Football Olympics: Is it interesting or boring to watch?

The Olympic Games 2024 do not only feature athletes for the disciplines swimming, javelin and shot puts. Football will be played too, in the stadiums Paris Parc des Princes, Bordeaux, Nantes Beaujoire, Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Saint-Etienne.

Football became an Olympic Sport in 1924

Paris is the venue for the Olympic Games 2024.  Already 100 years ago, the Summer Olympic Games took place in the french capital. One of the historic moments of the 1924 Olympics was the first international football competition, on 25 may 1924. The athletes that won medals back then came from Uruguay, Switzerland and Sweden.   

In 2024 the United Nations decided to establish the 25th may as « World Football Day ».  On the UN website football is called a « potent tool for promoting health and well-being », and a « vital platform to advance gender equality and empowering women and girls ». Furthermore, it underlines « the fundamental role » of the national and international soccer federations, such as the FIFA, for the promotion of this sport. 

Kylian Mbappé’s dream to play at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Kylian Mbappé is an international football star and probably France’s most notorious current sportsman. The International Olympic Committee has several articles about the striker’s desire to play for Olympia on its official website. Still in january 2024 Mbappé dreamed to become an olympic competitor.

According to an article dating from 2022, the winner of the 2018 Soccer World Cup included his wish to play at Olympia 2024 even in his contract with his former club PSG Paris.

But in june 2024 Mbappé signed a new contract with Real Madrid. Did he include his Paris Olympia Dream in the new contract too, as he did before with Paris Saint Germain ? Sportingnews quotes Kylian Mbappé in july 2024 as follows :

“For the Olympics, my club has a position which is very clear, so that means I will not participate in the Olympics. That is how it is.” (Kylian Mbappé, after joining Real Madrid)

Who are the french football stars in the Olympic Team 2024 ?

The current trainer of the Olympic Team of France is the former soccer star Thierry Henry (winner of the 2009 Champions League with FC Barcelona). Who are his olympic football players ? Are among them some stars of the french national soccer team that played at the UEFA European Championship in Germany a few weeks before the Olympic Games ?

Unfortunately, neither Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, Mike Maignan, Youssouf Fofana, N’golo Kanté or Marcus Thuram will run on the olympic lawn. The names of some french olympic football players in 2024 are :

Joris Chotard (Montpellier), Désiré Doué (Rennes), Andy Diouf (Lens), Soungoutou Magassa (AS Monaco), Rayan Cherki (Lyon), Kouadio Koné (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Castello Lukeba (RB Leipzig), Michael Olise (Bayern Munich) … Did you already hear of them ?

There is the rule that the Olympic soccer team mainly consists of players that are at maximum 23 years old. Only 3 players are allowed to be older (this rule only applies to the male soccer team, according to Sportingnews.com). The players must be selected by the Olympic Team Coach (currently Thierry Henry), and they must be allowed to play at Olympia by their employing clubs.

Michel Platini : « Olympic Football is without interest ».

Michel Platini (*1955) is a major name in french soccer. The midfielder played for the french clubs Nancy and Saint Etienne, and for Juventus Turin in Italy. From 1976 to 1987 he did 72 matches with the french national team. After a 4-year-period as french national coach (1988 – 1992) he had important functions with the international football federations FIFA and UEFA. In 2016 he resigned as UEFA president, following a ban decision by the sports arbitration tribunal TAS/ CAS concerning a dubious money transfer to Platini. 

In an interview with french journalists Platini said in july 2024:

«I’m not interested by the french olympic football team. Football is not an olympic sport. The FIFA never wanted that the best come. We only see a B-, C- and D-selection … This is without interest.» (Michel Platini, french football star)

Many french football players for Olympia play in the french Ligue 1, which does not have the best reputation internationally. Even the New York Times sometimes calls it a « Farmer’s League ».

Nevertheless, its members are all professional football players that work for serious clubs. The defender Castello Lukeba did already play one match with the french national team under the coach Didier Deschamps (France – Scotland in October 2023). The midfielder Michael Olise plays for an international top club (Bayern Munich).

The spectators of Olympia 2024 won’t see Kylian Mbappé run behind the ball, but they will see Kiliann Sildillia, the french defender who plays at SC Freiburg in Germany, and Kiliann will probably give his very best as much as Kylian does.

By the way : Michel Platini himself played football at the Olympic Games 1976 in Montréal …

The Olympic Values : Excellence, Respect and Friendship

The IOC informs on its website about its ethic principles. The historic formulation of the values was : « encourage effort, preserve human dignity, develop harmony ». 

Although the values’ definition has changed a little in the meantime, they still express great humanist ambitions. « Excellence « is understood as a « striving for excellence and encouraging people to be the best they can be ».

The world football day of the UN quoted above – which is directly related to football at Olympic Games – evokes grand values too : 

« Beyond mere recreation, it is a universal language spoken by people of all ages, transcending national, cultural, and socio-economic boundaries. This shared passion fosters a sense of community and national pride. » (UN Website for the World Football Day)

The opinion of Mister Platini gives certainly a lot of material for interesting conversations with your friends …

Further informative articles for you :

Blog Article : Olympic Games 2024 in Paris : All details and highlights   

Blog Article: Football – Which nationality must players of national teams have ?

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