News The world’s top female footballers are preparing to go into battle at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which starts on Saturday (6 June), all dreaming of lifting the famous trophy However, within the tournament in Canada there will be another intense competition taking place between European nations The top three finishers from the ‘Old Continent’ will earn their places at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland are the teams hoping to qualify for the first edition of the Olympic Games to be staged in South America If the eighth European nation, England, finishes in the top three, their place will be passed down, as Great Britain will not enter football teams into the Olympic Games Germany, the 2003 and 2007 world champions, are one of the sides tipped to win the World Cup, a tag that sits comfortably with coach Silvia Neid “Germany will always be among the favourites at any tournament,” she said “With two World Cups, eight European titles and three Olympic bronze medals, we’ve earned those expectations In light of that, I’m glad we’re considered favourites ”France, who impressed at the London 2012 Olympic Games (eventually finishing fourth), will also be contenders “I do think we can win the tournament,” said left-back Amel Majri “We can pass the ball around really well, but we’re also good in the air We’ve got pace and a physical presence, and we’ve shown that we can play intelligently ”Norway’s pedigree – they were world champions in 1995 and Olympic champions in 2000 – mean they are always among the fancied sides, while Sweden, who finished third at the last World Cup in 2011, should also be strong There will be plenty of non-European teams who could disrupt plans for Olympic qualification The USA are the dominant force in women’s Olympic football, having won four of the five tournaments held – including the last three – and taking silver in the other Japan are the defending world champions and were considered unlucky by many to finish with silver at London 2012, while host nation Canada, who also impressed in London and are led by inspirational captain Christine Sinclair, will be tough to beat When the 24-team tournament comes to an end on July 5, the three best-placed European teams will join Brazil and Colombia in having their places at the Rio 2016 Games confirmed The representatives from Africa (two teams) and Oceania (one team) will be known in October when their regional qualification ends, while the Asian (two teams) and North and Central American (two teams) entries will be confirmed next year Brazil and Argentina are already confirmed in the men’s Olympic tournament, with the next qualifiers to be confirmed at the European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic on 17-30 June, from which four teams will earn places in Rio Check out the full qualification system for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games football tournaments here Rio2016 com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC) Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota