From 26 July to 11 August, the Olympic Games will be held in Paris, in which the Ukrainian national football team will take part for the first time in history.
"I am very pleased that the Ukrainian national team is among the 16 participants in the Olympic men's football tournament. This is a historic achievement for Ruslan Rotan's team.
There are less than 200 days left before the tournament starts on 24 July, two days before the official opening. We already have an understanding of how our team will prepare for their debut performance at the Olympics. On 25 March, they will play an away match against one of the powerful Asian teams. The last details are being clarified with the organisers, and we will officially announce it in a few days.
And in June, Ruslan Rotan's wards will play in a tournament for U-23 teams to be held in France, "said UAF First Vice President Vadym Kostyuchenko.
To date, 10 participants in the men's football tournament of the 2024 Olympic Games are already known, who will compete from 24 July to 9 August in seven cities in France: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Nice and Nantes. According to the regulations, the competition is open to players born after 1 January 2001. In addition, each team can enter three players who are older than this age.
A total of 16 teams will take part in the tournament: France as the host, three teams will represent Europe (Ukraine, Spain, Israel), three - Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Mali), three - Asia (to be announced in May 2024), two - South America (to be determined in February), two - the CONCACAF zone (USA, Dominican Republic), one - Oceania (New Zealand), and they will be joined by the winner of the play-off between the fourth teams of Africa (Guinea) and Asia.
The format of the Olympic tournament is traditional: four groups of four teams, with the two strongest teams going through to the play-offs, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals, third place match and the final (9 August, Paris, Parc des Princes).