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.
1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 5th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1984–86), had 29 entrants. Spain U-21s won the competition after a penalty shootout (association football), the first in the U-21 competition's history. The 29 national teams were divided into eight groups (five groups of 4 + three groups of 3). The group winners played off against each other on a two-legged home-and-away basis until the winner was decided. There was no finals tournament or 3rd-place playoff. The allocation of teams into qualifying groups