Euro 2024 and Copa America may be a thing of the past, but the big football summer of 2024 continues with the start of the Olympic Games in Paris.
Once again, a FIFA-sanctioned football tournament will be held at the Games, with men's and women's competitions beginning this week, on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
Under the rules of the competition, the men's tournament is predominantly restricted to players under the age of 23, although all participating countries are allowed to include up to three designated over-age players.
As for the men's tournament, world champions Brazil have failed to qualify this time around, although countries such as Argentina, France, Morocco and Spain have seen fit to pepper their teams with a sprinkling of notable older stars.
Meanwhile, Japan was the only country that decided not to include any player over the age of 23. In fact, all 22 of the Samurai Blue's Olympic players were born in 2001 or later.
We take a look at the veteran players who made the trip to France, ranked by star quality. And we'll also pick out some of the biggest names who have taken home a gold medal at previous Games.
Argentina
Julián Álvarez, Nicolás Otamendi, Gerónimo Rulli
Fresh from lifting the Copa America for the 16th time, Argentina, coached in this tournament by former Liverpool and Barcelona star Javier Mascherano, has included three of the AlbicelesteThe victorious squad (their first match at the Olympic Games took place just 10 days after the Copa América final) with striker Álvarez, defender Otamendi and goalkeeper Rulli.
At 36, Otamendi is the oldest player to take part in the men's competition, and the veteran Benfica centre-back is around a month older than his nearest rival, Paraguayan goalkeeper Gaitito Fernandez.
France
Alexandre Lacazette, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Loïc Badé
Head coach Thierry Henry has chosen fellow former Arsenal player Lacazette to lead France's attack at their home Olympics. The Blues will be looking to win their first gold since the 1984 Games, which were held in the United States.
The fight for places is so fierce that Lacazette has only made 16 appearances for France's senior team. Now 33, the Lyon man has a real chance to make his mark for his country.
Lacazette is likely to be joined in attack by Crystal Palace striker Mateta, while Sevilla defender Badé was called up to the squad this month as a last-minute replacement for Maxime Estève, who withdrew through injury.
Spain
Sergio Gómez, Juan Miranda, Abel Ruiz
Buoyed by Euro glory, Spain will be hoping to repeat that success at the Summer Olympics with coach Santi Denia leaning on Gomez (who moved from Manchester City to Real Sociedad earlier this month), Miranda (who played for Barcelona and has just signed for Bologna) and team captain Ruiz (recently signed from Girona) as his senior trio.
However, Ruiz is the oldest player in his squad at the age of 24 (and only nine days older than Miranda), so it is not like The Red They are exactly overloaded with the experience of veterans.
Morocco
Achraf Hakimi, Munir El Kajoui, Soufiane Rahimi
The biggest name in Morocco's Olympic squad is undoubtedly team captain Hakimi, with the 25-year-old full-back tipped to be a four-time league champion with Inter and, most recently, Paris Saint-Germain.
Munir, meanwhile, was Morocco's substitute goalkeeper at the World Cup in Qatar and played in the group stage match against Belgium.
Mohamed Elneny, Zizo
Egypt have named two players, including Arsenal midfielder Elneny, who was chosen as captain of the team. The other over-age player is Ahmed “Zizo” Sayed, the 28-year-old striker who plays for Zamalek in his home country.
Naby Keïta, Amadou Diawara, Abdoulaye Touré
Having qualified for the men's Olympic tournament for the first time, Guinea have prepared a full squad of over-age players to ensure they can compete with their more established opponents.
Former Liverpool player Keita has been awarded the captaincy and will be ably supported by Anderlecht midfielder Diawara and Toure, from Ligue 1 club Le Havre.
Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson and Djordje Mihailovic
After being eliminated from the Copa America as host country in the group stage, the United States will undoubtedly be looking to do even better at the Summer Olympics.
To that end, Marko Mitrovic's young team will be led by Nashville SC captain Zimmerman, along with FC Cincinnati center Robinson and Colorado Rapids forward Mihailovic, who all play regularly in MLS.
Zimmerman has 42 caps for the U.S. senior national team and played in all four matches at the 2022 World Cup.
Junior Firpo, Luiyi de Lucas, Heinz Morschel
De Lucas, who recently left Scottish side Livingston to sign for Cypriot club AEL Limassol, is the team captain and also the oldest member of the Dominican national team.
Firpo will be a familiar name to Barcelona and Leeds United fans, with the 27-year-old left-back having spent the last four years at Elland Road after moving to England from Camp Nou.
Kitty Fernandez, Fabian Balbuena
Fernandez, 36, has played almost his entire career in South America but Balbuena will be well known to West Ham United fans having made 54 Premier League appearances for the west London club.
Maksym Talovierov, Dmytro Kryskiv
Both players are just over the age limit, as Kryskiv has played his entire career in Ukraine. Talovierov was part of the senior squad at Euro 2024 and has four caps.
Michael Boxall, Joe Bell and Sarpreet Singh
Boxall has spent the last seven years in MLS with Minnesota United FC and, at 35, is one of the most experienced players in the Olympics. He has 48 caps for the senior national team.
Striker Singh, 25, made eight appearances for Bayern Munich in 2019-20 and is a free agent after leaving 2. Bundesliga club Hansa Rostock this month.
Defensive midfielder Bell, 25, plays in Norway for Viking and has 16 caps.
Saad Natiq, Aymen Hussein, Ibrahim Bayesh
Iraq have named three players with a lot of experience, but who have not played in the big leagues.
Natiq has 41 caps, while Hussein has 76 and Bayesh 52.
Daniel Peretz, Sean Goldberg and Omri Gandelman
Peretz, 24, is in the Bayern Munich squad and played two games last season after joining the club from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Demba Diallo, Salam Jiddou
Only two over-age players who have not played at a high level have been named.
Khusniddin Alikulov, Eldor Shomurodov, Oston Urunov
Uzbekistan have filled their quota, with AS Roma striker Shomurodov being the best-known player. The 29-year-old, who has scored 40 goals in 73 appearances for the senior team, has also played for Genoa, Spezia and Cagliari.
Famous players who have won gold
Although winning the Summer Olympics football tournament is not usually considered a “major” honour in football terms, many famous names have claimed the gold medal.
The Argentine team that won gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing contained an impressive list of young prodigious talents who went on to great success, including Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Mascherano, Ever Banega, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Pablo Zabaleta and Ángel Di María.
Before that, players like Javier Saviola, Carlos Tevez, Fabricio Coloccini and Gabriel Heinze won gold with Argentina at the 2004 Athens Games.
Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Rafinha and Marquinhos won gold with Brazil at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Further back, some of the biggest names in football have won gold at the Olympic Games, including Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, 2000), Nwankwo Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria, 1996), as well as Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique with Spain in the Barcelona games in 1992.
