The Korea Football Association (KFA) said that FIFA, the sport’s top governing body, has agreed that the draws for the football tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games would be held in April.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Tuesday in Seoul that FIFA decided to have the Olympic football draws at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 31st Olympic Games, at 10:30 p.m. on April 14 (Korean time).
It said in a statement that South Korea have qualified for the men’s event, and the women’s team would have their qualifying tournament later this month in Japan.
It said for the men’s, 16 teams would be divided into four groups and the top two teams would advance to the knockout stage.
The statement further said there would be three groups of four nations in women’s football.
It explained that the details about seeds and the drawing process would be announced later.
It said South Korean men qualified for their eighth consecutive Olympics after finishing second at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship in January, which also served as the regional qualifying tournament for Rio.
The statement said the top three teams at the AFC tournament earned their tickets to Brazil.
It said the men’s team joins other 14 countries for the Summer Games host Brazil, Japan, Iraq, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Honduras, Mexico, Argentina, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and Fiji.
KFA disclosed that the final ticket would go to the winner of the two-leg playoff between Colombia and the U.S.l next month.
It said their women teams haven’t played in the Olympics yet.
KFA said the Asian qualification starts next Monday and ends March 9 in Osaka, Japan, while South Korea would play North Korea, Japan, Australia, China and Vietnam.
It said the top two teams would qualify for the Rio Games.
KFA said available records showed that so far, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Canada, the United States, Colombia, France, Germany and New Zealand have booked their tickets to Brazil in women’s football.
