All Olympics football champions: From Great Britain to mighty Brazil

Barring the inaugural modern Summer Olympics in 1896 and the Los Angeles Games in 1932, men’s football has been a regular fixture in every edition of the quadrennial showpiece. The women’s competition, meanwhile, has been played from Atlanta 1996 onwards.

At Paris 2024, 16 nations competed in men’s football while the women’s event had 12 teams. Spain emerged victorious in the men's tournament beating hosts France 5-3 in the final, while the USA won yet another gold medal in the women's event, beating Brazil 1-0 in the final.

Brazil won the men's competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for their second straight gold medal while Canada won the women's category for the first time. The video assistant referee (VAR) system was used for the first time at Tokyo 2020.

The Olympic football competition has come a long way from the Paris 1900 Games, where three club sides -- Club Français from Paris, Upton Park from London, and Université de Bruxelles from Brussels -- participated. Each side represented their respective countries.

National sides came into the fray only from London 1908 and professional footballers were allowed to participate from Los Angeles 1984.

From Barcelona 1992, male footballers at the Olympics needed to be under 23 years of age, with three 23-plus players allowed since Atlanta 1996. There are no such restrictions for the women’s teams.

Hungary and Great Britain have won the most gold medals – three each – in men’s football at the Olympics while Brazil, Argentina, the Soviet Union and Uruguay have been victorious two times each.

In the men's tournament, Brazil have the most medals, seven, including three silver and two bronze.

The women’s competition has been dominated by the U.S. women's national soccer team (USWNT) who have won five of the eight gold medals so far, with Germany, Norway and Canada taking gold once each. USA also won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Olympics football winners list

Men’s Olympic football winners

Women’s Olympic football winners