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Ukraine's Olympic football journey begins: group stage schedule revealed
Today, on March 20th, the draw ceremony for the football tournaments of the 2024 Olympics took place at Pulse, the headquarters of the Paris Olympic Committee, located in the suburb of Saint-Denis.
Placed in the fourth pot, the Ukrainian team discovered their opponents in Group B: Argentina, Morocco, and the third-ranked Asian team. The blue-yellow squad will kick off their campaign on July 24th and will continue on July 27th and July 30th.
Here's the schedule for Group B:
July 24, 2024
- Argentina vs Morocco (16:00, Saint-Etienne)
- AFC-3 vs Ukraine (20:00, Lyon)
July 27, 2024
- Argentina vs AFC-3 (16:00, Lyon)
- Ukraine vs Morocco (18:00, Saint-Etienne)
July 30, 2024
- Ukraine vs Argentina (18:00, Lyon)
- Morocco vs AFC-3 (18:00, Nice)
All match times are in Kyiv time.
The top two teams from Group B will advance to face representatives from Group A in the knockout stage.
Recall that last summer, by defeating France (3:1) in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Euro (U-21) and reaching the semi-finals, our team achieved a historic success, securing the country's first-ever appearance at the Olympic football tournament. Alongside Ukraine, Spain and Israel secured licenses for the 2024 Summer Olympics from Europe in this discipline through the 2023 Euro U21.
As of today, 12 participants of the men's football tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games are known, who will compete from July 24th to August 9th in seven cities in France: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Nantes. According to the regulations, players born after January 1, 2001, can participate in the competition. In addition, each team can include three players older than this age.
In total, 16 teams will participate in the tournament: France as the host, three teams will represent Europe (Ukraine, Spain, Israel), three - Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Mali), three - Asia (to be known by May 3), two - South America (Paraguay, Argentina), two - CONCACAF zone (USA, Dominican Republic), one - Oceania (New Zealand), and the winner of the play-off between the fourth teams of Africa (Guinea) and Asia will join them.
The format of the Olympic tournament is traditional: battles in four groups of four teams, with the top two advancing to the playoffs, then quarterfinals, semi-finals, match for third place, and final (August 9th, Paris, Parc des Princes).
It should be noted that the current winner of the Olympic football tournament among men's teams is Brazil, who defeated Spain (2:1) in the final at Tokyo 2020. This time, Brazil did not even qualify, finishing third in South America.
Recall that as part of the preparation for the tournament, the Ukrainian team will hold a training camp in Szeged, Hungary, from March 17th to 27th, and a friendly match with Japan on March 25th in Fukuoka.
