Federations push for  more footballers in Paris


 National
associations
are
pushing
to
avoid
cuts
for
the
Olympic
Games
and
to
allow
the
final
lists
to
be
expanded
to
22
players
instead
of
the
18
set
by
FIFA
for
the
Olympic
Games.


The
Olympic
Games
will
be
held
in
Paris
from
July
24,
with
Spain
and
Argentina
taking
on
Uzbeki­stan
and
Morocco,
respectively
in
what
will
be
the
debut
for
both
teams
and
the
Olympic
disciplines
at
the
33rd
modern
Olympic
Games.


The
regulations
state
that
each
team
can
field
a
final
squad
of
18
players
(3
of
whom
can
be
over
23
years
of
age),
plus
four
addi­tional
players
as
reserves,
who
can
only
be
called
up
in
the
event
of
a
serious
injury.


The
federations
are
pushing
for
the
22
registered
players
(18
plus
4
reserves)
to
be
allowed
to
take
part
in
the
Games,
without
having
to
discard
four
of
the
players
who
have
already
been
called
up
or
who
can
only
be
called
up
in
the
event
of
a
serious
injury.


The
last
Olympic
Games,
Tokyo
2020
(to
be
held
in
2021),
was
the
first
to
introduce
the
possibility
of
calling
up
to
22
players
with­out
having
to
make
cuts,
but
this
decision
was
made
because
of
the
COVID-19
pandemic.


Now,
all
the
countries
taking
part
in
the
tournament
want
to
rein­troduce
this
rule
and
are
working
together
to
put
pressure
on
FIFA
in
order
to
allow
them
to
field
22
players,
although
this
permission
could
only
be
granted
with
the
prior
approval
of
the
International
Olympic
Committee.


The
Olympic
Football
Tourna­ment
consists
of
16
teams
divided
into
4
groups
of
4,
with
the
top
two
teams
in
each
group
qualifying
for
the
tournament.
The
top
two
teams
in
each
group
will
progress
to
the
quarter-finals,
with
the
win­ners
progressing
to
the
semi-finals
to
compete
for
the
medals.


The
semi-finals
and
the
battle
for
the
medals
will
take
place
on
August
5,
the
medal
matches
on
8
August
(third
place
for
the
bronze
medal)
and
the
final
on
August
9
at
the
Parc
des
Princes
starting
at
18:00
French
time.