The LA28 Olympics will kick off with soccer matches starting four days before the Opening Ceremony as the first competition across all sports.
The LA28 soccer schedule was announced Monday. It spans 20 total days (including rest days) from July 10, 2028 — before the July 14 Opening Ceremony — through the gold-medal matches on July 28 (men) and July 29 (women) on the last Friday and Saturday of the Games.
So the LA28 Olympics will start with men’s soccer group stage matches July 10, then women’s soccer group stage matches July 11, then six more team sports starting preliminary competition July 12, as of the current schedule, which is subject to change.
It will be the longest competition window in the Olympic history of soccer. The sport debuted on the medal program in 1900 and traditionally starts before the Opening Ceremony.
The extended match schedule gives each team two extra rest days over the tournament compared to previous Olympics, according to LA28.
As previously announced, the Olympic soccer tournaments will be hosted across seven cities: New York City (nine matches); Columbus, Ohio (nine matches); Nashville (nine matches); St. Louis (eight matches); San Jose, California (seven matches) and San Diego (11 matches) for group stages and quarterfinals, then one quarterfinal, two semifinals and both gold-medal matches at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
San Diego, the closest preliminary venue to LA, will also host two semifinals and both bronze-medal matches.
Traditionally, Olympic soccer matches are held at multiple venues in the host nation. For the most recent LA Olympics in 1984, the soccer venues were at Stanford, Harvard, Navy and the Rose Bowl.
LA28 Olympic soccer kickoff times will be announced later this year.
How to buy LA28 Olympic tickets
There are two days left to register at tickets.la28.org for LA28’s first ticket draw. The registration deadline is Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
The first round of tickets will drop April 2-6 (LA and Oklahoma City locals presale) and April 9-19 with the opportunity to purchase up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, including Opening and Closing Ceremonies (four ticket per ceremony limit). More ticket drops are planned as the Games get closer.
More than five million people from 197 countries and territories have registered for the draw since registration opened in January.
Fans only need to register once to be entered for future ticket draws and for the Paralympic ticket draw scheduled to start in 2027. Those not selected for the first drop will automatically be entered into future draws.
More information is here at LA28.org.
