Everyone knows that Olympic Football is a controversial subject. I believe that there should not be football in the Olympics as I feel that it is important that the Olympics should be the pinnacle of your sporting achievement, and for sports such as tennis and football this is not nearly the case.
The Games do not help this, it must be noted. Having it as basically an U23 tournament makes a mockery of the tournament, and it is dwarfed by the Euros; no superstars from Europe are taking part.
I would therefore like to suggest a solution to this problem. Rather than scrapping football from the Games, we should combine the World Cup with the Olympic Games. Included in the Olympics is football's biggest tournament. Qualifying for both already works in the same way so there would be no radical changes in this light.
Why would this be an advantage? Firstly, it would make the games a lot more special. In 2002, 1.1 billion people watched the World Cup final between Brazil and Germany. These are the sort of figures that we want at our Games. There would be more stars, more buzz and more focus on a tournament at which football would obviously be the main advantage but surrounded by sports of all kind.
However, there are disadvantages and problems. Obviously Euro dates would have to be moved for a start. The Games would also have to be extended; they last two weeks compared to the four of the World Cup. The popularity of football may well overshadow the other sports.
I feel that the addition of the World Cup to the Olympic Games would create the ultimate four weeks of sporting tournaments. Olympic Football is sick and needs a cure; it is either this or a complete scrapping in my opinion. Make the gold medal the new World Cup.
Thanks for reading, I know it seems like I have argued for this a lot, but it was more a suggestion really. Not the best written article I apologise, but it's late. Constructive comments please!
A possible cure for Olympic Football?
posted on 29/7/12
But in any case I wouldn't scrap Olympic football just because it's not taken too seriously. An U23 tournament is fine. If players want to play and develop/mature then that's not a bad thing
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Because I believe that what makes the Olympics special is that it is THE pinnacle of the athletes' careers. This is not the case for football and tennis.
posted on 29/7/12
Thanks for the comments though guys, as I said it was more a suggestion/idea. I agree that it is near impossible and also good point about FIFA.
posted on 29/7/12
Meh, who cares about status/reputation? It's fun and it's not as if it's a main Olympic event
All the big ones certainly overshadow it
Tennis is definitely worthwhile. Ask the players
Well actually I would rather there was no tennis after going today to see 1 hour of play almost wish my application wasn't successful
posted on 29/7/12
As Legend Osgood said, it would overshadow the other sports. People watch the Olympics for the athletics. It wouldn't be fair to overshadow what is the traditional sport of the Olympics.
Understand where you're coming from, but don't agree personally.
posted on 29/7/12
I don't think there is a problem with Olympic football, is there?
It gives good experience to young players on the fringes of International football good experience of playing tournament football at a high level, which is obviously of future benefit.
And as fred bassett points out above, its not in FIFA's best interests either.
posted on 30/7/12
I agree with CSTP and blueboy83!
posted on 30/7/12
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posted on 30/7/12
It's only not taken seriously by us. Brazil, Agentina etc all take it very seriously. Hence why their overage players are all some of their top players.
Ours are Giggs, Bellamy and Richards
posted on 30/7/12
two completely different animals olympics & World Cup..
Football shouldn't be near the olympics IMO
posted on 30/7/12
comment by Jack... (U1937) posted 3 hours, 19 minutes ago
It's only not taken seriously by us. Brazil, Agentina etc all take it very seriously. Hence why their overage players are all some of their top players.
Ours are Giggs, Bellamy and Richards
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Jack south american teams have no euros. Hence why all the euro countries have average players in comparison.
They had nothing else to play for this year.