The 12 participating teams are divided into two groups of six. Both groups play a round-robin-style preliminary stage so that each team plays all five other teams in its group. Every win is worth two points to the overall group standings, and every tie is worth one point. Once all matchups have taken place, the top four teams in each group’s standings advance to the knockout round, while the bottom two teams per group are eliminated. 

Ties on points are common in this format, so the following tiebreakers are used to arrive at a final classification for each group. 

• The team that won the game between the two tied teams is placed higher 

• If the game between them was a tie, whichever team fared better against the highest-ranked team (considering goal difference) is placed higher. If that is not conclusive, the same principle is applied using the second highest-ranked team. 

• If still tied, both teams contest a penalty shootout. 

In the quarterfinal round, the top team from Group A plays the fourth-ranked team in Group B, and so on. Ties are decided by penalty shootout and single-elimination rules apply. The winner of each quarterfinal matchup advances to the semifinal round. Quarterfinal losers play against each other to determine 5th-8th place. The winners of the semifinal games advance to the gold medal game, while the losers play for bronze. 

The women’s tournament is limited to 10 teams, divided into two groups of five. Each group plays a round-robin and the last-place team in each group after all games have taken place is eliminated. The remaining eight teams contest the knockout stage in the same format as the men’s tournament.