How does Olympic soccer work? Rules, qualification, U23 age eligibility, format for extra time and penalties at Paris 2024 Games

The 2024 Summer Olympics are a time for football players on both the men's and women's side to feature in a competition that few individuals have the honor of experiencing.

As the tournament only comes around once every four years and qualifying is ruthless due to the relatively small number of participants, very few players have the opportunity to play for an Olympic medal.

While the competition functions quite similarly to most international football tournaments, there are a few differences, especially on the men's side where the rosters are restricted largely to youth players. Additionally, the competition is slightly condensed when compared to other well-known major competitions, with games coming in quick succession.

The Sporting News breaks down the format, eligibility, rules, and qualifying for this summer's Olympic games, officially held in Paris, but for this sport, will take place across the entire nation of France.

MORE: A full schedule of matches for men's and women's soccer at the 2024 Summer Olympics

Football at the 2024 Olympics: format and age eligibility

Men's tournament

The men's football tournament at the Olympics is officially an Under-23 competition. Thus, only players 23 years old and younger as of January 1, 2024 may compete. However, teams are allowed up to three overage players on the roster.

Despite this tournament falling within the summer international break, FIFA rules state that clubs are allowed to reject a player's call-up to youth tournaments, meaning some men's players were barred by their clubs from participating in the Olympics.

Sixteen nations qualified for the men's soccer tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Those teams are broken down into four groups of four, where a round robin will be contested. The top two teams in each group will advance to the eight-team knockout stage, where a winner will be decided via single-elimination.

Teams that reach the semifinals are guaranteed two more matches. The winner of the final will take home the gold medal, while the loser of the final will earn silver. A third-place game will determine the bronze medal winner, while the loser of that match does not make the podium.

Women's tournament

The women's football tournament at the Olympics is not age-restricted, although clubs are not allowed to refuse call-ups for this competition.

Twelve teams qualified for the women's Olympic tournament, broken into three groups of four. The top two teams in each group will advance, along with the two highest-ranking third-place teams.

This group-stage format fills out an eight-team knockout stage, which proceeds via single-elimination to determine the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners just as in the men's event.

Group-stage tiebreakers

In both the men's and women's tournaments, the first tiebreaker for two teams level on points in group-stage standings will be goal difference followed by goals scored, fair-play points, and then a drawing of lots.

If three or more teams are level on points and goal difference, head-to-head point totals will be used before reaching fair-play points.

How teams qualified for football at the 2024 Olympics

A total of 16 men's teams and 12 women's teams qualified to participate at the 2024 Summer Olympics across France.

Each confederation held its own qualification competition to nominate its participants in both men's and women's football, detailed below. Some confederations held specific qualifying tournaments, while others used pre-existing competitions to double as Olympic entry points.

In both instances, host nation France qualified automatically and do not count against their own confederation's entry total.

Men's tournament

In addition to each confederation's direct qualifying berths, one men's team earned a spot through the AFC-CAF playoff match as the two confederations contested a one-off game in France for the tournament's final position.

Women's tournament

* France reached the final of the 2024 UEFA Women's Nations League, but as they had already qualified for the competition as hosts, the winner of the third-place match, Germany, earned the second UEFA berth instead.

Is there extra time and penalties at the Olympics?

While some competitions are doing away with extra time at the end of a knockout match that finishes level, that is not the case this summer.

At the 2024 Olympics, knockout-stage matches that finish level will advance to a 30-minute extra-time period consisting of two 15-minute halves. Should the score remain level at the end of that time, a penalty shootout would ensue to determine the winner.

Why is the men's Olympic soccer event a youth tournament?

While the women's Olympic tournament is a full-fledged senior competition with all players eligible to participate, the men's competition is restricted to players born on or before January 1, 2001, with the exception of three overage-player slots allotted to each participating nation.

The men's fixture schedule is enormously congested at both club and international level, and the summer of Olympic years often coincide with other major international tournaments such as the Copa America and the European Championship.

Those tournaments carry far greater prestige than the Olympics for men's international sides and therefore are almost always prioritized by players. Thus, in an attempt to work around this, the Olympics leaned into the idea of "amateurism" slightly and designated the men's competition a youth tournament.

However, the tournament is not a fully amateur competition, as most participants are still professional players contracted to various clubs around the world. Because of this, clubs are allowed to refuse call-ups for players, since FIFA rules regarding international breaks do not extend to youth competitions.

It's highly unusual for players to participate in both a major international tournament on the senior level (such as the Copa America or Euros) and the Olympics as well, since it would be an enormous strain on a player's body during what would otherwise be their offseason amidst the European club calendar. There are a few players who are doing double duty this summer, such as Nicolas Otamendi of Argentina, Fermin Lopez of Spain, or Miles Robinson of the United States, but nearly all of them saw little to no action in the senior competition, serving in a reserve role.