Kim Little and Caroline Weir selected for Tokyo Olympics squad

Scottish footballers Kim Little and Caroline Weir have been selected to represent Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Little, who plays for Manchester City and the national team, returns to the squad having competed at the London 2012 Games and Scotland midfielder Weir will make her Olympic debut.

This will be only the second time that Team GB has entered a women’s football team since the introduction of the sport to the programme in 1996.

In 2012, the team reached the quarter-finals, with the United States the eventual winners.

Team GB said the inclusion of the women’s squad could mean there are more female athletes than males representing Great Britain for the first time.

The Scottish pair join 16 other players on the side lead by Olympic champion Hege Riise. England’s goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, captain Steph Houghton, midfielder Jill Scott and forward Ellen White and Wales skipper Sophie Ingle have also been selected.

Riise said: “I know first-hand as a former player just how proud my players will feel today at having been selected to represent Great Britain.

“There is no greater sporting occasion in the world and I am honoured to lead this hugely talented team into the Games. We will go there aiming to win and we will give everything we have to achieve success.

“I hope that Great Britain’s inclusion once more in the Olympic Football Tournament can inspire the next generation of young girls to play the sport we love.”

Team GB has been drawn in Group E and will face Chile in the opening game of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Sapporo on July 21, followed by hosts Japan on July 24 before travelling to Kashima to take on Canada on July 27.

Coronavirus forced the postponement of the international event until this summer, with the games only allowing spectators from Japan to attend.