Today at 15:00 CEST (10:00 local time), things get serious: In Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium, the draw for the group stage of the Olympic Games will take place. The Games in the Brazilian city will commence this summer on the 3rd August and last until the 20th August. Two German teams will be present at the event: the Germany U21 national side, who qualified through the 2015 U21 European Championship, along with the Germany Women’s senior team who qualified through the World Cup the year before - both teams earned their qualification by making the semi-finals of the respective competitions.
A DFB-delegation will be in attendance tonight, with manager Silvia Neid and coach Doris Fitschen present for the Women’s tournament draw. "We are looking forward to the draw and will take it as it comes," explains Neid. "The twelve teams in the tournament are all of a high quality."
For the Germany U21s, Horst Hrubesch has joined the party in Rio de Janeiro. The DFB manager is looking ahead to the draw with excitement: "The anticipation ahead of the Olympic Games is growing. I look forward to the draw in Rio and I’m anxious to see who we will be playing against and where. After the draw we want to visit the venues and get a first impression of the conditions." The DFB-Women in attendance have the same post-draw plan.
The Pots for the draw
Who will the two teams come up against in their quest for Olympic Gold? The Women’s team have been seeded in Pot 1 based on the current FIFA World Rankings. The Germany U21s have been put in Pot 4 due to the seeding for the men’s competition being based on results at the last five Olympic Games, at which no German side has won the group. The draw procedure will ensure that no two teams from the same confederation are put in the same group.
Women
Pot 1: Brazil, USA, Germany
Pot 2:France, Australia, Sweden
Pot 3:Canada, China, New Zealand
Pot 4:Columbia, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Men
Pot 1:Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Japan
Pot 2:Nigeria, South Korea, Honduras, Iraq
Pot 3:Sweden, Fiji, Portugal, South Africa
Pot 4:Algeria, Columbia, Denmark, Germany