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FIFA extends men’s age limit for the Tokyo Olympics

April 4, 2020 at 2:27 p.m. EDT
All players who would have been able to compete in Tokyo this summer will retain their eligibility for the rescheduled Games next year. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

FIFA extended the age limit for the men’s soccer tournament at next year’s Tokyo Olympics, ensuring that players who would have been able to compete in the Games this summer retain their eligibility in 2021.

The criteria for the rescheduled Tokyo Games remains the same: All players born on or after Jan. 1, 1997, will have the opportunity to suit up for their countries, essentially turning what has been under-23 tournament since 1992 into an under-24 event. As usual, each of the 16 teams in the field may select three players over the age limit for their rosters.

There is no age limit for the women’s tournament.

FIFA also confirmed that no international games for men or women will be played in June. A pair of women’s World Cup tournaments — the under-20 World Cup set for Central America in August and September, and the under-17 World Cup scheduled to be played in India in November — were postponed.

The 2020 European Championship, second only to the World Cup in international soccer prestige, already had been postponed for one year. According to the Associated Press, UEFA had hoped to have playoff games in June to determine the final four places in a 24-team field.

For the Tokyo Games, 14 of 16 nations already have secured their spots: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, France, Germany, Ivory Coast, New Zealand, Japan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Africa and South Korea will compete. The final two spots in the field will be filled by nations in Concacaf, which is the only federation that has not completed its Olympic qualifying tournament.

Should the United States qualify a men’s team for the first time since 2008, its biggest star will be eligible to play. Christian Pulisic — as is the case with another surefire Olympic draw, France’s Kylian Mbappé — was born in 1998 and would have been under the age limit anyway, though it is still up to both players’ private clubs to release them for the Games.

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