UK women's Olympic football team

Traditionally, the UK in the international arena in women's football is represented by 4 teams: England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland . Until the 2008 Olympics, a single women's Olympic team in Great Britain was not convened; An attempt was made at the Beijing Olympics to declare the England team, the third-rated women's team in Europe, but FIFA did not allow it to attend the Games, citing the fact that it is not a member of the IOC and cannot represent the whole of Great Britain ^[1] .

2012 Olympics

Team Creation

After winning the London application for the Olympic Games in 2012, the UK automatically received a ticket to the football tournament as the hostess of the Games ^[2] . The British Olympic Association stated that a single UK team would be created specifically for participation in the Games ^[3] , and soon delegated this right to the Football Association of England . However, the football associations of Scotland and Wales opposed the involvement of their players in the combined team, fearing that its creation could threaten their independent status ^{[4] [5]} . In October 2007, the Irish Football Association , which manages football in Northern Ireland , also stated that it did not intend to delegate its players to the UK national team ^[6] . In November 2011, the Professional Football Association warned the associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland of the inadmissibility of attempts to intimidate their players in order to refuse to participate in the Olympics ^[7] .

In June 2011, the record holder for the number of goals scored in the t-shirt of ruled out the possibility of her participation in the 2012 Olympic Games. She agreed with the opinion of her father, , who served as director of development for the Scottish Football Association, that this could jeopardize the existence of a separate Scottish team. ^[8] Kim Flitt’s colleague for the club and national team expressed the opposite opinion, saying that she does not understand how someone can ban a player from participating in such a large event as the Olympics, and would be very glad to represent Great Britain at the Games ^[9] . Among those wishing to play for the joint team were the Scottish women and ^[10] , as well as the ^[11] .

In October 2011, Englishwoman Hope Powell was appointed head coach of the UK Olympic women's team ^[12] . Team building she began by sending letters to all the players whom she would like to see in the composition, not allowing anyone to refuse the invitation. In January 2012, it was reported that none of the players invited by Powell refused to do so ^[13] .

Tournament

At the women's Olympic football tournament, the British team was seeded under the first number in group E. On April 24, 2012, during the draw, the British recognized their rivals in the group stage - they were the teams of Brazil , and ^[14] . Two days after the draw, it was announced that the only friendly match of the UK team before the Olympic tournament was against the Swedish team ^[15] .

Following the results of the group stage of the Olympic tournament, the women's team of Great Britain, having gained three victories in three matches, from the first place in Group E went to the next stage ^[16] , however, in the first round of the playoffs she lost to the Canadian team and finished her performance at the Games ^{[17 ]} .

Results

Friendlies

2012 Olympic Games

Team Future

The future of the UK Olympic team is uncertain, as teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to compete separately in major tournaments such as the European and World Championships . After relegating from the 2012 Olympics football tournament, head coach Hope Powell expressed the hope that the British team would continue to take part in the next Games ^[18] . In June 2013, a representative of the Football Association of England , speaking in the House of Lords , said that they were ready for further participation in the Olympics, subject to the qualification criteria of one of the four British women's teams ^[19] . Despite this, after the strong objections of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland parties, as well as in connection with the obligations undertaken by FIFA to prevent the British team if all four parties do not agree among themselves, March 30, 2015 the Football Association of England announced that will not seek performance at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro ^[20] .

In June 2015, the British Olympic Association announced a campaign to restore the women's team to participate in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo ^[21] . In March 2018, , responsible for women's football in England, said that three other British associations were ready to provide the Football Association of England with the opportunity to assemble a team under their auspices for the 2020 Olympics ^[22] . In October 2018, FIFA confirmed the right of England to compete for one of the three qualifying places available to European teams for participation in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo , which will then be transferred to the UK team ^[23] . The UK women's football team qualified for the 2020 Olympics after England finished in the top three European teams at the 2019 World Cup . The head coach of the team appointed Phil Neville . ^[24] .

Performance Statistics

Below is the application for the UK women's team to participate in the 2012 Olympics ^{[approx. 1]} :

1. ↑ Age of players and their affiliation to clubs are indicated as of August 4, 2012.

• UK Olympic football team