Stuart Pearce’s Team GB was seeded for the Olympic draw and they were handed a fairly friendly group. Senegal who claimed the final place in the draw after winning their play off find themselves in Team GB’s group long with UAE and Uruguay.

Brazil, Mexico and world champions Spain were top seeds and were hoping for an easy path to ensure qualification from the group stages. A surprise absentee for the tournament is Argentina who had won gold at the previous two Olympics.

Teams qualified for men’s competition:

Great Britain, South Korea, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Gabon, Morocco, Egypt, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Belarus, Senegal.

Teams qualified for women’s competition:

Great Britain, Japan, North Korea, South Africa, Cameroon, United States, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, New Zealand, Sweden, France.

The competition for the men’s tournament has 16 countries competing, with teams from the same confederations being kept apart. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the knock out rounds.

The Men’s GB team will start their campaign at Old Trafford but have also prepared a friendly before the game. It has not yet been confirmed but it is likely to be Brazil on July 20^th. The tournament is renowned for giving the younger players a chance to shine. Stuart Pearce will have to pick his squad of 18 from those who were born after 1989. There are though three places for over age team members which as led to lots of speculation as to whom it will be. Pearce will not be making his decision until the end of June but rumours are circling that it will be David Beckham, Joe Cole, Craig Bellamy or even Steven Fletcher.

MEN’S OLYMPIC FOOTBALL DRAW

Group A:Great Britain, Senegal, Uruguay, UAE.

Group B:Mexico, South Korea, Gabon, Switzerland

Group C: Brazil, Belarus, New Zealand, Egypt

Group D:Spain, Honduras, Japan, Morocco

WOMEN’S OLYMPIC FOOTBALL DRAW

Group E: Great Britain, Cameroon, New Zealand, Brazil

Group F: Japan, Sweden, South Africa, Canada

Group G: USA, France, Colombia, Korea DPR

The top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams qualify for the quarter-finals.