LONDON: England wants to enter men’s and women’s Great Britain teams into the Rio 2016 Olympics.

It has written to the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh associations to inform them – and ask if they would like to take part.

A British Olympic Association official said: “We have received confirmation from the FA of their intention.”

Men’s and women’s teams have to go through a qualification process to make the Olympic Game and world governing body FIFA would have to sanction the move.

A top-four finish for England in the European Under-21 Championship would see the men’s side get there, while the women would have to finish as one of the top three European teams in the World Cup this summer.

Home nations players featured in Team GB sides at the London 2012 Games despite the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland associations refusing to officially take part.

Five Welsh players were in the men’s squad while two Scottish players made the women’s squad.

The associations feared a Great Britain squad could set a precedent that affected their separate identities.

On the latest development, an FA of Wales spokesman told BBC Sport: “We are making no official comment at the moment.”

Both men’s and women’s teams were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the football tournament at London 2012.

A record British women’s football crowd of 70,584 saw the host nation beat Brazil 1-0 at Wembley in their last group game.

############