Football today is the most massive and most popular sport on our planet. The official date of his birth is considered to be 1863, and for the first time at the Olympic Games, football appeared 37 years after this date. It was in Paris, at the second Games after the revival of the Olympic tradition.
The International Football Federation (FIFA), which was organized in 1904, is responsible for hosting the Olympic football tournaments. This organization considers the football matches of the two summer Olympiads (in Paris and St. Louis) not official, but only exhibition ones, since not national teams participated in them, but independent club teams. Therefore, the countdown of football tournaments at the FIFA summer games starts from the Olympics under the third serial number, which took place in 1908 in London.
The British also became the first Olympic champions in this sport, being the strongest in the tournament of eight national teams. It is noteworthy that France in that tournament was represented by two teams at once - this was the only precedent in history. British football teams, together with Hungarian ones, are still the most successful Olympic teams - they won gold medals three times. While the Brazilians, already five-time world champions in this sport, have never become the first at the Olympics. It is curious that the footballers of the USSR did not allow them to receive awards twice - in 1976 in Montreal, the Soviet national team defeated the Brazilians in the game for the bronze medals, and in 1988 in Seoul they beat them in the final game. The USSR twice won gold medals at the Olympic football tournament and three times became a bronze medalist.
According to FIFA rules, age restrictions are imposed on the players of the Olympic teams - each of them, with the exception of only three players, must be no older than 23 years. Therefore, Olympic tournaments do not gather the strongest players and are considered less prestigious competitions than world and European championships.
Since the XXVI Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which took place in 1996, women's football tournaments have also been included in the program. At the four forums that have passed during this time, the advantage of the US athletes was undeniable - they became champions three times, and once, in extra time, they lost first place to their rivals from Norway.
