Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification Zealand qualify for the Olympics. Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification The men's qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics. FIFA restricted entry to players born after 1 January 1989. A total of 16 teams participated in the finals of the Olympic tournament for men. Of the six regional confederations, three (CONCACAF, AFC and OFC) ran dedicated qualification competitions for the Olympic tournament, while the other three used their own existing youth tournaments as qualifiers. UEFA announced that the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship tournament in Denmark would also serve as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics.
2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualify for the seven remaining spots at the finals. This was the first time that the competition's final matches took place in an odd-numbered year. UEFA took this decision with the will to give more visibility to the tournament, since during even-numbered years the competition was clouded by the approaching FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship. The tournament also served as the European qualifying tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics, with a place for the four semi-finalists of the tournament. However, as England is not an Olympic nation, their team was ineligible for the Olympics. Therefore, with the