England star Lucy Bronze was seen collapsing to the pitch in disappointment after confirmation that Team GB will not feature in the women’s football tournament at next summer’s Olympic Games.
The Lionesses were tasked with securing a spot at Paris 2024 as the nominated nation in the Olympic qualifying cycle.
England needed to finish top of their UEFA Women’s Nations League group to remain in contention for qualification, with the two finalists in February joining hosts France at the Games.
Sarina Wiegman’s team needed to better the Netherlands’ result by three clear goals on Tuesday night to reach the Nations League finals.
England had appeared to have done enough by thrashing Scotland 6-0 at Hampden Park, only for the Netherlands to score a 95th-minute goal to beat Belgium 4-0.
England were left heartbroken after a late Dutch goal ended Team GB’s Olympic hopes
Lucy Bronze scored England sixth goal against Scotland but the result was not enough
England agonisingly missed out on top sport in Group A1 by goal difference to the Netherlands
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As a result of the Netherlands late fourth goal, England missed out on goal difference to the Dutch in their Group A1 standings to advance to the semi-finals of the competition.
The four League A group winners – which are the Netherlands, France, will face off in a knockout competition between 23 and 28 February to determine the inaugural UEFA Women’s Nations League winners.
The winners of the two semi-finals advance to the final and the defeated teams contest the third-place match.
The two finalists qualify for the 2024 Women’s Olympics, joining hosts France – who qualify automatically. If France reach the final, the third-placed team fills the remaining slot at the Olympic Games.
Footage has revealed the heartbreaking moment the England squad were informed in a team huddle of the late Dutch goal, which dashed Team GB’s Olympic hopes.
A member of the Lionesses’ staff, who was watching the closing stages of the Netherlands match on a mobile phone, was seen telling the squad ‘they’ve scored’.
Striker Lauren Hemp was seen turning away in disappointment, while Bronze collapsed down onto the pitch and placed her hands over her face.
Bronze had earlier looked to have been the player who had kept Team GB’s hopes alive.
The defender had scored in the third minute of stoppage time to put England back to the top of the standings, only for another late twist as the Dutch regained top spot.
England were left to rue an earlier loss to the Netherlands in the group, as well as a shock 3-2 defeat by Belgium in October.
Team GB would have qualified for the Olympics under the previous qualification format, which saw UEFA’s three places determined based on the performance of teams at the Women’s World Cup – where England finished as runners-up.
‘I’m very, very disappointed,’ Wiegman said post-match. ‘That’s the biggest emotion I have now. I think we delivered tonight. The team showed lots of character.
Damaris Egurrola scored the crucial late goal for the Netherlands to leapfrog England
The Dutch squad celebrated as their Olympics hopes remained alive at Team GB’s expense
‘When Lucy scored that goal I thought “we can get this”, but that’s football. The Netherlands scored a late goal and that’s how close it was. We were waiting, those were long minutes.
‘We really thought we got it. I actually didn’t know what to say [to the players] because I’m really proud of this performance, but we’re not through and I’m very disappointed.’
Team GB qualified for the first time for the women’s football tournament at Tokyo 2020 after an agreement between the four British football associations.
Their only other appearance came at London 2012, where Team GB were granted a place as the host nation.