expert with our interactive infographic
The men’s Olympic football tournament will get underway with eight matches on 4 August and when the preliminary phase ends, the top-two placed teams in each of the groups will proceed to the quarter-finals. The women’s tournament will get underway with six matches on 3 August, and the top two from each of the groups, plus the two best third-placed teams, will proceed to the quarter-finals. The first match will be Sweden v South Africa in the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro at 1pm (local time) on 3 August, two days before the opening ceremony.
The Olympic football tournaments will be staged in seven stadiums in six cities – the Olympic Stadium will join the Maracanã in hosting matches in Rio, while the following stadiums will be used in the co-host cities: Amazônia Arena (Manaus), Corinthians Arena (São Paulo), Fonte Nova Arena (Salvador), Mané Garrincha Stadium (Brasília) and Mineirão (Belo Horizonte).
Find out about the stadiums with our football cities map
For the men’s draw, the 16 teams had been divided into four pots based on a ranking according to previous Olympic performances. For the women’s draw, the 12 teams were split into four pots, based on the world rankings released on 25 March. FIFA’s general principle, for the men’s and women’s tournaments, is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same continental confederation.
Read the full draw procedures for the men's and women's tournaments
Related links
Colombia defeat USA to grab final place in men’s football at Rio 2016
Sweden win final place in women’s football at Rio 2016
Neymar aiming to help Brazil end home jinx by winning Olympic gold in Rio
Romário: Brazil will finally win football gold at Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Mexico planning to keep Brazil off top of football podium at Rio 2016
‘Everything is on hold until after Rio,’ says world player of the year Carli Lloyd
Argentina men’s football team qualifies for Rio 2016
Zico remembers Olympic ‘trauma’ that nearly ended his career
