Egypt were drawn in a difficult group alongside heavyweights Spain, Argentina, and Australia in Wednesday’s draw for the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, which will be held next July.

On Friday, FIFA ranked Egypt’s football Olympic team in the third spot ahead of the tournament draw that took place in Zurich.

The rankings are built according to performances from the past five Olympic football tournaments in addition to a bonus to those nations who finished their qualifying competition as continental champions, according to the FIFA official website.

The 16 teams are allocated to four groups of four teams based on rankings; the hosts, Japan, are leading Group A.

The general principle for each tournament’s draw is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation.

The Pharaohs will play their opening match against Spain on 22 July before facing Argentina three days later, while the third match will be against Australia on 28 July.

Egypt won the U23 African Cup of Nations on home soil in 2019.

Both the first and second teams of every group will qualify for the quarterfinals.

Wednesday’s full draw came as follows:

Group A: Japan, South Africa, Mexico, France

Group B: New Zealand, Korea Republic, Honduras, Romania

Group C: Egypt, Spain, Argentina, Australia

Group D: Brazil, Germany, Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia

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