Preview: 2024 Paris Games Football

We're now just a couple of days away from the 2024 Paris Olympics action beginning on Superbru.

Our Paris Football tournament covers both the Men's and Women's events which are quite different in terms of rules and regulations. Here, I'll be giving a quick run-through of what we can expect to see in the Olympic football events and the tournament should be quite fun to predict as a bonus competition between the recent Euros and the start of the new domestic seasons such as the Premier League next month.



Each round sees the Men's matches take place first before Women's matches take place a day later. The tournament begins this Wednesday (24th July) and runs through to the main event which is the women's final on Saturday August 10th.

Paris Football: Men's Tournament

In contrast to the women's tournament which sees nations go full strength in search of a gold medal (more on that later!), the men's tournament is predominantly an U23 event which means it's often about seeing young stars breakthrough.



However, 3 'overage' players are also allowed and several huge names have expressed their desire to play in these Olympics which means there are a lot of quality footballers heading to Paris as many of the U23 players are also established names in Europe's top 5 leagues.

This is particularly the case for France, who as hosts unsurprisingly had many of their senior internationals eager to participate. Kylian Mbappe, widely considered to now be one of if not the greatest player in the world, was one such player as he hoped to compete for a gold medal in his home city but that won't be happening as his new club Real Madrid understandably want him to work with them having just handed him a contract worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Numerous other stars have been blocked by their clubs from competing, but France, Spain and Argentina still stand out as having incredible squads in this men's tournament made up of players that have been granted permission to compete. Brazil were the two-time defending champions having won gold in 2016 and 2021 but failed to qualify for this year's event.

France U23 manager Thierry Henry has selected a squad that includes Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), Michael Olise (Bayern Munich), Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace), Rayan Cherki (Lyon) and Manu Kone (Borussia Monchengladbach) among many other quality players.

Argentina's players list includes Julian Alvarez (Manchester City), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Claudio Echeverri (River Plate, soon to be Manchester City) and Geronimo Rulli (Ajax).

While Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsi, Fermin Lopez (all Barcelona), Pablo Barrios (Atletico Madrid), Alex Baena (Villarreal), Benat Turrientes, Jon Pacheco and Sergio Gomez (all Real Sociedad) are among Spain's top young players that will be competing.

As you can see in the graphic above, there are 4 groups of 4 teams in the men's tournament and it's a simple format with the top two teams in each group progressing to the quarter-finals. Semi-finalists are of course guaranteed a chance to compete for a medal, as the semi-final losers will compete in a Bronze medal match on August 8th in Nantes before the Gold medal match takes place in Paris a day later.

Paris Football: Women's tournament

With no such age restrictions in place for the women's tournament, the Olympics carry greater prestige in the women's game and we'll see the world's top nations go all out for gold in Paris with a lot of the same players we saw competing for the Women's World Cup last year.

Having won that World Cup, Spain are clearly going to be a difficult team to beat in this competition and they're considered one of three favourites in this women's contest alongside hosts France and 2012 winners the USA. Canada are defending champions after beating Sweden on penalties in 2021. There won't be any players from World Cup runners-up England involved as Great Britain failed to qualify.



Again, in contrast to the men's tournament, there are only 3 groups in the women's tournament which means the two best third third placed sides will also earn a spot in the quarter-finals. The Bronze medal match is in Lyon on August 9th before the Gold medal final at PSG's Parc des Princes on August 10th.

As with any major tournament, there are huge expectations on the United States women's national team and this will be the first time they've been led in such a tournament by new manager Emma Hayes who has recently finished a remarkable 12-year spell in charge of Chelsea which included 7 Women's Super League titles.

The US will face fierce competition from world champions Spain, though, whose squad includes Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati and many of her Barcelona teammates such as Alexia Putellas (a former Ballon d'Or winner) and Salma Paralluelo.

Hosts France will be led by Herve Renard who was in charge of the Saudi Arabia men's team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and his squad is full of players from the nation's top two women's sides - Lyon and PSG. Lyon's experienced duo of defender Wendie Renard and forward Eugenie Le Sommer stand out as they search for a first title with their country having won so many with their club.

Of course, in both the men's and women's tournaments there are many more world class players involved than the few I have touched upon so I'll link the full squads lists provided by FIFA ahead of the action here:

Full Men's Olympic Football Squad Lists

Full Women's Olympic Football Squad Lists

Let's hope for some exciting matches and good luck with your predictions! Remember, during the group stages, there's potential for some rather one-sided games with top players coming up against squads that aren't used to competing at such a high level so don't be afraid to go bold with some of your picks. As an example, France beat the Dominican Republic 7-0 in a recent warm-up game with Olise (2), Lacazette (2) and Cherki among those on the scoresheet.