The Vice President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, has revealed the organization’s aspirations for the men’s football tournament at the Olympic Games. His goal is to bring the competition closer to the level of the world championship, a goal he hopes to achieve with the collaboration of FIFA.
A Future in Discussion
Samaranch shared these ideas and contacts with FIFA President Gianni Infantino during a colloquium organized by LaLiga in Madrid.Although Samaranch did not offer specific details on the plans or implementation dates, he did mention that the men’s tournament in Los Angeles 2028 will be reduced to twelve teams, while the women’s will increase to sixteen. In addition, the Spanish executive announced that there will be news about the evaluation and evolution of the sports program from June of this year. In Paris 2024, the men’s tournament featured sixteen teams, with squads mainly composed of players under 23 years old, allowing the inclusion of three players without age limit. In contrast, the World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada this summer will see the participation of 48 countries.From FIFA, 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, both 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.
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Calendar Changes
Samaranch anticipated that the sports calendar, especially that of football, will become more complex, possibly including editions of the Summer Games in autumn due to climate change and global temperatures.Regarding the possibility of holding the Summer Olympic Games in the fall, Samaranch stated that it is a real possibility. The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, expressed his concern about the possibility of football gaining more weight in the Olympic Games, arguing that it would further saturate the schedules of national competitions and could affect the income of the clubs and the rest of the footballers.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 should cross out and eliminate the possibility of organizing Games in the southern part. That is going to change.
Juan Antonio Samaranch
