It has undoubtedly been one of the most dramatic of off-seasons in recent history with the Copa America and Euros both throwing up their own set of surprises. Whether it is the whiplash of Chile leading to Lionel Messi's retirement or Iceland knocking out the English, the football has been scintillating. Now, the world awaits the Rio Olympics 2016 and hopefully more of the same.
There are sixteen teams participating in the competition divided into four groups of four teams each. The teams have been selected for the competition from South America (1), Asia(2), Africa(3), Oceania,(1) North America(2) and Europe(2). The host nation (Brazil in this case) obviously gets an assured spot.
There are a few stellar names like Neymar featuring in the competition, but as seen in the past, the tournament is a scout’s heaven with a lot of emerging talents likely to feature at the competition like the new Arsenal starlet Takuma Asano who’ll feature for Japan and Manchester United target Hirving Lozano who’ll play for Mexico.
The four Groups for the tournament are as follows
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Brazil | Colombia | Fiji | Argentina |
| Denmark | Nigeria | Germany | Algeria |
| Iraq | Japan | Korea Republic | Honduras |
| South Africa | Sweden | Mexico | Portugal |
The fixtures for the group stages are as follows
| Date | Time (IST) | Home Team | Away Team | Venue |
| 04/08/2016 | 21:30 | Iraq | Denmark | Brasilia |
| 04/08/2016 | 23:30 | Honduras | Algeria | Rio De Janeiro |
| 05/08/2016 | 0:30 | Brazil | South Africa | Brasilia |
| 05/08/2016 | 4:30 | Fiji | Korea Republic | Salvador |
| 05/08/2016 | 2:30 | Portugal | Argentina | Rio De Janeiro |
| 05/08/2016 | 3:30 | Sweden | Colombia | Manaus |
| 05/08/2016 | 1:30 | Mexico | Germany | Salvador |
| 05/08/2016 | 6:30 | Nigeria | Japan | Manaus |
| 07/08/2016 | 21:30 | Fiji | Mexico | Salvador |
| 07/08/2016 | 23:30 | Honduras | Portugal | Rio De Janeiro |
| 08/08/2016 | 0:30 | Germany | Korea Republic | Salvador |
| 08/08/2016 | 2:30 | Argentina | Algeria | Rio De Janeiro |
| 08/08/2016 | 3:30 | Sweden | Nigeria | Manaus |
| 08/08/2016 | 3:30 | Denmark | South Africa | Brasilia |
| 08/08/2016 | 6:30 | Japan | Colombia | Manaus |
| 08/08/2016 | 6:30 | Brazil | Iraq | Brasilia |
| 10/08/2016 | 21:30 | Algeria | Portugal | Menierao |
| 10/08/2016 | 23:30 | Argentina | Honduras | Brasilia |
| 11/08/2016 | 0:30 | Germany | Fiji | Belo Horizonte |
| 11/08/2016 | 0:30 | Korea Republic | Mexico | Braslia |
| 11/08/2016 | 3:30 | Colombia | Nigeria | Sao Paolo |
| 11/08/2016 | 3:30 | Japan | Sweden | Salvador |
| 11/08/2016 | 6:30 | Denmmark | Brazil | Salvador |
| 11/08/2016 | 6:30 | South Africa | Iraq | Sao Paolo |
The fixtures for the knockout stages are as follows
| Date | Time | Home Team | Away Team | Venue |
| 13/08/2016 | 21:30 | Group D winners | Group C Runners Up | Brasilia |
| 14/08/2016 | 0:30 | Group B winners | Group A Runners Up | Salvador |
| 14/08/2016 | 4:30 | Group C winners | Group D Runners Up | Belo Horizonte |
| 14/08/2016 | 7:30 | Group A winners | Group B Runners Up | Sao Paolo |
The winner of the first two games will play each other in the first semi-final at Rio De Janeiro on 17th August at 21:30 IST. The winner of the last two games will play each other in the second semi-final at Rio De Janeiro on 18th August at 0:30 IST. The losers from the respective finals will play the Bronze Medal match on 20th August at 21:30 IST.
The Gold medal match will be played on will be played at the famous Maracana Stadium at Rio on 20th at 1:30 IST.
Download the pdf here.
