Can Spain Win Gold in Women’s Olympic Debut?

2024 Women’s Olympic Soccer Outrights: USA, Spain and France Leading Contenders

July 17, 2024 219 4 minutes readOlympic Games News

Can Spain Win Gold in Women’s Olympic Debut? — Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP

New Look USA Come in as Favorites
Format/Dates
Group A
Group B
Group C

New Look USA Come in as Favorites

The rest of the world has caught up to the U.S. Women’s National team in recent years. Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup and Canada won gold at the previous Olympic Games.

Still, a new-look USWNT under Emma Hayes are the favorites to win the Women’s soccer tournament at Paris 2024.

Spain and hosts France are other strong contenders and we’ll take a look at the rest of the field and 2024 Women’s Olympic soccer outrights.

Format/Dates

While the Men’s Olympic soccer field consists of 16 teams and is primarily a U-23 tournament, the Women’s tournament has 12 teams and features senior national teams.

The top two teams in each of the three four-team groups advance to the Quarter-Finals after a round robin. The two highest-ranked third place teams also advance to the knockout stage.

In the knockout stage, games are single elimination and any draws will mean two 15-minute extra time periods. If a game is still tied after 120 minutes, penalties will decide the winner.

The Olympics 2024 dates show the tournament begins on July 25th and finishes on August 10th.

Group A

Hosts France are certainly expected to be among the top two finishers in Group A. Captain Wendie Renard is one of the most decorated players in women’s soccer history and striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto is Paris Saint-Germain’s top scorer all-time.

France show +500 odds to win the gold medal on home soil but they’re in a challenging group with Colombia, defending champions Canada and New Zealand.

All-time international leading scorer Christine Sinclair retired last December from the national team and it’ll be challenging for Canada to replace her.

Sinclair finished her career with the Canucks at 190 goals and the rest of the roster has scored 189 goals combined.

While Canada defeated Sweden in the gold medal game three years ago, Canada failed to get out of their group at last year’s World Cup. They come in at +2000 outright Olympic odds.

Colombia, on the other hand, are on the rise and reached the Quarter-Finals at the Women’s World Cup. Catalina Usme is their player to watch, as the striker has scored 72 times in 93 international games.

Still, Colombia are looking for their first-ever win in the Olympic games as they’re 0-1-5 all-time. They’re +2500 longshots to win the tournament according to the 2024 Women’s Olympic soccer outrights.

New Zealand come in at the longest odds to win gold in the Women’s Olympic soccer tournament, at +10000.

While the Football Ferns only conceded one goal at last year’s Women’s World Cup, they failed to make it out of the group.

Outside of the OFC Confederation, New Zealand have only tasted victory in one of their last 11 games.

📸| Wendie Renard and Zidane!
© wendie_renard (IG) pic.twitter.com/js9np3twGa
— EDF Update 🇫🇷 (@EDFUpdate) June 8, 2024

Group B

Before the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the USA had always reached the Semifinals but they fell in the round of 16 to Sweden. The 2024 Women’s Olympic soccer outrights still price four-time gold medalists USA at +170 despite the transition period they’re in the midst of.

New coach Emma Hayes only has four games under her belt and former stars like Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz and Becky Sauerbrunn are either retired or not on the roster. Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan are the USA’s key midfielders and Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson are proven goalscorers.

However, this defensive unit has never played together at a major tournament and it may take time to develop some chemistry.

Germany represent the biggest challenge for the USA in the group stage. Alexandra Popp won the Bronze Boot at the Women’s World Cup last year but the Germans failed to get out of the group stage.

Midfielder Lena Oberdorf is also one of the best young talents in women’s soccer. Germany show +1200 odds to win a second gold medal in the last three Olympic Games.

Australia (+1600) are another solid team but they’re missing their star player Sam Kerr due to a knee injury. Kerr also dealt with injuries at the Women’s World Cup last year, where Australia finished in fourth place.

Mary Fowler is a breakout star in midfield for the Matilda’s, while Caitlin Foord may have to pick up the scoring slack. Interim captain Steph Catley also brings a wealth of experience to the backline.

Zambia (+6600) are also in Group B and Barbra Banda scored two hat tricks at Tokyo 2020. However, Zambia conceded five goals per game and went 0-1-2.

They also conceded 11 goals at the Women’s World Cup and should struggle in Group B.

Group C

Spain are one of the Olympic sports teams to watch. They’re 12-2 since winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year and have 2023 Ballon d’Or Féminin winner Aitana Bonmati.

Salma Paralluelo, Alexia Putellas, Olga Carmona, Irene Paredes, Mariona Caldentey and Jenni Hermoso are all key players for Spain. Spain sit at +200 odds to win the gold medal in their first-ever appearance in the Olympics.

Brazilian women’s national team legends Debinha and Cristiane aren’t in the side but this could be all-time leading scorer Marta’s last major tournament. Brazil were one of four invited teams to the 2024 Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup and reached the final.

That remains the only 90-minute match Brazil have lost in 2024 and they display +1400 odds to win their first gold medal.

Japan (+1400) have been one of the most consistent Women’s national teams of the last 15 years. They tend to defeat the opponents they should and are competitive against the best teams in the world.

Midfielder Hinata Miyazawa also won the Golden Boot at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and scored five goals in Japan’s run to the Quarter-Finals.

This is Nigeria’s (+6600) first Women’s Olympic soccer appearance since 2008. At the Women’s World Cup, they didn’t lose a match in 90 minutes and reached the round of 16, where they fell in penalties to eventual runners-up England.

Nigeria could be one of the best soccer bets today, especially where value for money is concerned. They’re unbeaten in their last 15 games in normal time.

For Olympics betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.