Egypt, Morocco football teams qualify for 2024 Olympic Games after making U-23 AFCON final

Egypt and Morocco have secured their places in the men's football competition at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, after reaching the final of the under 23s Africa Cup of Nations.

Morocco - the host of this year's edition of the tournament - nabbed their place at next year's Olympics with a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Mali in their AFCON semi-final match on Tuesday.

Egypt also secured their place in next year's tournament after beating Guinea 1-0 on Tuesday.

Men's football at the Olympic Games is largely restricted to players under the age of 24. Teams can only bring three players over that age to the tournament.

This is to avoid competition with the FIFA World Cup, currently the world's biggest and most prestigious football tournament and for which national teams normally take their most in-form and seasoned players.

Morocco made a historic run at last year's World Cup in Qatar, becoming the first African or Arab team to make it to the semi-final of the tournament.

Egypt and Morocco will play on Saturday for the U-23 AFCON trophy.

Guinea and Mali will face off on Friday for third place in the under-23s tournament and the last remaining spot set aside for an African team at next year's Olympics.

Whichever of the two teams loses the third-place match can still qualify for the Olympics, but only by winning an intercontinental play-off against the fourth-place team of the next U23 Asian Cup.