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Team GB will not be represented in football at the Paris 2024Olympics, with both men’s and women’s teams missing out for vastly different reasons.
While the Team GB men’s side has won the most gold medals out of any nation, a lack of agreement between home nations has meant that they will not field a side once again this year.
With England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all offering a selection of talented youngsters, their independence at Fifa and Uefa competitions has diminished any from of coherence that previously existed.
Team GB won Gold when the event was first introduced to the Olympics back in 1900, and repeated their success in 1908 and 1912.
Then, when the Games returned to London in 2012, the men’s team reformed for the first time since 1960, with the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Ryan Giggs and Micah Richards all competing. The GB squad, then managed by Stuart Pearce, reached the quarter-finals but lost on penalties to South Korea at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
In addition to a lack of agreement between home nations, Team GB would have struggled to select a full-strength squad in recent years due to clubs retaining their players for pre-season training camps - the Games are not officially recognised as competitions they must release players for. At the Olympics, men’s football is played between under-23s, with three overage exceptions.
And while the home nations host a crop of gifted players within that age bracket – including England’s Jude Bellingham and Kobbie Mainoo, who contributed strong performances at Euro 2024 – many face summer preparations for next season at this time and that pair would have been unlikely to be selected in any case for two summer tournaments.
As for the Team GB women’s team, the opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024 was only inches beyond their reach.
After women’s football was added to the Olympics in 1996, Team GB competed in the event for first time in 2012, and then again in 2021 – losing in the quarter-finals on both occasions.
With England Women nominated to take Team GB into the coveted games, the women’s team was able to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics following the Lionesses’ impressive run to the semi-finals of the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
However, the Lionesses needed to finish top of their Nations League group in December 2023 to qualify for Paris this time around, but ultimately failed to achieve the feat when the Netherlands pipped them to the post.
In contrast to the men’s team, though, it would seem that future Olympic appearances for the women’s team are far more likely, with the Team GB side now hoping to qualify for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
