It was such a joy to watch the Olympic games! I seem to have forgotten how great the Olympic spirit is for all the disciplines presented, that is: for all the disciplines except men’s football (the one where you play the ball with your foot, a.k.a. soccer).
I know why FIFA doesn’t want a competitor for a worldwide tournament with all the best athletes, but isn’t this just a monetary issue that could be solved? Wouldn’t the World Cup always be higher regarded, since it’s a single-discipline-event stretching a whole month?
What would substract from it if we have a smaller tournament in the year of the Summer Olympics, and move the continental cups like the Euros to the odd years 2029, 2033…? I would love to see world’s best footballers to be amongst other athletes and enjoy the spirit that an Olympic host city (like Paris!) can offer.
If you ask the athletes, they would surely love to. If you ask the fans, they would enjoy it as well, the only possible criticism being a little bit of a trophy inflation within that 4 years time span. But that’s still so much better than all of FIFA’s own inflationary ideas like Nation League, Club World Cup etc…!
I honestly dont think it should even be in the olympics but I have the same opinion for golf and tennis. The sport is too big and theres more prestigious titles to win than the olympics. I guess you can make the same case for basketball but they dont have a huge event like the world cup so for international competitions, the olympics are still highly regarded. Golfer would rather win major titles and I rarely hear a golfer being regarded as the olympic champ but you’ll constantly hear about them winning the us open or masters. Most of these athletes in other sports dream of winning an olympic medal while these sports, its more of a side project
At least, Djokovic seemed to have been passionate about the Olympics this year. But that might rather be a collector’s issue: what title is still missing?