How The Overage Player Rule Tarnishes The Olympic Tournament
The Beijing Olympics are now a month away including the Under 23's Olympic football tournament to be held at different venues in China. While many people may think otherwise, it is actually a tournament with a lot of history and with a lot of purpose. Firstly, what many people don't know is that the Olympic tournament was the first international football tournament, the World Cup was created afterwards and was largely the result of the success of this Olympic tournament. Secondly, the Olympic tournament provides teams (and fans alike) with a good indication as to how teams are shaping up for the next 2 World Cups.
The emergence of the World Cup in 1930 logically led to the decline of the Olympic tournament, not just in popularity but in prestige. FIFA's decision to limit the tournament to amateurs contributed to this decline, but at the same time, it had no choice since the prestige of its own World Cup had to be kept.
Presently, only players below the age of 23 can take part and this was done in order to reflect other FIFA youth tournaments such as the under 20's and under 17's. Notwithstanding, FIFA permits teams to have 3 overage players if they choose to. Many are of the opinion, including he who write this, that this is completely unrequired and does not comply with the objectives of such a tournament.
There are many people who are already thinking of posting a quick response to this article, but before putting hand to keyboard (as opposed to pen to paper), let me give a detailed analysis as what the tournament truly represents in the world of football
Both the overage player rule and the under 23 rule were implemented at the same time in a move to give all teams the chance to compete on an equal footing. The amateurs only rule meant that the best players in the world did not have any chance of participating. Nevertheless, the overage player rule has generated a lot of controversy, so the benefits of such a rule must be analysed.
The financial windfall of allowing overage players to participate is significant. There no doubt that FIFA would want football to grab headlines in an event such as the Olympic Games and the presence of world-renowned players such as Riquelme and Ronaldinho assures that. Coaches and players are also favourable when it comes to the overage player rule, as the presence of older more experienced players in a team can only assist the younger players and help the team to perform better.
Notwithstanding, money does talk at FIFA and the decision to include overage players is an indication that the origins and purpose of youth tournaments have been lost. While the tournament may be for players under the age of 23, it is still a youth tournament especially when it is compared to the World Cup Finals.
And the main characteristic of a youth tournament is its exclusivity. A young player growing up, knows that he will only get 1 chance to play in the U/17 tournament and 1 chance of playing in the U/20 tournament (I know there have been cases of players participating of more than one of each, but these are very rare). However, any player can grow up knowing that if they miss out on the Olympics, they may still be able to play in it in the future due to the overage rule. The prestige and exclusivity of the tournament is lost. The reason that was driving these players disappears. This is not what football is about. We all know that football is about taking your chances and the Olympic Games should not be any different.
Author Antonio da Silva is one of the chief writers of SportsNewsFootball.com, a leading sports news football website known for its fearless and acute analysis of the major issues affecting the beloved game of football.
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