Wednesday, June 6, 2012

51 days to go: Football

We are 51 days to go until the Opening Ceremonies, but the football (soccer) competitions will have already started.

On July 25th, two days before the Opening Ceremonies, the women will play their first football games, while the men begin on July 26th.

The competitions will start with a preliminary stage. The women's twelve teams are divided into three groups, while the men's sixteen teams are divided into four groups.

Teams will play each of the other teams in their groups. They will receive three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

The best eight teams will qualify for the quarter-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will play for gold and silver while the losers of the semi-finals will play for the bronze medal and fourth place.

This competition will be quite different to the men's World Cup or Euro competitions. Only three men can be over 23 years of age on each team. There is no age restriction for the women.

Women's draw:
Group E: Great Britain (E1), New Zealand (E2), Cameroon (E3), Brazil (E4)
Group F: Japan (F1), Canada (F2), Sweden (F3), South Africa (F4)
Group G: USA (G1), France (G2), Colombia (G3), Korea DPR (G4)

FIFA rankings:
1. USA (Gold medal 2008)
2. Germany
3. Japan (Bronze medal 2008)
4. Brazil (Silver medal 2008)
5. Sweden
6. France
7. Canada
8. North Korea
9. England
10. Australia

Men's draw:
Group A: Great Britain (A1), Senegal (A2), United Arab Emirates (A3), Uruguay (A4)
Group B: Mexico (B1), South Korea (B2), Gabon (B3), Switzerland (B4)
Group C: Brazil (C1), Egypt (C2), Belarus (C3), New Zealand (C4)
Group D: Spain (D1), Japan (D2), Honduras (D3), Morocco (D4)

No need to list the world rankings since most of the players are over 23, and 6 of the top 10 teams aren't represented: Germany, Netherlands, Argentina, Croatia, Denmark and Portugal who are in the top 10.

The venues:
City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Old Trafford, Manchester
St James’ Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Wembley Stadium, London

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