At the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship, the Olyroos (Australian national under-23 football team) finished 3rd and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics football tournament. This was the first time the team had qualified for the Olympics since 2008.
The team defeated one of the best football nations, Argentina 2-0 in the first game before falling to Spain 1-0 and unfortunately crashing out of the tournament after being defeated by Egypt 2-0.
The team's performance over the group stage was a positive for football in Australia as this got younger talent playing on the world stage professionally, especially as the Olympics gives under-23 players the platform and exposure to compete for Gold.
The Australian national under-23 football team is on a journey to reach the Olympic Games football tournament again next year in Paris generating a host of young football stars representing the team for the nation.
How does qualifying for the Olympics work?
There is a lot of elements that first go into qualifying, all players must be under the age of 23 or be born on or after (1st January 2001) to be eligible of representing Australia at the Olympic Games with the exception of 3 over-aged players for the Olympic tournament.
However, it is strictly under-23 players for Qualifying for the Olympics with a long journey to reach the tournament. It was announced in May 2022 that former Olympian and Socceroo Tony Vidmar would lead the Olyroos to Paris 2024 being named head coach.
The Olyroos firstly had to qualify for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup in Qatar as this is a tournament where Asian nations from the confederation compete their best under-23 football teams against each other.
Australia was drain into a group with Laos, Tajikistan and originally North Korea who pulled out of the qualifying stages. Australia ranked 27 respectively needed to comfortably beat Laos and Tajikistan ranked 188 and 109 respectively by FIFA rankings to qualify for the tournament.
The Olyroos took care of Laos in the first game winning 7-1. However, faced a little scare in the second game when the team drew with Tajikistan 1-1 in the September FIFA window. Despite the result, Australia had done enough to qualify for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
That tournament will be held from the 15th of April to 3rd May 2024, a couple of months before the Olympic Games. Australia will be drawn into a group from Pot 2 when the group stage draw is decided on 23rd November 2023, with better ranked teams in Pot 1.
The draw shows the path to the Paris Olympics is tricky for Australia, they will have to deal with one of top football nations in either Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan or Japan and then be challenged by 1 team each from Pot 3 and 4.
If the Olyroos can finish in the top 2/4 in their group, they will have to win their quarter-final to book a spot at 3 chances of qualifying for the Olympics. If they can win their semifinal, they will automatically qualify for the Paris Games.
If they lose, they have a second chance at the 3rd place playoff final facing the other semifinal loser in AFC U-23 Asian Cup to win and book their tickets just like they did when they qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
However, if defeat strikes the team again, they win have a final chance in the AFC-CAF playoff game against Guinea at an unknown date to qualify for the final spot.
It's a challenging path and will be difficult for the squad on the journey, we will hope can they make the country proud and qualify for the Olympics.