About

The Great Britain women's Olympic football team (also known as Team GB; or occasionally Great Britain and Northern Ireland) represents the United Kingdom in the women's football tournament at the Olympic Games. Normally, no team represents the whole of the United Kingdom in women's football, as separate teams represent England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Women's football was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1996, but Great Britain did not enter the football events at this time. This changed when the 2012 Summer Olympics were hosted by London, as an Olympic football team was created to take the automatic qualifying place of the host nation. Following an agreement between the British Olympic Association (BOA) and The Football Association (FA), which operates the England team, the FA selected the British team, which could include players from across the United Kingdom. The team reached the quarter-finals, losing to Canada. FIFA stated that they would not allow entry of a British team in future Olympics unless all four Home Nations agreed. No agreement was reached ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics, but a deal was formed for the 2020 tournament. Great Britain has qualified for that tournament, as England has secured one of the top three places among European teams at the 2019 World Cup.