The British Olympic Association (BOA) wants a Great Britain men’s football team competing at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. Andy Anson, the BOA chief executive, said he “dearly wanted it to happen” and it is understood that the Football Association is keen.
It will, though, take supreme diplomatic skills to convince the football associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, given their previous hostility to a men’s team coming together under one umbrella to play at the Games. They have long argued that their independence in Fifa and Uefa tournaments could be risked if they competed as a single team in the Olympics.
However, there have been no repercussions since Team GB men’s and women’s teams played at London 2012 or since a women’s team with 19 English, one Welsh and two Scottish players competed at Tokyo 2020.
“It’s something I would dearly love to happen,” Anson said. “I would like to work with the FA, with the Scottish FA, with the Welsh and the Northern Irish FA, if we can make it happen. Because it would be brilliant for football, for youth football and football in general. Seeing the women’s team compete is brilliant and I would love to see the men’s team compete in the same way.”
Anson predicted that Team GB, which finished seventh in the medal table in Paris, would receive a boost from the new sports at the LA Games. “Our women’s team is in the top two in the world in lacrosse,” he said. “In flag football, we’re in the top few in the world in the women’s section. In squash, we’ve got men and women in the top 10 in the world. And cricket, we’ve got to be in the top five to qualify in T20 men’s and women’s and we’re currently in that position.”
Anson said the BOA was working closely with the England and Wales Cricket Board to satisfy the requirements of the International Olympic Committee. “We’ve got good experience in golf, in rugby and in women’s football, of how the four nations can come together and nominate one country to be the main governing body and work with the other countries,” he said. “So I think cricket will be the same.
“The ECB will be at the centre of that,” he said. “They’ll have to work with Cricket Scotland to make sure that happens properly. We will help them sign agreements to come together and create a single national governing body, as we have done in those other sports.
“We are working very closely with the ECB to make them become the fully fledged National Olympic Committee member.”
