On 24 July and 25 July, the men’s and women’s football tournaments at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris will kick off, guaranteeing an exciting exhibition. Being the biggest sport in the world at the biggest sporting event in the world, it makes sense that people from all nations will be tuning in and vying for tickets to see it live across France. To help any tourists looking to go to Paris 2024, here’s a handy guide to get you around.
A wide-open field for the tournament
The slate of teams partaking in both the women’s and men’s tournaments decided so far is certainly enticing. On the men’s side, Team GB – which would encompass England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – will not be in attendance again, and neither will back-to-back gold medallists Brazil. The Asian qualifiers are yet to be completed, but so far, Argentina, France, and Spain are the clear frontrunners for what is more or less a men’s under-23 tournament.
Over on the women’s side, the slate of Brazil, Colombia, Canada, France, and the US offers an incredible pool of talent to battle it out in Paris. Canada masterfully won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but few would overlook the US just yet, or even hosts France. The African, European, and Asian qualification tournaments hadn’t concluded at the time of writing, but most would expect Sweden to be in the mix again.
Without any age restrictions, the best players in the world will be free to go to Paris 2024. So, it’ll basically be on the level of the World Cup! For the men’s tournament, three players over the age of 23 can join each team, but even this bracket opens the door to the likes of Spain’s Pedri, Lamine Yamal, and Gavi; France’s Eduardo Camavinga, William Saliba, and Warren Zaïre-Emery: and Argentine winger Alejandro Garnacho.
Fandom made easy in France and beyond
There are few cities in the world better suited to hosting an event on the scale of the Olympics than the French capital. Many elements play into this, but for an international occasion like the Summer Games, it all begins with accessibility through the air. As Paris is such a popular city, tickets to get there are often very cost-effective. Flights from London are as low as $21, and those from as far as Charlotte only tip up to $135, which is helped by so many top airlines, including Air France, easyJet, Vueling, and Delta, offering the trip.
Plane tickets to Paris are also very accessible because the city boasts two international airports – one to the north and one to the south. Whether you land at Paris-Orly or Paris-Charles de Gaulle, you’ll be looking to get on the direct RER B line into Paris. Nice and easy to remember. Within Paris, you can also make use of the metro from 6 am to 1 am, but on Fridays and Saturdays, that close time gets a bump to 2 am. If you’d rather stay overground, buses cost €2 from the driver and taxi rides are around €1 per minute.
For football fans, however, Paris is only one of seven host stadiums. Naturally, the home of PSG and its superstar manager and squad, Parc de Princes, is expected to host the final, at least one group game, and maybe the semi-finals,. The other games will be taking place in Nantes, Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux, Saint-Étienne, and Décines-Charpieu. You could fly out to them with relative ease from Paris, or just revel in the festivities in the capital if you have tickets to Parc de Princes. There’ll be loads of fan zones to jump into and bars with all of the games on.
The Summer Olympics and the football events offer the perfect excuse to jump over the Paris for a few days, or even a week – especially as it’s so easy to get there and around the capital!
