The men's soccer team at the Tokyo Olympics became U24, but the Chinese olympic team had no chance to experience it

The Chinese Olympic team has missed the Tokyo Olympic Games. Infographic/Osports

Beijing News (reporter Xu Xiaofan) Due to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games to next year, the age limit for men's football participants will also be relaxed. The IOC and FIFA have agreed that the age limit will be changed from the previous U23 to U24, and athletes born after January 1, 1997 will still have the right to participate. This was also mentioned in a statement issued on the official website of FIFA in the early hours of this morning.

On March 30, the International Olympic Committee officially announced that the Tokyo Olympic Games will be postponed to July 23, 2021. Men's football is the only Olympic sport that regulates the age of athletes, requiring that in addition to the three overage players, the participants are under the age of 23, but after the postponement, the original age of the player will be overaged and can not participate according to the previous regulations. Therefore, the Football Associations of Australia and South Korea have successively called for the relaxation of the age limit of men's football projects to ensure fairness to players.

On 1 April, the IOC's Athletes' Committee held a conference call with 150 athlete representatives from around the world. In response to the age limit in the men's football program, The Athletes' Committee Chairman Kosti Coventry said that consideration should be given to relaxing the age limit for eligible athletes. A statement from the Athletes' Commission said the IOC would work with individual associations to adjust and clarify as soon as possible on the issue that certain athletes may "meet and exceed" the age limit.

According to foreign media reports, the International Olympic Committee and FIFA soon reached an agreement, due to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games for one year, the age limit for men's football athletes was changed from the original U23 to U24, that is, players born after January 1, 1997 are still eligible to participate, and each team is allowed to register up to three over-age players. On 3 April, the IOC has sent the relevant notices to the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games in various countries and regions. In the early morning of April 4, a statement published on fifa's official website also made this clear.

The relaxation of the age limit is good news for the U23 players who have previously helped their respective Olympic teams qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, but this has little to do with China's U23 olympic team. In the U23 Asian Cup and Olympic Qualifiers that ended in January this year, the Chinese Olympic team lost consecutive games to South Korea, Iran and Uzbekistan, and finally missed the Olympic ticket with a poor record of bottoming the group and not scoring a goal.

Beijing News reporter Xu Xiaofan

Edited by Li Xin Proofreader Liu Jun