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.
Republic of Ireland at the UEFA European Championship in a qualifying process. The Republic of Ireland have participated in three UEFA European Football Championships finals, those held in 1988, 2012 and 2016. They have played ten matches: winning two, drawing two and losing six. They have scored six goals and conceded sixteen. In 2012, they equalled the worst performance by a team in European Championship history. They finished bottom of their group and were the first team eliminated from the tournament following a 4-0 defeat in their second game. Ireland qualified for the finals after winning Group 7 of the qualifying tournament. A late goal by Scotland's Gary