It’s time for the ball to start rolling in the Olympic football tournament, with the debuts today in the men’s category and tomorrow in the women’s. One of the novelties is that there will be teams of referees of both genders working together in the matches.
Due to scheduling issues, football is being held a few days ahead of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, which will take place on Friday. Another peculiarity is that the French capital will not be the only venue: there will be matches in Bordeaux, Décines-Charpieu (near Lyon), Marseille, Nantes, Nice and Saint-Étienne.
READ MORE
++ Paris 2024: Brazil’s full schedule at the Olympic Games
++ The emotional story of Raquel Kochhann, one of Brazil’s flag bearers in Paris 2024
++ Tracing Brazil’s Olympic flag bearers from 1920 to 2024
Canada is the women’s champion and will defend its title in Tokyo against New Zealand. Brazil has won gold medals in the last two Olympic Games among men, but has failed to qualify for this year’s edition.
The women’s team did qualify, however, and will make its debut tomorrow against Nigeria at 7pm local time (2pm Brasilia time). They share a group with Japan, their next opponent, and Spain.
The referee will be Kim Yu-jeong from South Korea, with her compatriot Park Misuk as the first assistant and Australian Joanna completing the list. Serbian Jelena Cvetkovic will be the fourth referee, while the VAR will be provided by Australian Kate Jacewicz and Croatian Ivan Bebek.
