Aug 06 2008
Olympic Football Is Doomed
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled that European clubs have the right to prevent their players from travelling to the Beijing Olympics. Barcelona, Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen disputed FIFA’s position that it was “mandatory” to release all players aged 23 or under. However, CAS found in favour of the clubs, deciding FIFA’s rule was not enforcable as the Olympics is not a featured event on the FIFA official calender.
Translation: if you went to Beijing to see Lionel Messi, you might be shit outta luck. Expect much ugliness in the coming days as clubs attempt to pull several Brazilians and Argentinians out of this event. Except Ronaldinho. Milan’s already let him go, he needs to get into shape, and hey, the fresh air in Beijing might be good for him. (It’s chock full of minerals!)
Long-term? I wouldn’t be surprised if Association football at the Olympics became solely a women’s sport after the 2012 games. If clubs won’t even release the marquee-name youngsters, will anyone outside of South America really care?
Speaking of women’s football at the Olympics, the USA really misses Abby Wambach.
UPDATE (1:30 PM): And now the German clubs are letting the Brazilian kids stay in Beijing. Go figure. Still no word on Messi yet, though he’s declared that he’s staying. As the boys at Unprofessional Foul write, “Expect Messi transfer rumors to begin leaking out by next week.” (Pun intended, I’m sure.)
RSS Feed