Today at the Olympics: Events, schedule and start times as women’s football gets underway

The 2024 Olympic Games begin today in Paris and across France with the men’s rugby sevens and football competitions.

The day before the opening ceremony officially launches the Olympics , action is getting underway early to allow enough time for the players to recover between matches.

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While the first day of the events focused on men’s football, today is the turn of the women’s, and host nation France will be in action against Colombia in Lyon at 8pm. Emma Hayes will also face her first significant challenge as United States Women’s manager when they face Zambia.

Unlike the men’s football, where teams are made up of mostly under-23s players, the women’s has no age restrictions.

Rugby Sevens, which started on Wednesday, will continue, with New Zealand taking on Ireland and South Africa playing against Japan. And the day finishes with two men’s quarter-finals, the first in Pool C will take on second in Pool A, and the 1st in Pool B will play the seventh overall-ranked side.

Handball and archery also start the day before the opening ceremony, kicking off in the morning.

Here is today’s events and start times (all times BST), and a full Olympic Games schedule can be found here .

Football fixtures

16:00 Women’s Group A - Canada v New Zealand

16:00 Women’s Group C - Spain v Japan

18:00 Women’s Group B - Germany v Australia

18:00 Women’s Group C - Nigeria v Brazil

20:00 Women’s Group A - France v Colombia

20:00 Women’s Group B - United States v Zambia

Rugby sevens fixtures

12:00 - Men’s Pool B - Samoa v Kenya

12:30 - Men’s Pool B - Argentina v Australia

13:00 - Men’s Pool C - United States v Uruguay

13:30 - Men’s Pool C - Fiji v France

14:00 - Men’s Pool A - South Africa v Japan

14:30 - Men’s Pool A - New Zealand v Ireland

18:00 - Men’s Placing - 9th v 12th

18:30 - Men’s Placing - 10th v 11th

19:00 - Men’s Quarter-final - 1st in Pool A v 8th overall

19:30 - Men’s Quarter-final - 2nd Pool B v 2nd Pool C

20:00 - Men’s Quarter-final - 1st Pool C v 2nd Pool A

Handball

• 8am-11.30am: Women’s prelims (2 matches)
• 1pm-4.30pm: Women’s prelims (2 matches)
• 6pm-9.30pm: Women’s prelims (2 matches)

Archery

• 8.30am-11.30am: Women’s individual ranking round
• 1.15pm-4.15pm: Men’s individual ranking round