Tokyo 2020: PSG to deny Mbappe and Neymar Olympic call-ups
- World Cup winner is eligible for under-23 tournament but clubs under no obligation to release players for Olympics
- Mbappe expected to play for France at Euro 2020, while Neymar likely to feature for Brazil at Copa America in the summer
French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain will refuse to allow star strikers Kylian Mbappe and Neymar to play in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics football tournament this summer, according to a report in L’Equipe.
World Cup winner Mbappe was named in Sylvain Ripoll’s provisional 80-man France squad on Tuesday, but the French football newspaper reported that PSG had written to the French Football Federation of their intention to not release the 21-year-old.
Clubs are under no obligation to release players as the Olympic football, which is contested by under-23s with three overage players, is not a Fifa tournament.
France, who won gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, are returning to the men’s football for the first time since Atlanta ’96 – Mbappe and the other age eligible players were not yet born then.
The French champions did allow Neymar to play at the Rio 2016 Games, where he scored the winning penalty as the hosts finally won their first Olympic gold.