Football is the national sport in Britain. Whichever of the home nations you go to, you will find thousands of people obsessed with the beautiful game.
It’s strange then, that when it comes to the Olympics, we don’t make an effort.
The Olympics only take place every four years, and countries from around the world can enter teams in various different categories. This should put the Olympics on par with the World Cup in terms of football competitions, but not only does it not hold the same level of prestige, Britain doesn’t even have a team.
We are one of the greatest footballing nations in the world—we invented the game, for goodness sake—so why doesn’t Britain have an Olympic football team?
Different Regulating Bodies
You will have heard of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations). FIFA is the top governing body in world football, while UEFA handles the sport in Europe. UEFA is part of FIFA. Each country has their own FA (Football Association) or equivalent too, managing domestic leagues and competitions.
Well, in order to compete in competitions run by FIFA or UEFA, the national football association of each country needs to register with them and apply for membership.
England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland all have their own football associations which are registered separately, so each country can field their own team in international competitions such as the World Cup and the Euros.
When it comes to the Olympics, though, each country has their own NOC (National Olympic Committee) which is responsible for registering their nation to take part in the games. Great Britain is registered as one nation as far as the Olympics are concerned, they don’t recognise England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales as different countries. The home nations are therefore all run by the same NOC, so in order for a British Olympic football team to be formed, the football associations of each country would have to work together.
It doesn’t cause a problem for other Olympic sports, but due to the number of different footballing bodies involved who all want to look after their own interests, forming a British team is problematic.
Chief among those problems are the concerns of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, who fear they could jeopardise their independence in future FIFA and UEFA competitions by merging to create a British team. If they demonstrate this can be done successfully in the Olympics, they worry it may be forced on them by FIFA in the future. Since they value their independence so highly, they are not easily convinced to be part of a Great Britain football team.
What About London 2012?
Yes, there was a Great Britain team in the 2012 Olympics.
However, no Scottish or Northern Irish players took part, so it wasn’t a true Great Britain team. Even then, it almost never happened.
When it was announced that London had won the bid the host the 2012 Olympics, the FA got straight to work attempting to form a team. However, the Scottish FA point blank refused to engage, and the Welsh FA withdrew from negotiations shortly after. That left just England and Northern Ireland, with the latter announcing they would not be taking part in late 2007.
However, with this years’ games being held on British soil, there was more desire to see a football team compete as part of Team GB, so compromises were eventually made. It helped that Sepp Blatter, the man in charge of FIFA at the time, assured each country that they had nothing to worry about.
Scotland and Northern Ireland were still strongly opposed to the idea, though, and their players knew this. Wales softened their opinion, and allowed players to make their own minds’ up with no internal pressure. As a result, the British Olympic football team of 2012 was made up of mainly English players with a few Welsh additions, such as Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy.
It was a one off though, it would never have happened if London was not the host city.
Great Britain’s History with Olympic Football
While 2012 was a one off in modern times, it’s not the only time Great Britain has entered an Olympic football team. In fact, from 1900 to 1972 Great Britain was represented most years.
They always entered amateur teams, as that was the rule back then, and they even won three gold medals in the early years:
- 1900
- 1908
- 1912
You could call this the ‘golden’ age of Great Britain’s Olympic football team.
However, the amateur rule caused problems from as early as the 1920s. Great Britain actually missed the 1924 and 1928 games because while they were entering an amateur team and felt the games should remain this way, other countries were not. FIFA was trying to turn the Olympics into a professional World Championship, and the FA withdrew Great Britain in protest.
FIFA went on to create the World Cup in 1930, which we all obviously now know, and since there was no tournament at the 1932 games, Great Britain came back to Olympic football in 1936.
After World War 2, football in Britain was becoming a much more serious matter, and the level between professionals and amateur was widening dramatically. This meant our Olympic team were… well, they were rubbish.
By the 1960s we weren’t even good enough to qualify, because in most other countries domestic football hadn’t progressed like it had here, so their best players were still amateurs. They had the pick of the crop. Great Britain was left with players who weren’t good enough to play professionally for domestic teams, so were fielding leftovers.
In 1974, the FA stopped distinguishing between professional and amateur footballers, and since the Great Britain team had always been made up of amateur players, this put an end to our Olympic footballing exploits once and for all.
While we were away, the Olympics changed their stance and got rid of the amateur only rule. Some countries had state sponsored athletes who were technically amateurs but for all intents and purposes were professionals, and it was making a mockery of the whole system. By 1984, the amateur rule was gone.
Instead, Olympic football teams had to be made up of players under 23 years old, with 3 squad spaces available for players of any age. This is why the likes of Giggs, Micah Richards, and Craig Bellamy were able to play for Great Britain in 2012 – our only Olympic appearance in football for over 50 years.
Women’s Football Opening the Door to Change?
There has been a women’s football tournament as part of the Olympics since 1996. This means women’s football never went through the same transition from amateur to professional players that men’s football did. The women’s competition has always been open to professionals.
However, the home countries all have their own individual women’s teams just like men’s football, which is why Great Britain did not enter a women’s team for the first time until 2012.
This was by special arrangement, with Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland all stating that they would not participate, but would not get in the way of England competing alone on behalf of Great Britain. After much debate, the unwilling women’s football associations stood their ground but relented enough to essentially let players make up their own minds, so while the team was mostly English, a handful of Scottish and Northern Irish players were also selected.
FIFA said they would not allow a Great Britain team to enter the Olympics again unless all four nations agreed. Since no agreement was made in time, the women missed the 2016 Olympics.
They were back for 2020 though, and just like in 2012, they reached the Quarter Finals. An agreement was reached whereby the highest ranked nation would take responsibility for Team GB’s football team, but would have access to players from all nations. This was England again in 2020 for the Tokyo games.
This arrangement seems to have stuck, and although the women didn’t qualify for the 2024 Olympics, they did try, so the idea of a Team GB Women’s Football team feels established now. Should this continue for the next few Olympic games, it could create demand for Men’s football to find a similar agreement.