The 2024 Olympic football tournament is well under way, with the men's and women's events both currently part-way through the group stages after starting on Wednesday, July 24. This strand of the 2024 Olympic games preceded the opening ceremony by two days but there's still a lot more of it to come.
US: Peacock
UK: BBC | iPlayer (free) | Discovery Plus
AU: 9Now (free)| Stan Sports
Watch abroad with a VPN
Sports fans in Australia or the UK will be able to watch the Olympic football matches for free on 9Now or iPlayer, which is certainly a real treat. But never fear if you're away from home during the tournament, because you can watch the Olympic games from anywhere with a VPN.
If you want to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics then you'll know that football is one of the major fixtures, with 28 teams competing for the men's and women's titles across several weeks of play. In a year that's also bringing us the 2024 Euros, it's giving footie fans a blistering summer of action.
The 2024 Paris Olympics take place in Paris, as you guessed, but the football is one of the few exceptions as games take place over France.
Olympic football is slightly different from standard soccer tournaments with one major rule difference when it comes to the men's league: all but three of the players must have been born in the year 2001 or later, making them 23 or younger. The women's league has no such rule.
The men's tournament is an open game with defending champs Brazil not actually qualifying this year. For the women that's not the case though, as Canada are in play and are ready to defend their title from 2020. Only four teams are playing in both men's and women's tournaments: France, Spain, the US and New Zealand.
So are you ready for kick-off? Here's how to watch the 2024 Olympic football matches online or on TV, with free options too
How to watch Olympic football matches in the US
Your best bet for watching the Olympic football matches in the US is by signing up for NBCUniversal's streaming service, Peacock. That's because this is the official streaming home of all Olympic tournaments, not just football.
Peacock costs just $5.99 per month for its standard tier, or $11.99 for its ad-free one which will mainly benefit you when you're watching TV and movies in the Peacock library.
You can find the full games schedule below, but they begin at 10 am ET/7 am PT which may be a little early for some viewers, however they continue through the day.
How to watch the Olympic football matches in the UK
In the UK, the BBC has broadcast rights to the Olympic games. The BBC has historically only covered a smattering of Olympic sports in highlight reels, instead of offering specific live streams for certain games.
The BBC will be offering two streams: a primary one jumping between its BBC One and BBC Two TV channels that will show some coverage, and a second on iPlayer called Olympics Extra that will include other sports not shown on the main channels.
So we can't guarantee that the BBC will air the Olympic football games, although with the tournament beginning ahead of the other sports, it's possible that the first few matches will be shown on BBC channels and iPlayer.
Thankfully, there is another option that'll let you see the sports. Discovery Plus is set to show a lot more of the Olympic games, and while it usually costs £6.99 per month for its Standard plan, a temporary deal lets you sign up for £3.99 monthly until the end of the year.
How to watch Olymic football in Australia
You don't need to pay to watch the Olympic football tournament in Australia, and that's because it's totally free to watch using the online streaming service 9Now. You'll also be able to use 9Now to watch all the other Olympic sports, with Channel 9 showing many of them on its TV channels too.
How to watch the Olympic football everywhere else
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch the Olympic football matches, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite sports, shows or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
Olympic football schedule
Men's games
Wednesday, July 24
- Uzbekistan vs Spain: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Argentina vs Morocco: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Egypt vs Dominican Republic: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Guinea vs New Zealand: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Japan vs Paraguay: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Iraq vs Ukraine: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Mali vs Israel: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
- France vs United States: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Saturday, July 27
- Dominican Republic vs Spain: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Argentina vs Iraq: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Egypt vs Uzbekistan: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Ukraine vs Morocco: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- New Zealand vs United States: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Israel vs Paraguay: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Mali vs Japan: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
- France vs Guinea: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Tuesday, July 30
- Dominican Republic vs Uzbekistan: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Spain vs Egypt: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Ukraine vs Argentina: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Iraq vs Morocco: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Guinea vs United States: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- New Zealand vs France: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Mali vs Paraguay: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
- Israel vs Japan: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Friday, August 2
- Men's quarter-final: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Men's quarter-final: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Men's quarter-final: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Men's quarter-final: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Monday, August 5
- Men's semi-final: 1 pm ET/10 am PT/6 pm UK
- Men's semi-final: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Thursday, August 8
- Men's Bronze Medal match: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
Friday, August 9
- Men's final: 1 pm ET/10 am PT/6 pm UK
Women's games
Thursday, July 25
- France vs Japan: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Canada vs New Zealand: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Nigeria vs Brazil: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Germany vs Australia: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- France vs Colombia: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
- United States vs Zambia: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Sunday, July 28
- Brazil vs Japan: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Colombia vs New Zealand: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Nigeria vs Spain: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Zambia vs Australia: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- France vs Canada: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
- United States vs Germany: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Wednesday, July 31
- Nigeria vs Japan: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Brazil vs Spain: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Zambia vs Germany: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- United States vs Australia: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- France vs New Zealand: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
- Colombia vs Canada: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Saturday, August 3
- Women's quarter-final: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
- Women's quarter-final: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
- Women's quarter-final: 2 pm ET/11 am PT/7 pm UK
- Women's quarter-final: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Tuesday, August 6
- Men's semi-final: 1 pm ET/10 am PT/6 pm UK
- Men's semi-final: 4 pm ET/1 pm PT/9 pm UK
Friday, August 9
- Women's Bronze Medal match: 10 am ET/7 am PT/3 pm UK
Saturday, August 10
- Women's final: midday ET/9 am PT/5 pm UK
All you need to know about the Olympic football matches
When do the Olympic football matches begin?
Football is one of the few Olympic sports that begins its competition ahead of the official Olympics Opening Ceremony. The first day of play will be Wednesday, July 24, two days before the 'proper' start of the Games.
We'll see 6-8 games per day until the quarter-finals begin on Friday, August 2, which results in fewer matches each day until the finals on Friday, August 9 for the men and Saturday, August 10 for the women.
Which teams are playing in the Olympic football matches?
In the 2024 Olympic Footbal tournament, there are 16 teams in the men's league and 12 in the women's, in 4 and 3 groups respectively. Here's who we're looking at:
Men's
Group A
- France
- New Zealand
- USA
- Guinea
Group B
- Morocco
- Ukraine
- Argentina
- Iraq
Group C
- Spain
- Dominican Republic
- Egpt
- Uzbekistan
Group D
- Israel
- Mali
- Paraguay
- Japan
Women's
Group A
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Colombia
- France
Group B
- Australia
- Germany
- Zambia
- USA
Group C
- Brazil
- Spain
- Japan
- Nigeria
Where do the Olympic football matches take place?
Unlike for many other Olympic tournaments, the football isn't solely taknig place in Paris. Seven different towns and cities will be lending their stadiums to host various matches, and you can find the full list below.
The first entry is where both the finals will take place: Paris.
- Paris: Parc des Princes
- Nantes: Stade de la Beaujoire
- Bordeaux Stade de Bordeaux
- Lyon: Stade de Lyon
- Saint-Etienne: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
- Marseille: Stade de Marseille
- Nice: Stade de Nice
How to watch other Olympic sports
If you want specific information on other Olympic sports, here are guides we have to the other activities which will be shown as part of the Paris Olympic games:
