After the conclusion of Euro 2020 and Copa America 2021, football fans are looking forward towards Tokyo 2020 Olympics Men’s Football Tournament. The football at Olympics is not that famous as other football tournaments but it will surely attract many fans. It doesn’t attract the biggest names as there is age restriction on players participating in the tournament. Only players under the age of 23 are permitted and three overage players. 16 teams will compete in Tokyo 2020 Olympics for Gold Medal in Men’s Football Tournament. Indian football fans want to know Why Indian Football Team is not in Tokyo 2020 Olympics.Tokyo 2020 Olympics, that were postponed in the previous year are going to be held from 23 July. Although there are health concerns due to rising Covid-19 cases in Japan, but the officials have decided to organize the tournament in any case. Due to the absence of Indian football team in Olympics 2021, fans are sad. The following 16 teams are participating in the tournament.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics Football Groups
Group A: Japan, South Africa, Mexico, France
Group B: New Zealand, Korea Republic, Honduras, Romania
Group C: Egypt, Spain, Argentina, Australia
Group D: Brazil, Germany, Côte d’Ivoire, Saudi Arabia
Indian football team in Olympics 2021
To understand the reason behind Why Indian Football Team is not in Tokyo 2020 Olympics, we have to go a little bit into detail.
In addition to host nation Japan, 15 men’s national teams have qualified from six separate continental confederations.
The following are the continents and their respective confederations :
Europe (UEFA)
South America (CONMEBOL)
North and Central America (CONCACAF)
Africa (CAF)
Asia (AFC)
Oceania (OFC + Australia)
The following picture explains the format of qualification for Men’s Football Tournament at Tokyo 2020 Olympics :
Now, if we talk about India, it comes under the confederation of AFC, Asian Football Confederation.
The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the Olympics in Japan as the AFC representatives. It was the fourth edition of the AFC U-23 Championship for the men’s under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. It took place between 8–26 January 2020 in Thailand.
The 16 teams were :
- Iraq
- Japan
- Uzbekistan
- Jordan
- Syria
- Saudi Arabia
- North Korea
- South Korea
- China PR
- Australia
- Thailand
- Qatar
- Bahrain
- United Arab Emirates
- Vietnam
- Iran
Again, India is absent from the list. To understand this, we have to go towards 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification.
The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was an international men’s under-23 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament. These matches served as the first stage of the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament in Japan. A total of 44 teams entered the competition and India was there.
India was in Group F, along with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. India played two matches and lost both of them. Pakistan withdrew from the tournament.
So, this is the story behind Why Indian Football Team is not in Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Indian football team will not be participating in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo because the Blue Tigers failed to qualify for the tournament.
See Also :
Tokyo 2020 Olympics Football Schedule, Fixtures, Groups & Teams
List of Indian athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics
