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Hello everyone interested in football! I wanted to discuss one topic - football at the Olympic Games. The Rio de Janeiro Olympics are approaching, which will take place in the summer of 2016. Football is included in the Olympic program. Of course, there are age restrictions, where the "ceiling" of player age is younger players. Perhaps some wonder how to qualify for the Olympic Games for a European country? The path is quite complex, as strong continental teams participate in the qualifiers. However, there should definitely be opportunities for Lithuania to play at the Olympic Games in the future. In the Olympic Games, a total of 16 national football teams compete. Such is the limit for national football teams at the Olympic Games. How can Lithuania qualify for the Olympic Games and compete in football? The answer is this: you need to play in the UEFA European Under-U21 championship final stage, where the eight strongest youth teams compete. And in the final stage, you need to occupy at least 4th place and the ticket to the Olympic Games is open. Another option is to become a host country by hosting the UEFA EURO U21 championship. Remembering that Lithuania hosted the U19 final stage in Lithuania and received fairly good evaluations, perhaps there is hope for hosting the U21 EURO final stage in the future. This year, the host country is the Czech Republic, where the final stage of EURO U21 will take place in June 2015 from eight teams, the top four teams will qualify for the Olympic Games and represent their country in football. In the Olympic Games for Europe, out of 16 spots, 4 spots are given. This year, the qualifiers for the tickets will be: Czech Republic (host), Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden. I believe the time will come when our country will have a national team at the Olympic Games... we need to strive for our society to know about the opportunities to play at this level, to pay more attention to promoting youth football. Perhaps if we fail to qualify through the qualifiers, we would qualify as a host country... because we have already organized U19 final matches once:) It is worth mentioning that in the 1924 summer Olympics in Paris, the Lithuanian national football team also participated. If we look at women's football. In order for the Lithuanian women's national football team to qualify for the Olympic Games, they would need to participate in the FIFA Women's World Cup and achieve a high position there, as Europe has 3 spots allocated for women's football at the Olympic Games. In women's football at the Olympic Games, a total of 12 teams compete. This year, the FIFA Women's World Cup will take place in Canada. It would be a privilege for the Lithuanian women's team to play in the World Cup, and to qualify for the Olympic Games in women's football, they need to participate in the FIFA Women's World Cup held in the years leading up to the Olympics and achieve a high position, as three spots are allocated for Europe.:)
