By David Owen
November 12 – FIFA has announced that the mythical Maracanã Stadium, spiritual home of the Brazilian football team, is to host both the men’s and the women’s Olympic football finals.
The matches will take place on consecutive days next August, first the women, on August 19, then the men, on August 20. The canary-shirted home teams will be striving to win their country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the national sport. They have won five silvers.
Reigning champions, after finals played at London’s equally iconic Wembley Stadium in 2012, are respectively Mexico (men) and the United States (women).
The 2016 Olympic football tournament will stretch over more than two weeks, with the opening women’s match scheduled for August 3. Seven stadia in all will be used for the competitions. These are in six cities: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Manaus.
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