| Event: | Football |
| Games: | 2015 |
| Venues: | Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium |
| Dates: | July 11–26 |
| Num Events: | 2 (1 men, 1 women) |
| Competitors: | 286 |
| Nations: | 12 |
| Prev: | 2011 |
| Next: | 2019 |
Association football (soccer) competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto were held from July 11 to 26 at Tim Hortons Field (renamed Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium due to sponsorship rules) in Hamilton.[1] The men's tournament were an under-22 competition with a maximum of three over-age players allowed, while the women's tournament had no age restrictions.[2] A total of eight teams competed in each respective tournament.[3]
The following was the competition schedule for the football competitions:[4]
| Event↓/Date → | Sat 11 | Sun 12 | Mon 13 | Tue 14 | Wed 15 | Thu 16 | Fri 17 | Sat 18 | Sun 19 | Mon 20 | Tue 21 | Wed 22 | Thu 23 | Fri 24 | Sat 25 | Sun 26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | P | P | P | P | P | P | ½ | B | F | ||||||||
| Women | P | P | P | P | P | ½ | B | F |
A total of eight men's teams and eight women's teams qualified to compete at the games.[2] [5] Each team can consist of up to 18 athletes.[6]
| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Nation | 1 | ||||
| Qualified automatically | 1 | ||||
| Central American Qualifier[7] | July 17–29, 2014 |  El Salvador | 1 | ||
| Caribbean Qualifier | September 12–19, 2014 |  Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | ||
| South American Qualifier (teams placed 3rd to 6th) [8] [9] | January 14 – February 7, 2015 | Uruguay | 4 | ||
| Total | 8 | ||||
| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Nation | 1 | ||||
| Qualified automatically | 1 | ||||
| Central American Qualifier[10] | May 20–26, 2014 |  Guatemala | 1 | ||
| Caribbean Qualifier | August 19–26, 2014 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | ||
| South American Qualifier | September 11–28, 2014 |  Ecuador | 4 | ||
| Total | 8 | ||||
A total of twelve nations have qualified football teams. The numbers in parentheses represents the number of participants entered.
There was some concern that, as the event is in close proximity to the Women's World Cup and the men's Gold Cup that full-strength teams would not be fielded, particularly in the women's event which is not age-restricted, which in turn would affect quality of play. A spokesperson for the Canadian Soccer Association confirmed that younger players would make up the Canadian women's side. Six teams in the women's draw participated in the World Cup which finished six days prior to the start of the Pan Am tournament.[11]