Does anyone care about olympic football

Another one of greedy scum, you might think. Now, if I put forward the same question to you, what would you choose- Become the first Briton in the history to win the Tour de France or be another one of 40 odd people, who win a gold medal for Great Britain.

I am sure, you would have no second thoughts about the answer. For, even if they do win a gold medal, they will end up as another one among the crowd. You have buried yourself in the library for twelve months. You have finished your board exams. You are done with your practicals. Now, you want enjoy the summers. Just then, you are asked to write another set of exams for a scholarship.

Do you really care for the scholarship? The Olympics for footballers is very much alike this scholarship test. They will be craving for a break at the end of the grueling season. So, another tournament is too much to ask from them. This is a no brainer. N ine years ago, I had a front-row seat at the Olympic Stadium in London for what would become known as Super Saturday.

The ley lines of that evening are now firmly etched into the sporting lore of the UK: the triumphant last-lap surge of Jess Ennis, Mo Farah being physically roared over the line, that chirpy bloke who won the long jump. And yet my strongest and clearest memory of Super Saturday is none of these things.

It came about half an hour after Farah crossed the line, with the stadium still wreathed in a shimmering glow somewhere between heat and love. Somehow it was just perfect: the perfect end to the perfect day of British sport.

At this moment of collective triumph, the Olympics was the Olympics and football was football, and the divide between the two had never been expressed more clearly. But even this moment of cathartic grace came at the end of a painfully forgettable tournament defined by half-bothered teams and the sight of Serge Gnabry running at a terrified Fiji defence on the way to a Germany win. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.

To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Olympic men's football is nowhere near the level of play that it should be. That sucks. Follow SBNationSoccer. On the face of it, men's Olympic football doesn't sound like a particularly bad idea. Get the brightest young prospects from around the world, add a few overage stars, and have them compete in a team tournament?

Yes please! You could have Brazil's dizzying array of attacking talent, Spain's midfield control factory, Germany's newest generation of young stars, Belgium's sneaky-good maturing side Brazil are in the final.

Spain disappointed and were knocked out in the group stages, taking one point from three matches. Nowhere to be seen. Instead, we got this list:.

That's not an inspiring list. As such, Team GB did not participate in the Olympics , and did not feature in the qualification as well. This is a pity as the English Premier League is one of the most watched league in the world. A lot of the players do come from England , especially young players who are just making a name for themselves.

Without popular English players participating in the Olympic tournament, not many people who are familiar with the Premier League may want to watch the Olympics.

There is a unique age limit that is present in Olympic football. However, each team is able to have 3 players that are over 23 years old in each squad. Due to this age limit, there are not many popular players who will be playing in the Olympics. Most footballers usually peak when they are older than 23 years old. Moreover, most of the squad consists of players for the future, rather than the superstars of today.

If you do not follow football closely, you may be unfamiliar with most of the players on the team. The popularity of the tournament may be correlated with the players who are playing in it. If you are not sure of who the players are, you will most likely not want to watch the matches! The Olympics usually start between July and August. This is usually very close to the time when the top domestic leagues start their seasons as well.

Most of these leagues have many top players that may not have a chance to play in the Olympics.