Who can stop the No. 1-ranked U.S. women’s national soccer team’s run to the gold medal? That is the theme of the Women’s Football Tournament at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with several contending candidates already emerging, including the Americans’ next quarterfinal opponent: No. 4-ranked Netherlands.
Entering the knockout rounds, eight nations are still vying for Olympic soccer gold in Tokyo in the seventh women’s Olympic soccer tournament since 1996. The USA has made it to all but one gold-medal match in the event’s history, winning it on four occasions with Norway and Germany claiming the other two. The Germans are the reigning Olympic gold medalists, but they failed to qualify for the 2021 tournament.
In addition to the Netherlands, the other main challengers for the 2021 gold medal will be Brazil (ranked No. 7), Canada (No. 8), host Japan (No. 10) and European participants Sweden (No. 5) and Great Britain (England is ranked No. 6 in the world). Australia (No. 9) also has a history of being competitive at major tournaments and could make a run at a medal.
How to watch women’s Olympic soccer in USA
- TV channels: NBCSN, USA Network, Olympic Channel
- Spanish-language TV: Telemundo, Universo
- Streams: fuboTV, NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports app, Telemundo Deportes app, TelemundoDeportes.com
TV coverage of select matches from the women’s soccer tournament will be carried by five channels in the NBC family of networks in English and Spanish (match-by-match listings below).
Every soccer match from the men’s and women’s tournaments will be streamed on NBCOlympics.com (English), TelemundoDeportes.com (Spanish), the NBC Sports app and Telemundo Deportes app with user authentication (verification of cable/satellite subscription).
The NBC and Telemundo families of TV networks are also available on fuboTV (free 7-day trial): NBC, NBCSN, USA Network, CNBC, Olympic Channel, Golf Channel, Telemundo and Universo.
Women’s Olympic soccer schedule 2021
NOTE: All matches will be streamed in the USA on NBCOlympics.com, TelemundoDeportes.com, NBC Sports app and the Telemundo Deportes app with user authentication.
Friday, July 30 (Quarterfinals)
| Match | Time (ET) | TV channels | Stream |
| QF 1: Canada vs. Brazil | 4 a.m. | NBCSN, Telemundo | fuboTV |
| QF 2: Great Britain vs. Australia | 5 a.m. | Universo | fuboTV |
| QF 3: Sweden vs. Japan | 6 a.m. | NBCSN, Universo (delayed at 8 a.m.) | fuboTV |
| QF 4: Netherlands vs. USA | 7 a.m. | NBCSN, Telemundo | fuboTV |
Monday, Aug. 2 (Semifinals)
| Match | Time (ET) | TV channels | Stream |
| Semifinal 1: QF 1 winner vs. QF 4 winner | 4 a.m. | USA Network | fuboTV |
| Semifinal 2: QF 2 winner vs. QF 3 winner | 7 a.m. | USA Network | fuboTV |
Thursday, Aug. 5 (Gold- and bronze-medal matches)
| Match | Time | TV channels | Stream |
| Bronze: Semifinal losers | 4 a.m. | USA Network | fuboTV |
| Gold/silver: Semifinal winners | 10 p.m. | USA Network | fuboTV |
Women’s Olympic soccer: Tournament format
The women’s soccer tournament started out with a group phase that eliminated four of the 12 teams: New Zealand, China, Zambia and Chile The remaining eight moved on to the quarterfinals and the beginning of the knockout rounds.
Group stage: The 12 teams were split into Groups E, F and G, to avoid confusion with the men’s tournament groups A-D. The top two teams in each group automatically advanced along with the two best third-place teams (Japan and Australia).
The round-robin group stage awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Teams were ranked based on points accumulated with the first tiebreakers being goal difference and goals scored, in that order. If teams were still tied after the second tiebreaker, then there were other predetermined criteria.
Knockout rounds: The top eight teams moved on to a fixed-bracket, single-elimination knockout round that kicks off with the quarterfinals and then moving to the semifinals and finally the medal matches.