On Wednesday (24), Portugal and Sweden took the latest European spots on offer in the men’s football tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to join Germany and Denmark in the official line-up. Confirmation was published on International Federation website. The teams secured their places after tying 1-1 in the second group B match of final tournament stage of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a result that ensured that both teams will go forward to the semi-finals in the Czech Republic. In the first group B match of the round Italy beat England by 3-1.

In the semi-finals on Saturday (27), Portugal will face Germany and Sweden take on Denmark.

Portugal and Sweden won their Rio 2016 spots together on Wednesday, but their success hasn’t always been so unified. The two teams fought for a single spot at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, with the Portuguese ultimately winning out over the Swedes in a battle that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic go head-to-head. Two of the most famous footballers in the world, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic look set to clash again in the Olympic Games if they are chosen by their teams as one of three players over 23 years-old that each men's team can take to the Games.

The remaining vacancies in the men's football at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be decided via upcoming continental tournaments. From each of the Asian and African tournaments, the top three teams will go through to the Olympics. The top two teams from the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) championship will qualify, as well as the winner of the Oceania tournament. A third CONCACAF team will fight for an Olympic spot in a play-off against Colombia, which was runner-up at the 2015 South American U-20 Youth Football Championship in February. As the host country, Brazil has its place guaranteed.

In the women’s category, the Olympic Games qualifying process is similar, with each continental confederation entitled to a certain maximum number of places.

Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.