The Sports Forum - Olympic soccer, where are the big guns?
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makonnen
08-10-2012, 12:15 PM
Spain, Italy, Germany ... where are they? And where are the big named players?
Can I assume that the World Cub and Euro's are more elite tournament than olympics?
I don't even see Italian and German teams in the olympics??
gtrfred
08-10-2012, 12:26 PM
well i beleive that the olympics have a rule (or its generally accepted) that its a 23 and under team with a few older players - so not any of the countries world cup teams.
I too was surprised that England had not had a men's team in years, but i guess like you mentioned the other euro cups and club team tournaments are more elite and important than olympic teams
SirFer
08-10-2012, 03:18 PM
I was wondering this yesterday as well so I looked it up and apparently it's FIFA's doing. They restrict teams to being comprised only of players under the age of 23, but each team is allowed three players over the age of 23.
FIFA doesn't want the Olympics to take attention away from the World Cup. I'm sure the IOC would probably love to have all of the countries represented by the normal national teams because I'd have to imagine soccer would become the biggest ratings/revenue draw.
makonnen
08-10-2012, 08:41 PM
I was wondering this yesterday as well so I looked it up and apparently it's FIFA's doing. They restrict teams to being comprised only of players under the age of 23, but each team is allowed three players over the age of 23.
FIFA doesn't want the Olympics to take attention away from the World Cup. I'm sure the IOC would probably love to have all of the countries represented by the normal national teams because I'd have to imagine soccer would become the biggest ratings/revenue draw.
Ah, politics.
What about women's soccer? Where are the Italian, German and Spanish women? Men are the powerhouse soccer players, women don't play soccer in those countries??
chrisb
08-12-2012, 11:49 PM
Europe can only send 3 teams to the Olympics in Soccer. Who goes is based on who finishes in the top 3 spots in the U23 European championship tournament the prior year. There is no qualifying tournament specifically for the Olympics.
A Few Dollars
08-13-2012, 07:37 AM
It's soccer, who cares?