selecting big names with the French Olympic football team, why is it stuck?

The composition of the selection for the Paris Games faces numerous obstacles of regulations and interests.

“We want the best team, but we have no certainty.“The coach of the French hopefuls and Olympic football team, Thierry Henry, has no illusions. At a press conference before the last Bleuets rally, last Monday March 18, the former striker did not made of mystery as to the puzzle that awaits him when he puts down the 18 names on his list for the Paris 2024 Games. Thierry Henry sees his room for maneuver limited by the reluctance of clubs to leave their players available for the Olympic deadline from July 24 to August 9 for the men’s event. Faced with this problem, the French Football Federation has few levers.

As with each Olympic sport, each Olympic competition is managed by the International Federation of the discipline in question, here Fifa. Problem, the Olympic event is not included in the calendar of the world football body. Thus, clubs are not required by the regulations to leave their players available for national selections. “It’s a bit like the world is upside down“, deplored Thierry Henry in Tout le Sport on March 19. “I never stopped at the first no. We’ll try to talk. But if it’s no, there are no rules to get around it.”

Real Madrid and Rennes, the first voices of discord

Henry will have to call, according to Olympic regulations, players born after January 1, 2001, to whom he can join “three footballers born before this date“, while the women’s tournament does not impose an age restriction. But the future greats of football have the right to the same reluctance from their teams as the established stars. Asked in Tout le Sport as to whether to field an attack XXL with Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud was a dream for him, Thierry Henry prefers to laugh about it: “Yes, and then I wake up.“

Real Madrid opened the breach by not allowing its French players like Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga or Ferland Mendy to join the Blues for the Olympics, as Radio France indicated on March 14. And while French football, through the voice of the President of the Federation Philippe Diallo, on February 8, called for sacred union to carry high the blue-white-red colors, the first split came from Rennes, Wednesday 27 March.

Florian Maurice, sports director of Stade Rennais, an important provider of players for the French junior team (Adrien Truffert, Désiré Doué, Arnaud Kalimuendo or Jeanuël Belocian) and even “joker” players like Benjamin Bourigeaud or Martin Terrier, expressed a ” no” frank to the idea of ​​making his protégés available. “You also have to understand the clubs. Obviously, we will do the best possible to be able to help the French team but the interests must be common. We can’t undress to dress the France team, even if I have a lot of affection for the France Espoirs team, or the France A team.“

The day after these statements, Thursday March 28, the coaches of Lyon, Pierre Sage, and Lille, Paulo Fonseca, showed themselves open to the release of their players. “We are rather in favor of them going there. We will have to see under what conditions. For a club called Olympique Lyonnais, it would be a shame if the players did not participate in the Olympic Games”moved forward first. “I think it will be positive if we have three players at the Olympics [Bafodé Diakité, Leny Yoro et Lucas Chevalier]supported the Portuguese technician for his part. That’s the feeling I have: it’s always positive to have three players playing for France. I don’t know if I will be the Losc coach [la saison prochaine], but if so, it would be more difficult for me, but I think we need to think about something else. For the players, it’s very positive.”

Paris 2024, a “special case” for France, not for others

Maurice, a former Olympian with the Blues in Atlanta in 1996, continues the furrow already dug in the past by the SRFC. The Breton club had not left Eduardo Camavinga available, already retained in 2021, while the Rennes agenda – and Europa Conference League matches – collided with the dates of the Tokyo Games. Many players had been retained by their clubs for their own benefit, to the detriment of the Japanese edition. In Japan, the three players outside the age category called up were André-Pierre Gignac, Florian Thauvin, who were both playing in Mexico at the time, and Téji Savanier, only Montpellier having agreed to leave his playing master available. For an early elimination in the first round, experienced as a great failure.

The desire to field a prestigious French team, with the Olympics taking place at home, clashes with the reality of an increasingly overloaded calendar, and clubs reluctant to take the risk of seeing important players get injured. or start their season tired. This, while the summer is already dense with the Euro from June 14 to July 14, another sticking point – among others – to see Kylian Mbappé star of the Olympics. “If by some miracle we manage to have certain players where we have a yes and who will perhaps play in the Euro and the Olympics, they are not with you for the preparationadded Thierry Henry to Tout le Sport. How do you teach them tactics if they’re not there?“

And if football is one of the king sports all season long, it takes a back seat for about two weeks every four years. Football is not among the historic Olympic sports with a rich tradition. Its biggest names are not rushing to be in the game. Lionel Messi took part, but as a young prodigy, in 2008, at the age of 21. Neymar, who insisted on playing the Games at home in Rio in 2016 – as Kylian Mbappé once expressed for Paris 2024 – was able to win gold with Brazil, but at the cost of a “sanction” from his club, FC Barcelona, ​​which prevented him from playing in the following Copa America.