Today, Wednesday July 24, is the day millions of people worldwide have been waiting for. It’s the start of the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

While the Games will officially only start on Friday, July 26, Football group stage matches will kick off Wednesday, and Rugby Sevens group stage matches will take place on Thursday.

First up on Wednesday will be Uzbekistan vs Spain. This match will be broadcast live on Ariana Television from 5.30pm Kabul time.

This match will be followed at 7.30 pm Kabul time by the Guinea vs New Zealand match and then at 9.30pm, Japan will take on Paraguay. At 11.30pm, host nation France will play USA.

These matches will all be broadcast live, and legally, across Afghanistan on Ariana Television.

What you need to know about men’s football at the Games!

Men’s football action at the Olympic Games will take place from 24 July to 9 August.

The 16 best youth teams in the world are boosted by the inclusion of some superstar over-age players, in what’s likely to be an unpredictable event.

Olympic men’s squads must consist of players under the age of 23, with three overage players allowed as part of the 18-man squads.

Back-to-back reigning Olympic champions Brazil did not qualify for Paris but the standout teams involved include Argentina, Spain, and hosts France.

Sixteen teams are divided into four groups of four. Each nation plays against all the other teams in their group, with the top two in each group progressing to the knockout stages.

Group A: France, USA, Guinea, New Zealand
Group B: Argentina, Morocco, Iraq, Ukraine
Group C: Uzbekistan, Spain, Egypt, Dominican Republic
Group D: Japan, Paraguay, Mali, Israel

Stars to watch!

Hosts France will be led by captain Alexandre Lacazette, the former Arsenal man now back at boyhood club Olympique Lyonnais.

Naby Keita, Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2019, will also be captaining his nation of Guinea in Paris.

Argentina can count on four players who won the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi, Geronimo Rulli and Thiago Almada.

The quartet will try to write history as the first male players to win the FIFA World Cup and then Olympic gold, in that order, a unique feat in football.

Two new European champions, Fermin Lopez and Alex Baena, are aiming for more glory with Spain and trying to improve on the nation’s silver medal at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021).

Achraf Hakimi will be determined to lead Morocco to the gold medal match, as it will be hosted at the PSG star’s home stadium, the Parc des Princes.

Along with Lopez and Baena, Ukraine’s Maksym Taloverov are playing at Paris 2024 having already lined up for Euro 2024 in a busy summer of football.

There are also plenty of big names who will be leading their nations from the sidelines.

France are managed by French football legend and Olympic Torchbearer Thierry Henry, while Argentina’s two-time Olympic champion Javier Mascherano is aiming to become the first man to win the Olympic men’s football tournament as a player and a coach.

Javier Mascherano won two gold medals with Argentina at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Where are the matches taking place?

Men’s football games will take place in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Nantes.

The gold medal match will be played at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 9 August.

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