With eight of the world's top women's football teams qualifying for the knockout stages at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the competition has served up some thrilling match-ups.
France, the host nation, secured top spot in Group A with a 2-1 victory over New Zealand and will play Brazil, who will be without star player Marta due to a red card in a 2-0 defeat against Spain.
The conclusion of Group B and C saw the remaining fixtures set for the quarterfinals. Four-time Olympic champions, the United States, will face Japan. The two teams last met in the Games in a memorable gold medal match at London 2012, where the U.S. claimed a 2-1 victory.
Defending champions Canada overcame a six-point deduction for using a drone to scout opponents to finish second in their group. They are set to face Germany, who seek to replicate their gold medal at Rio 2016.
Meanwhile, Colombia are making history by advancing past the group stages for the first time despite a 1-0 loss to Canada and will face reigning world champions Spain in the quarterfinals.
Here's a full rundown of the women's Olympic soccer knockout bracket, mapping out the path to glory.
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Olympic women's soccer 2024 knockout stage bracket: Fixtures, results and schedule
Kickoff times listed below are in local time (CET). The UK (BST) is 1 hour behind Paris, the US/Canada (ET) 6 hours behind, India (IST) 3.5 hours ahead and Australia (AEDT) 8 hours ahead.
For example, a 3 p.m. CET kickoff translates to 2 p.m. BST / 9 a.m. ET / 6.30 p.m. IST / 11 p.m. AEDT.
Quarterfinals
Date | Time (CET) | Match | Location |
Sat, Aug. 3 | 3 p.m. | USA 1, Japan 0 | Parc des Princes (Paris, France) |
Sat, Aug. 3 | 5 p.m. | Spain 2 (4), Colombia 2 (2) | Groupama Stadium (Lyon, France) |
Sat, Aug. 3 | 7 p.m. | Germany 0 (4), Canada 0 (2) | Orange Velodrome (Marseille, France) |
Sat, Aug. 3 | 9 p.m. | Brazil 1, France 0 | Stade de la Beaujoire (Nantes, France) |
Semifinals
Date | Time (CET) | Match | Location |
Tue, Aug. 6 | 6 p.m. | USA 1, Germany 0 | Orange Velodrome (Marseille, France) |
Tue, Aug. 6 | 9 p.m. | Brazil 4, Spain 2 | Groupama Stadium (Lyon, France) |
Third place
Date | Time (CET) | Match | Location |
Fri, Aug. 9 | 3 p.m. | Germany 1, Spain 0 | Groupama Stadium (Lyon, France) |
Final
Date | Time (CET) | Match | Location |
Sat, Aug. 10 | 5 p.m. | USA 1, Brazil 0 | Parc des Princes (Paris, France) |
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What are the women's eligibility rules for Olympic football?
For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the qualification process for the women's football tournament involves a distribution of places among the various global football confederations.
Unlike the men's tournament, which primarily features players under the age of 23 with a few exceptions, the women's competition is open to players of all ages.
A total of 12 women's teams will participate, with France automatically qualifying as the host nation. The remaining 11 spots are allocated as follows: 2 teams each from Asia, Africa, North America, and South America, 2 teams from Europe, and 1 team from Oceania.
Each confederation conducts its own qualification tournaments to determine the teams that will represent them at the Olympics.
Why are the eligibility rules for men's and women's Olympic football different?
When the men's tournament first allowed professional players in 1984, FIFA was concerned this would allow the Olympics to rival and eventually overtake the World Cup in significance.
As a result, a compromise was reached that forced European and South American sides — football's strongholds — to send those who had not played in a World Cup before, whilst allowing all other nations to field any players.
In addition, as the Olympics is outside a FIFA-sanctioned international window, clubs are not compelled to release players to be available for their national side, meaning many of the top stars of world football do not play at the Olympics.