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Bring back GB football team for Rio, says FA
'One-off' Team GB squad could make a return in next year's Olympics – but many obstacles remain
The Football Association wants to see a Great Britain football team in next year's Rio Olympics, but faces continuing opposition from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A British Olympic Association official has said it has "received confirmation" of the FA's plan for the 2016 Games but there remains much work to do before British football fans can start dreaming of a Team GB football squad.
First, football's world governing body, Fifa, would have to sanction the move, then both the men's and women's team would have to qualify. For that to happen, England Under-21s must reach the semi-finals of this summer's European Championship while England's women would have to finish among the top-three ranked European countries at the World Cup in June.
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But even if that were to happen (and there are no guarantees given that in the last two European U21 Championships England have failed to make it out of the group stage), the Daily Telegraph says that the football associations of Wales and Northern Ireland "have taken umbrage" at the idea of resurrecting the Great Britain men's team four years after the 2012 Olympics.
That was seen as a one-off, an exception created by the fact London were hosting the Games and the British public deserved to see a GB football team. It was the first time a GB football team had appeared in an Olympics in 52 years and the men's side didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. They lost on penalties to South Korea in the quarter-finals in a side skippered by former Wales and Manchester United star Ryan Giggs.
According to the Telegraph "a row broke out" on Friday during the annual general meeting of the International Football Association Board in Belfast when the FA mooted the idea. Though the Scotland FA is said to be "less antagonistic" towards the idea of fielding a GB football team in Brazil, the fear among the Welsh and Irish is that regular participation in the Olympics "could open the door for other members of Fifa to challenge their special status within the governing body".
The more alarmist elements within the Wales and Northern Ireland FAs believe that were such a challenge to occur FIFA might force the home nations to permanently merge into a GB team. Ironic, given that there has never been a time in modern history when the UK has appeared more disunited in political terms.
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After the 2012 Olympics Alex Horne, the then general secretary of the FA, declared that the GB football team was a one-off for London: "We play as England and we are proud to play as England and I know Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are proud to play as their own individual entities," he said. "We wouldn't want to do anything to risk that."
The Telegraph claims that the volte-face has been driven by Gareth Southgate, manager of the England Under-21s, and Dan Ashworth, the FA's director of elite development. They both believe that the under-23 tournament could "provide valuable experience for the country's youngsters".
The rules for Olympic football state that of the 18-man squads, all but three must be under-23, hence Southgate's belief that it would beneficial to participate.
At this stage the prospects of seeing a men's GB Team at next year's Olympics appear to be slim, but the Telegraph says that there is a greater likelihood that the women will send a team. They stand a better chance of qualifying and there is not "the same degree of opposition there would be to a men's side".
