Olympic football qualification draws to a close

The final places for the Olympic football tournament will be decided over the next few weeks, before the draw for both the men's and women's tournament takes place in Beijing on 20 April.

Men's qualifiers

The eye-catching names are Argentina and Brazil, both of whom seem set to take the tournament very seriously.

The rules are that players must be under-23, plus three who can be any age. Argentina, gold medallists in 2004, are planning to take Riquelme and Mascherano.

Brazil are desperate to win gold for the first time. Dunga, the head coach of their main national team, will be in charge of the team and Kaka has said he wants to play, although AC Milan might stop him.

The qualifiers also include Italy, Holland and Ivory Coast there are likely to be quite a few high profile players. And China are desperate for their own team to do well.

The final places for the CONCACAF region will be decided this month, while the Oceania qualifier will emerge at the end of this week.

Women's qualifiers

The women's tournament is less about stars (apart from the Brazilian Marta) and more about what should be a really good contest between Brazil, Germany, USA and China.

The Women's CONCACAF qualifiers will take place in April. And the winner's of the African region playoff (Ghana versus Nigeria) will have the tough task of playing Brazil for the final spot on 19 April.

Update (26.03.08): The final three Men's qualifiers are Honduras, USA and New Zealand.