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Why there is no Great Britain men's football team at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Team GB men's football team at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Team GB men's football team at the London 2012 Olympic GamesProfimedia
Sixteen nations will take part in the men's football tournament at the Paris Olympics but once again, Team GB will not be in attendance.

Great Britain have not been a part of the men's event since London 2012, having since been no-shows in Rio and Tokyo.

And with another absence set to be noted in Paris, we outline why this is the case.

Why are Team GB not competing?

While major tournaments such as the World Cup and Euros are run by FIFA and UEFA, the Olympics are overseen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The home nations - England, ScotlandWales and Northern Ireland - are all individual teams when competing in FIFA or UEFA events, but are registered together as Team GB in the Olympics.

However, there has been a lingering fear from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that this Olympic unification would come to affect their independence in future FIFA and UEFA events.

Team GB stopped participating in Olympic men's football in the 1970s but an exception was made for London 2012 with the Games on home soil.

Hope Powell and Stuart Pearce pose together at Wembley Stadium ahead of the London 2012 Olympics
Hope Powell and Stuart Pearce pose together at Wembley Stadium ahead of the London 2012 OlympicsAFP

Each of the home nations agreed to register a squad with assurances made on their independent statuses being protected at other major events.

The 2012 squad featured 13 English players and five from Wales and reached the quarter-finals before losing on penalties to South Korea.

What about the women's team?

Team GB's women's side also participated at London 2012, but a key difference is that they are able to qualify for future Games.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland opposed a side for Rio 2016 but the team was reborn for Tokyo 2020 after an agreement was reached between the home nations.

The team was knocked out at the quarter-final stage in both 2012 and 2020 respectively.

The agreement sees the highest-ranked of the four nations be nominated to compete for one of the three Olympic spots available for Europe.

For Paris 2024, that gave the responsibility to England but they failed to qualify for the main event, meaning there will be no Team GB representative at all in Paris this year.

Sarina Wiegman, who was due to manage Team GB, could only guide England to a second-place group finish in the Nations League - the tournament used to determine Olympic qualification.

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