Why is there no Team GB men's and women's football teams at the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Team GB haven't entered a football team in either the men's or the women's competition at Paris 2024, and Express Sport has the explanation as to why not.
Team GB aren't sending any football teams to the 2024 Paris Olympics, much to the frustration of fans across the UK. Football might not have the reputation of a traditional Olympic event, but it's been part of the Games for over 120 years.
As a matter of fact, Team GB are the joint-most successful team in Olympic men's football history, having won gold on three occasions. They triumphed at the inaugural event in 1900, and did so again in 1908 and 1912.
Elsewhere, the women's team, while less successful, have won 63% of all their matches at the Games. So why exactly haven't Great Britain sent any teams to Paris? Well, two reasons: politics and performance.
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Why is there no Team GB men's football team at the 2024 Olympics?
Despite historic success in the competition, Team GB have only brought a men's football team to the Olympics once since 1960, back in 2012 when London hosted the Games. The reason for this is the relationship, or lackthereof, between the home nations and their respective Football Associations (FAs).
Getting all parties to agree on squad selection, team selection, the indentity of the manager, coaching methods, logistics (etc, etc) has proven quite a challenge, particularly for four countries that have heated, long-standing rivalries on the international stage. 2012 proved an exception, though only English and Welsh players ended up being selected in the 18-man squad.
Why is there no Team GB women's football team at the 2024 Olympics?
Cirumstances are a little different on the women's side. For starters, the event is (in relative terms) more prestigious than the men's and is treated like a major international tournament like the World Cup or European Championship.
Unlike in the men's, there isn't an U23 age restriction, meaning that top players from around the world are free to compete. As such, nations send their strongest teams, making qualification a little tricky. And therein lies the reason Team GB haven't sent a women's team: they didn't qualify.
England were the side nominated to represent Team GB at the Games, and with victory at Euro 2022 and a final appearance at the 2023 World Cup you'd have thought they'd be a shoo-in. But the cutthroat nature of qualifying saw them miss out in agonising fashion.
Why didn't the Lionesses qualify?
In order to compete at Paris 2024, England needed to finish top of their Nations League group. But they ended up falling just short, losing out to the Netherlands on goal difference, courtesy of a last-minute strike in Oranje's final match of the campaign.
As it turned out, the Netherlands failed to qualify too, having lost to Spain in the semi-final of the subsquent play-offs, before being beaten by Germany in the third-place match.
