Kylian Mbappe had expressed a strong desire to compete in this year’s Olympics in his hometown, and there were hopes that Lionel Messi might join the tournament for Argentina. However, the men’s football event at the Paris Games will likely lack these star attractions.
As France’s captain and the nation’s most celebrated athlete, Mbappe’s inclusion in coach Thierry Henry’s Olympic squad would have been a significant boost for both the organizers and the team’s gold medal prospects.
But Mbappe, 25, had to accept that his new club, Real Madrid, would not allow him to participate immediately after he played for the French side that reached the semifinals of Euro 2024 in Germany.
That is the challenge for the men’s football competition, which begins on Wednesday and runs until Aug. 9. Clubs are not required to release players for a tournament held outside an official FIFA international window, following directly from the European Championship and Copa America.
Messi, now 37 and part of the Argentina team that won Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008, ruled himself out of Javier Mascherano’s squad for Paris shortly before the Copa America in the United States, which Argentina won.
“I spoke with Mascherano, and we immediately agreed on the situation,” Messi told ESPN. “At my age, I don’t want to play everything and need to make the right choices.”
Henry, a French footballing great, also missed out on several players he had hoped to call up.
“The last time I had so many rejections was when I was in high school,” he joked when announcing a team in which the most recognizable names are Alexandre Lacazette, the 33-year-old Lyon striker, and new Bayern Munich signing Michael Olise.
The competition is restricted to players aged under 23, with a maximum of three overage players per squad. Besides the absence of star names, the tournament also misses Brazil, who won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and retained the title in Tokyo three years ago, beating Spain in the final.
Argentina, Spain contenders
Brazil failed to qualify, but Argentina must fancy their chances of ensuring a sixth consecutive Latin American winner of the men’s football gold medal. “Obviously our objective is to try to compete and go all the way, and I think we will have a team that can do that,” coach Mascherano, who won as a player in 2004 and 2008, said in an interview with South American confederation CONMEBOL.
In Julian Alvarez, the Manchester City striker who won the 2022 World Cup and the recent Copa America, Argentina will have one of the highest-profile players taking part. Argentina is in Group B with Iraq, Ukraine, and a Morocco side that has secured the services of Paris Saint-Germain right-back Achraf Hakimi.
France kicks off its campaign against the United States before also playing Guinea and New Zealand in Group A. Winners in 1992 and silver medalists in Tokyo, Spain is targeting gold after its triumph at Euro 2024. Luis de la Fuente, coach of Spain’s Euro-winning side, led the team to the final at the last Olympics. Santi Denia, his assistant three years ago, is now in charge.
Leading names from the European Championship, such as Lamine Yamal, are not involved, but another prodigious young Barcelona talent will feature: 17-year-old center-back Pau Cubarsi. “He is really proud to be getting the experience of the Olympics. You never know if you will get another chance, even being so young,” Denia told Marca of Cubarsi.
Spain is in Group C with Uzbekistan, the Dominican Republic, and Egypt, which did not secure the services of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. Asian Under-23 champions Japan, who named a squad without overage players, are in Group D alongside Paraguay, Mali, and Israel.
Matches will not only be played in Paris; Nantes, Bordeaux, Nice, and Saint-Etienne will also host games. The semifinals will be held in Lyon and Marseille, while Paris’s Parc des Princes will host the final.
