Rio Olympics action starts with women's football as Sweden play South Africa

With competitors still arriving and the opening ceremony not until Friday, the Rio 2016 Olympics starts in Brazil today with the women's football tournament.

Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Mo Farah, Michael Phelps, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Adam Peaty will all grab the headlines as they bid for Olympic gold but as ever it is the team sports which get proceedings underway, with the group stages of both the men's and women's football events starting more than a fortnight of action in Brazil.

The men's tournament gets underway on Thursday with eight group games in Rio, Brasilia, Manaus and Salvador but Wednesday will see Brazilian star Marta attempt to grab the early spotlight.

First up Sweden will be red-hot favourites when they meet South Africa to signal the start of the Games and the two teams know each other well, squaring off at London 2012, with Sweden winning the encounter 4-1.

South Africa are ranked 46 places below the Swedes at 52 in the world but have an experienced squad, with 10 players representing Banyana Banyana in London four years ago.

Sweden are the only European nation to have qualified for every Games since women's football became a recognised Olympic sport in 1996 but are yet to win it. Manager Pia Sundhage will have a significant part to play if they are to secure their maiden title, having guided USA to Olympic glory in both 2008 and 2012.

There is some English interest in the Sweden team. Chelsea Ladies' Hedvig Lindahl - Sweden's Female Player of the Year - will play in goal and Manchester City's Kosovare Asllani will play up front.

Sweden have been drawn in the same Group E as host nation and two-time competition runners-up Brazil, who open their campaign against China. Both fixtures (kick-offs 5pm and 8pm BST respectively) will be played at the Olympic Stadium in Rio.

Meanwhile, world and Olympic champions USA meet New Zealand at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte (11pm BST), while Group G rivals France play Colombia (2am BST) at the same venue. Canada and Australia meet in Sao Paulo in Group F (7pm BST) in what looks on paper the most competitive opening fixture, with Germany against Zimbabwe (10pm BST) the second game to to be played at the Arena Corinthians.

The teams are in three groups of four with the top two in each group progressing to the quarter-finals where they will be joined by the two best third-placed teams.