The Olympic Games in Paris officially begin on Friday night with the opening ceremony, but there’s some sports action before that, with the football getting underway on Wednesday.
The tournament will last much of the two-week Olympic cycle, with games starting on Wednesday and medals to be awarded on August 8/9/10, after 32 games in the men’s tournament and 26 in the women’s.
Here we have our men’s football Olympic preview, looking at the latest odds, format, schedule and everything else you need before Wednesday.
Football Olympic Format
Sixteen teams have qualified for the men’s tournament at the Paris Olympics, with 2020 champions Brazil not one of the sides competing this time round.
The groups have been split into four groups of four, with games to take place on July 24, July 27 and July 30. There are four games per day to help get through the group stages quickly, before all the quarter-finals take place on August 2, the semi-finals on August 5, the bronze match on August 8 and the gold/silver medal match on August 9.
The women’s event has 12 teams split into three groups of four, with the top two from each group and the two best third-placed teams going through to the quarter-finals. Group matches are on alternate days to the men’s, so July 25, July 28 and July 31, before the quarters on August 3, semis on August 6, the bronze medal match on August 9 and gold/silver on August 10
Football Olympic Latest Odds - Men’s
Here is a look at the latest football betting odds for the Paris 2024 Olympics, where we’ve taken an overview from the best betting sites to find the current best odds available on the market.
| Team | Latest Odds |
|---|---|
| France | 9/4 |
| Spain | 5/2 |
| Argentina | 3/1 |
| Morocco | 10/1 |
| Paraguay | 20/1 |
| Egypt | 22/1 |
| USA | 22/1 |
| Ukraine | 25/1 |
| Japan | 33/1 |
| Mali | 33/1 |
| Israel | 40/1 |
| Guinea | 50/1 |
| Uzbekistan | 66/1 |
| Iraq | 100/1 |
| New Zealand | 125/1 |
| Dominican Republic | 250/1 |
*Odds listed are best available and correct as of Tuesday July 23 at 11am
Hosts France are the favourites to win this year’s gold medal in the men’s soccer, despite a number of high profile players being forced to pull out by their clubs after busy summer schedules at Euro 2024.
They have a high profile head coach in Thierry Henry and will be captained by former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette. Keep an eye out for highly-rated Desire Doue who has also been named and linked with summer moves to the Premier League.
Squads are restricted to naming only three players over the age of 23 in their squads, so there are a lot of unrecognisable faces across the squads competing and it generally isn’t a tournament targeted by major nations. Traditionally, South American nations have taken it more seriously than European sides but with Euro 2024 and Copa America both taking place earlier this summer, as well as domestic leagues gearing up for the start of their seasons, a lot of high profile players are missing out.
Javier Mascherano is another big-name manager, taking charge of an Argentina side with Julian Alvarez and Nicolas Otamendia and they are rightly up there with the favourites but I think Spain, even after their Euro 2024 triumph, are overpriced and would do well to go as far as the odds are suggesting.
Football Olympic Schedule - Men’s
The men’s football tournament at Paris 2024 will take place across the next couple of weeks, with the group matches to be concluded by July 31 and the gold medal matches done by August 10.
| Date | Rugby Sevens Games |
|---|---|
| 24th July | Group Stage |
| 27th July | Group Stage |
| 30th July | Group Stage |
| 2nd August | Quarter-Finals |
| 5th August | Semi-Finals |
| 8th August | Bronze Medal Match |
| 9th August | Gold Medal Match |
Football Betting Offers & Free Bets
Ahead of the Olympics football event taking place, we have a range of excellent free bets and betting offers which players can use to bet on Paris 2024.
Check out the list of offers below, which are available with some of the best bookmakers in the UK.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/xlmedia/4d3bea29-4aec-4561-86c3-7911c1bd849b.png)
