World Cup 2.0 – Why women’s Olympic football is a must watch at Paris 2024

Less than a year after the global breakout success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia, a good number of that tournament’s best players will be back; this time, the global football epicentre will be Paris Olympics 2024 with 12 teams fighting for the gold medal.

World champions Spain is among the favourites to taste glory, even though the team will make its Olympic debut in the French capital, while perennial heavyweights the United States will be looking for redemption after suffering their worst-ever World Cup result.

Team USA’s neighbours Canada are the defending Olympic champions after they did the unthinkable at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, defeating highly-favoured Sweden in the gold medal match. Disappointingly, the Swedes will not take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics after failing to qualify.

Joining them on the absentees list will be the United Kingdom, who couldn’t secure an Olympic berth through the inaugural Women’s Nations League.

With senior professional players and full-strength squads, the 12-team women’s Olympic football event offers a star-studded and premier global football competition of the highest quality when compared to the 16-team men’s event, which is restricted to under-23 players with an allowance for only three over-age professional players.

The fan interest in women’s Olympic football competition is expected to be higher than ever, thanks to the success of the 2023 World Cup, which attracted record global television viewing figures.

USA: A team in transition

With a new coach at its helm and a squad featuring upcoming stars, a new-look Team USA will compete at the Olympics.

England’s Emma Hayes has been hired to turn around the team’s fortunes and the experienced coach could be a breath of fresh air that the American women’s game needs.

Hayes, who led Chelsea to seven Women’s Super League titles, took over the reins just before the Olympics, although her appointment was announced late last year after Vlatko Andonovski resigned in the wake of their bitter World Cup exit.

After successive triumphs in 2015 and 2019, the US was expected to complete a “three-peat” of titles at the 2023 World Cup, but the Americans were knocked out in the last 16, losing to Sweden on penalties.

The pressure is on Hayes as she manages a team trying to find its way back to the top of the world rankings, having slipped to their lowest-ever spot (fifth). There is also pride on the line for the four-time world champions.

“We all know the main ingredients of the American DNA, and that will not change under my stewardship,” Hayes said in her first press conference as head coach in June.

US captain Lindsey Horan, who was part of the side that won bronze at the Tokyo Games, said the team has moved on from their World Cup heartbreak and is going for gold in Paris.

“After the World Cup, we really regrouped,” Horan told reporters this month.

“You look at the young players coming in, the leaders on this team, you know, just [a] big mesh of what we have. I think what you’re going to see and what’s in store for us is incredible.”

Team USA’s 18-player Olympic roster features exciting new talent such as forward Sophia Smith and defender Naomi Girma, while veterans Horan, Alyssa Naeher and Crystal Dunn add quality depth to the squad.

In a surprise omission, Alex Morgan, one of the last links to the great US women’s football team dynasty, was left out by Hayes. It will be the first time since the 2008 Olympics that the high-profile forward will not suit up for the national side in a major competition.

Team USA has won a medal in all but one of the seven Olympics that have featured women’s football, including four gold medals, the last of which came at London 2012.

Goalkeeper Naeher said the Paris Olympics will give the team a chance to begin a new chapter, as they look to regain their supremacy on the global stage.

“We’ve talked to this whole year about looking towards the future and turning the page and having this new identity and moving forward,” Naeher told reporters.

“This is the start of that,” she said.

“With Emma in here and the full new staff and the roster being set, I think now this is the opportunity to officially kind of move in that forward direction. And this is the first tournament for that. You can feel the energy.”

The US are in Group B alongside 2016 Olympic champions Germany, Asian heavyweights Australia, and Zambia, whose squad includes the world’s most expensive female player, Racheal Kundananji.

Can Spain do the double?

Spain emerged as the 2023 FIFA World Champions in Australia and New Zealand despite dealing with off-field issues including an ugly player revolt. Later, their title triumph was marred by a scandal triggered by ex-Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales.

Rubiales provoked worldwide outrage by kissing star player Jenni Hermoso without consent during the medal ceremony after the World Cup final. The disgraced former official is set to stand trial in February 2025, while his close ally Jorge Vilda was also sacked as the coach by the Spanish FA.

Unlike the World Cup, Spain will head to the Olympics without distractions and has the chance to become the first team to win the Olympic Gold-World Cup double.

The Olympics will be a new experience for the top-ranked Spaniards but having won the World Cup and the Nations League last year, they know what it takes to win at a major tournament.

Their squad is rich in world-class talent, featuring 2023 Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, all-time top scorer Hermoso, veteran midfielder Alexia Putellas and promising winger Salma Paralluelo.

“We are an ambitious team and I am an ambitious person who never gets tired of winning,” said Bonmati, who won Liga F and the Champions League with Barcelona last season.

“The most important thing now is to focus on winning gold.”

Spain, playing under new coach Montse Tome, are in Group C with 2011 world champions Japan, two-time Olympic silver medallists Brazil, and Nigeria, the top-ranked African team.

Marta steps up for Brazil, Canada high on confidence

Brazil will head to Paris 2024 in search of the gold medal that has eluded them, having won the silver in 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

Head coach Arthur Elias’s squad includes one of the best players of all time, Marta. The 38-year-old will be playing in her sixth and final Games before retiring from international football at the end of the year, and the legendary forward would love to finally add a gold medal to her lengthy list of career achievements.

“She brings a lot to the table, she’s the greatest athlete of all time,” Elias said of Marta, who is Brazil’s leading goal scorer.

Canada have stuck with a major chunk of their gold medal-winning squad as coach Bev Priestman called on 13 players who were part of the Olympic success in Tokyo.

Captain Jessie Fleming, one of six women on the 18-player squad competing in their third consecutive Olympic Games, said the eighth-ranked team are confident of a good performance.

The Canadians are the only side to have reached the podium in women’s football at each of the last three Olympic Games.

“We have grown a lot in the last year as a team and are confident we can repeat the success we have had historically in this tournament,” said Fleming, who took over the captaincy after long-time skipper Christine Sinclair retired late last year.

Canada is in Group A with hosts France, Colombia and New Zealand.

⚽ Keep up to date:

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Paris 2024 Olympics tournament page with all the news and features, as well as event build-up and live text commentary on selected football, basketball, tennis and boxing fixtures.