2024 Olympics kick off today

The men's football tournament has 16 participating teams, divided into four groups of four teams each, playing a round robin to determine the top two teams in each group to advance to the quarterfinals. The first matches of all four groups take place today, starting at 8:00 p.m. Hanoi time.

At 8pm, Argentina will meet Morocco in Group B at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne, while Asian representative Uzbekistan will play against runner-up Spain. at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris.

Argentina are favourites to win the tournament, despite being eliminated in the group stage last time out. Coach Javier Mascherano has a star-studded squad, including two Man City players, midfielder Claudio Echeverri and striker Julian Alvarez, not to mention 36-year-old centre-back Nicolas Otamendi. However, Morocco could also cause a surprise, with PSG defender Achraf Hakimi, or former Barca midfielder Abde Ezzalzouli.

Spain just won Euro 2024, but still has two players transferred to the Olympic team, midfielders Alex Baena and Fermin Lopez. Coach Santi Denia also has players on the Barca payroll such as center back Eric Garcia and Pau Cubarsi, so they are rated higher than Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan's outstanding player is 29-year-old captain Eldor Shomurodov, on the payroll of Roma.

At 10pm, Guinea will play New Zealand in Group A, while Egypt will face the Dominican Republic in Group C. Guinea, who competed against Indonesia for a ticket to the Olympics, will have captain Naby Keita as their captain. Egypt will also have 32-year-old midfielder Mohamed Elneny as their leader, with experience playing for Arsenal.

At 0:00 on July 25, Asian representative Iraq will play against Ukraine in Group B, while Japan will play against Paraguay at Bordeaux Stadium in Group D. Japan is the reigning U23 Asian champion, and is also the only team at the 2024 Olympics not to use players over the age of 23. Coach Go Oiwa also does not have any players who have made a name for themselves in Europe, with 23-year-old midfielder Takefusa Kubo absent.

At 2am on July 25, host France will play against the US at Marseille in Group A, while Mali will meet Israel in Group D. Thierry Henry and his team are of course the championship candidates, with a squad of players including two experienced senior strikers, Alexandre Lacazette and Jean-Philippe Mateta, not to mention young talents sought after by top European clubs such as Michael Olise, Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki.

France, Argentina and Spain are all favourites to win the gold medal, having all done so before. Meanwhile, the two most recent champions, Brazil, failed to qualify. This year's men's football competition also lacks strong teams such as Germany, Italy and Mexico.

England U23s topped the European qualifiers but did not qualify, as Great Britain was represented at the Olympics by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also qualified as separate teams, so Great Britain was not represented in the men's or women's football.

The other sport kicking off today is rugby sevens, which involves seven players on each team playing seven-minute halves, rather than the 15-a-side, 40-minute halves of rugby union. Rugby sevens was introduced to the Olympics in 2016, with all the gold medals going to Oceania countries.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be the 33rd Summer Olympics, taking place from July 26 to August 11, with some events starting on July 24. There will be 10,714 athletes representing 206 delegations competing in 32 events, with 329 events. Vietnam has 16 athletes participating, competing in 19 events, with the goal of winning at least one medal.

The 2024 Olympic opening ceremony takes place on the Seine River in Paris, at 0:30 on Saturday, July 27.