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.



As the result of the creation of the World Cup, the Olympic tournament has over the years become devalued, and FIFA has contributed to this by imposing age restrictions and other types of controls. All of which is perfectly understandable, given that you would want to damage the prestige of the World Cup.

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

The overage player rule has generated controversy since it was introduced along with the under 23 rule in 1992 even though it was a move to give an equal chance to all teams. The problem lies with the overage players and whether they should be allowed to participate in the Olympics.

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.

Nevertheless, under the lure of TV money and satisfied coaches, FIFA seems to have forgotten the roots of its youth tournaments. Now, the Olympic tournament may not be a youth tournament in the traditional sense of the word. Nobody seems to connect the word youth with a 22 year old player. But it is essentially a youth tournament when compared to the World Cup which is open to any and every age.

All youth tournaments have the characteristic of being restricted to certain age groups meaning that participation in such tournaments is restricted to, in 99% of cases, to just one. As a result, players tend to only play at an Under 17 and 20 tournament once in their lives, making them more competitive rare occasions. All of which, fits in well with the spirit and purpose of football and sport in general. The Olympic Games is no different and giving players the chance to play there more than once is wrong, which is why the overage rule should be scrapped for good.