News Brazil (as the host country), and Argentina (Champion of the South American under-20 qualifying tournament), were the first countries to secure places in the men's football competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Neymar and Messi – star players of the two countries respectively – are slated to headline for their teams at the Olympic Games Following the qualification of Sweden and Portugal yesterday (24), Swedish ace Zlatan Ibrahmovic expressed his desire to join the South Americans and play at Rio 2016 "I have never played at the Olympic Games so, yes it would be awesome to be in Rio de Janeiro in 2016," said the star, who also added, jokingly, "I'm totally available but first of all I need to get the invitation, they might not think I'm good enough ”Zlatan Ibrahmovic, who missed out on playing in the World Cup last year, could join Portuguese footballing icon and the world’s top player, Cristiano Ronaldo, whose team also qualified yesterday, in front of fans at the Olympic Games The group stage of the final round of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championships, which took place earlier this week, was decisive for the Olympic line-up Denmark and Germany had already secured their places on Tuesday (25), while Portugal, Sweden and Italy fought for two spots on Wednesday (26) Losing to Portugal 1-0 in the closing minutes of the match, Sweden looked to be out of the league and out of the race for a place at the Olympics, until a sneak goal at the 44 minute mark in the second half catapulted them back into play, finishing the match with a draw The result meant that both the Swedes and the Portuguese made it through to the semi-finals and to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, leaving the Italians out of the running Portugal and Sweden won their Rio 2016 spots together on Wednesday, but their success hasn’t always been so unified The two teams fought for a single spot at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, with the Portuguese ultimately winning out over the Swedes in a battle that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic go head-to-head Two of the most famous footballers in the world, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic could clash again in the Olympic Games if they are chosen as one of three players over 23 years-old that each men's team can take to the Games The remaining vacancies in the men's football at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be decided via upcoming continental tournaments From each of the Asian and African tournaments, the top three teams will go through to the Olympics The top two teams from the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) championship will qualify, as well as the winner of the Oceania tournament A third CONCACAF team will fight for an Olympic spot in a play-off against Colombia, which was runner-up at the 2015 South American U-20 Youth Football Championship in February As the host country, Brazil has its place guaranteed In the women’s category, the Olympic Games qualifying process is similar, with each continental confederation entitled to a certain maximum number of places Qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an ongoing process and final entries will only be officially confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) Entries are recommended by national federations or sport organisations to their respective National Olympic Committees or National Paralympic Committees, who decide on final selections Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games here