The Intrigue Behind Football At The Summer Olympics

Football comes in all different shapes and sizes as we well know, and it’s the kind of sport that can be loved and appreciated across the entire globe and in many different formats.

One factor of the game that we find pretty interesting is the inclusion of football (soccer) in the Summer Olympics. The Olympics, as most of us well know, serve as the pinnacle of sporting achievement and greatness throughout the world. Every two years, and every four in terms of the Summer games specifically, we all gather around to watch a variety of men and women from all different cultures compete on the grandest of stages. It’s fun, it’s different, and it allows youngsters to appreciate and get into a series of sports that they otherwise may have ignored.

Almost upon us

Somehow, some way, we’re just over a year away from the next edition of the games – even though it feels like the last offering in Rio has only just been and gone. With that in mind we thought it’d be interesting to think about the impact of football especially in the Olympics, and what it represents.

As seen on Wikipedia and the Olympics.org, this tradition has been ongoing since the start of the Games themselves. Many sports have been and gone but football has remained pretty consistent, which is great to see when you think about the overall popularity of the game. After all, let’s face it, we’re talking about the most popular sport there has ever been, here.

In terms of where we stand on football at this level, we think it’s great, but we also think that players who regularly feature in the top domestic leagues shouldn’t get places in the starting XI. This level should be for the youngsters who want to prove themselves. Just take a look at boxing as a prime example: you don’t see the professionals going back and trying to test themselves against the amateurs. Once they’ve made that move up into the upper echelons, they stay there – and rightly so.

Questions, questions, questions

In regards to the popularity of the movement as a whole, it’s pretty safe to say that it isn’t as watched as some of the other options available to you during the Olympics. Why? Because we like novelty. The general public likes novelty. It’s all about learning and watching something that you probably otherwise wouldn’t tune in for. It broadens your viewing palette, and yeah, we just think it’s good for sports fans.

We’re still going to be tuning in when the time comes, but hopefully, there’s a bit more ‘natural enthusiasm’ from the fans and players alike as opposed to pessimism. Football is indeed the beautiful game and if there’s a way to get fans passionate about the likes of golf at this level, then you’d have to believe the same would be true of football.

Very few people love the Olympic Games more so than us, but that doesn’t mean the two practices are always going to mesh together.