The Olympic Games is the most noble and the most respected sporting event in the world. Many athletes from around the world came into the arena as ‘Olympians’ to compete with each other.
Football is one of the sports that is played in the Olympics. Throughout the years, many players started their national silverware from the Olympics. The easiest examples were when Lionel Messi and Neymar won the football gold medals in 2008 and 2016 respectively.
This summer, the Olympics will be held in Paris, France. Some familiar names will take part in the competition but some others will not. Despite the eligibility, some players opted not to participate in the Olympics for several reasons.
Players have the right to choose
The Olympics is basically for the U23 players but three players above the age are allowed to play. The likes of Lionel Messi, Mo Salah, and Kylian Mbappe are actually allowed to play but due to their respective club’s agenda, those players are absent from international duty.
Messi is known to just have a gruelling injury in the Copa America and he needs more time to recover. Salah on the other hand, chose to join Liverpool’s pre-season tour in the United States, while Mbappe is not permitted to be far away from Santiago Bernabeu.
Lamine Yamal is one other example of big names to miss the Olympics even though he is very eligible to play as he is only 16 years of age. But again, he has to manage his workload with Barcelona and school so he chose to be absent from the event.
Another case, Takefusa Kubo, will also not be participating in this Summer Olympics. His club, Real Sociedad refused to let him go and the club has the right to do so since the event is not included in FIFA’s international calendar.
However, people can still see some big names in the Olympics. Julian Alvarez is on a mission to join the list of male athletes who win both the world championship and the Olympics. Achraf Hakimi will also play for Morocco and aims for the highest medal as he already made history with the country in the World Cup two years ago.
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