LOS ANGELES — The U.S. women’s national team will face Germany, Australia and either Zambia or Morocco in the group stage of this summer’s Olympic soccer tournament in France, where the Americans hope to return to the top of the podium for the first time in 12 years.

The U.S., winner of a record four Olympic titles and four World Cup crowns, hasn’t struck gold in the Summer Games since London in 2012.

The U.S. men, returning to the Olympics for the first time since 2008, was grouped with France, New Zealand and the winner of a playoff between teams from the Asian and African confederations in Wednesday’s tournament draw, held in the Pulse building in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

The U.S. men have advanced out of group play just once in four previous trips to the Olympics since the tournament became an age-group competition in 1992.

The 12-team women’s field is arguably the strongest in history, featuring every previous World Cup and Olympic champion save Norway and seven of the top 10 teams in the FIFA world rankings. The U.S., which will play in Group B, will open play against either Zambia or Morocco, then face Germany, a two-time World Cup winner and the 2016 Olympic champion, and Australia, a quarterfinalist in last summer’s World Cup.

The field also includes Spain, the reigning World Cup champion, and Canada, the defending Olympic champion. Two more teams will join the field following the African qualifying tournament next month.

The 16-team field for the men’s tournament, a U-23 competition, is weaker, featuring just two countries — Argentina and France — ranked in the top 11 and two others — New Zealand and the Dominican Republic — ranked outside the top 100. The U.S. will begin play against France, the host nation, in Group A.

Two countries — Ukraine and the Dominican Republic — will be making their Olympic debuts while Israel hasn’t played in the Games since 1976, when it was an amateur competition. Three other teams will qualify in the U-23 Asian Cup, which begins next month, with one more qualifier coming from an Asian-African confederation playoff.

Rosters for the men’s tournament are limited to players aged 23 and younger, with the exception of three older players per team.

Soccer is one of four sports, alongside archery, handball and rugby sevens, that will start before the Games officially open July 26. The men’s competition will begin on July 24, with the women kicking off a day later. The men’s gold medal match is scheduled for Aug. 9 and the women’s final for Aug. 10, a day before the closing ceremonies.

...continued

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.