The Vice President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, has revealed the organization’s aspirations regarding the men’s football tournament at the Olympic Games. Its main objective is to bring this competition closer to the format of the world championship, with the hope of obtaining the support of FIFA. Samaranch shared these details during his participation in the colloquium ‘Geopolitics and sport’, organized by LaLiga in Madrid.
In Los Angeles 2028, the men’s tournament will reduce its number of teams from sixteen to twelve, while the women’s will increase from twelve to sixteen. Samaranch also announced changes in the evaluation of the sports program, which will be announced in June of this year. The Spanish executive also addressed the growing complexity of the sports calendar, especially in football, anticipating that the Summer Games could be held in the fall in the northern hemisphere due to factors such as climate change.“On FIFA’s part, there are many demands on women’s football and 7-a-side football, and we want the senior men’s competition to be a little closer to the world championship. We all want something, the two entities, and I think we are going to take very important steps forward to achieve it. I don’t know if it’s called geopolitics, but for us it is very important,” Samaranch indicated.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, Vice President of the IOC
The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, expressed his concern about the possible increase in the importance of football in the Olympic Games, arguing that it would further saturate the schedules of national competitions and affect the economy of the clubs.“The calendar is going to get complicated and it’s going to get very complicated. It cannot be that because of the issue of global warming, because of the geography of the planet, because of temperatures in certain parts of the world, the IOC crosses out and eliminates the possibility of organizing Games in the southern part. That is going to change,” Samaranch reflected.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC Vice President
“An Olympics would touch a great many countries. Hopefully Infantino has sports diplomacy, consults and asks. It worries me. We will have to try to keep it from going into orbit. For me it’s fine as it is, let it not be like a World Cup. Hopefully there is a gap, it can be considered, but frankly I don’t see it,” defended Tebas.
Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga
