Why is Olympic male football played by U-23 teams?
The Summer Olympics are the most important multi-discipline event in the world. At 1xBet it is possible to find live score cricket, as well as scores for the other disciplines present at the Olympics.
Obviously, football is also part of the Summer Olympics. The tournament is taken quite seriously by the participating squads. In the female variation, the senior teams without any kind of age restriction are allowed to play. At 1xBet there are live cricket and football scores, which feature women’s competitions as well.
However, the men’s tournament is played with U-23 teams. Yet, it is worth noting that coaches have the option of selecting up to three players older than 23 years. Why is this restriction present?
Huge disparity between teams
Between the 1950s and 1980s, most Western teams sent amateur teams to the Olympics. However, most teams from Asia and Eastern Europe sent their absolute best players. You can make live cricket betting on 1xBet, and this website also has several events from the Olympics where punters can also place their wagers.
In fact, between the 1952 and 1980 games the winners of the men’s Summer Olympics football championship were:
- Hungary;
- the Soviet Union;
- Yugoslavia;
- Poland;
- East Germany;
- and Czechoslovakia.
Punters can make live football and cricket betting on 1xBet, where many national teams are also present. This domination by Eastern European nations was quite uncomfortable for both FIFA and the IOC. On one hand, the IOC wanted to see teams from other parts of the world having greater chances of winning the tournament. On the other hand, FIFA didn’t want the Olympic football tournament to challenge the World Cup in terms of appeal.
Some compromises
After a lot of negotiations, in 1984 both the FIFA and the IOC reached some compromises that allowed both entities to safeguard their interests. You can start enjoying live streaming football matches from today by signing up to 1xBet, where major FIFA tournaments are also present.
In very simple terms, teams could only select players that hadn’t taken part in a FIFA World Cup before. However, this restriction lasted for only eight years.
Before the 1992 Summer Olympics the regulations were modified one more time. The restrictions regarding participation in the FIFA World Cup were completely removed. Instead, teams were allowed to select U-23 teams with three age-related exceptions. At 1xBet, from today it is possible to watch live streamings of plenty of football matches, which have contests from the Olympics as well
Basically, all these rules were introduced with the purpose of preventing the Summer Olympics from directly “competing” with the FIFA World Cup.