Jean-Michel Larqué made a rant to criticize the rules of the men’s football tournament, which do not allow the participation of the best players.
The draw for the Olympic football tournament will take place next week. Argentina and France will be there, but for all that, we are not sure of seeing Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi on the field. And for good reason, among the men, the Olympics only concern players under 23, with the possibility for each selection to invite three players without age limit.
For Jean-Michel Larqué, it is an aberration to see a competition like the Olympic Games not bringing together the best specialists in a discipline. “Can you imagine judo without Teddy Riner, athletics without Usain Bolt but with a guy who runs the 100m in 12 seconds? Would it be the Olympics? I find it absolutely catastrophic”railed the RMC consultant this Tuesday.
It’s Fifa’s fault
One of the reasons for this choice, which is sometimes cited, is to leave the spotlight to other sports during the Olympics. But for Larqué, it’s quite the opposite. It is Fifa which does not want another competition to overshadow its competitions, and in particular the World Cup. “Quite simply because FIFA sees the Olympic Committee not as a partner, but as an adversary, denounces the former Saint-Etienne player. It’s still extraordinary: you have Fifa which does not recognize the Olympic Games as official dates and which had the idea of holding a World Cup every two years. It was to further hinder the Olympic tournament. »
As Larqué mentions, the fact that the Olympics do not take place on dates reserved by Fifa allows clubs to refuse to release their players. “In France, for the last Olympic Games, we scraped the funds to find eleven players, which is dramatic”, observes the RMC consultant. It was André-Pierre Gignac, Florian Thauvin and Teji Savanier who were the three players over 23 called in as reinforcements, and Sylvain Ripoll also had to do without many players.
For these Paris Olympics, the attraction of this competition organized in France can allow Thierry Henry to think very big. The Blue coach would like to include Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud in his list. To offer a real potential for attraction for this event.
