Olympic football tickets

Excited about the 2012 Olympic soccer tournament?

Me neither, but a reminder if you are Europe-based to get your ticket applications in by midnight on Tuesday GMT. With all those big stadia unlikely to sell out at once, further sales are probable.

Games are taking place at Wembley, Old Trafford, St James Park, Hampden Park, the Millennium Stadium and Coventry's Ricoh Arena between July 25th and August 11th 2012.

Brazil and Uruguay have made it through the men's South American qualifiers; CONMEBOL nations traditionally treat Olympic football more seriously than other federations' teams. The top three finishers (excluding England) of the UEFA Euro U21 tournament in Denmark in June will secure berths too.

Once more the women's tournament, only in existence since 1996, should be the more important, on a par with the FIFA Women's World Cup in quality because there are no age restrictions. Brazil, Germany and the US are the current leaders in the women's game, yet Japan have risen to fourth in the world rankings, while England recently beat No.1-ranked USA 2-1 in London.

The 2012 tournament will be historically significant as the participating host nation - Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is not a FIFA nation. Following the outcry from the other home nations, the UK's teams are set to be purely English.



-Sean O'Conor

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