It was thought that several over age players were going to be chosen from Manchester United to play football in the Olympic Games that are occurring this summer. However, Sir Alex Ferguson has just made the announcement that the only overage player from the team that can be selected to play in the Olympic Games is Ryan Giggs.
The coach, Stuart Pearce, was potentially going to pick Jonny Evans or Paul Scholes, but this has been made an impossibility because of Sir Alex’s decision. A court ruling in 2008 also made selection of football players for the Olympics rather challenging. This court decision stated that football clubs have no obligation to release their players to play in the Olympic Games and it is a decision that they will have to make by themselves.
Ryan Giggs is not officially been chosen for the tournament, this decision just decides whether you will be allowed to play in the Olympic Games. However, Mr Giggs has stated that if you were asked to play on the Olympic squad, he would accept the invitation.
Each squad in the Olympic Games are allowed to select three players who are over the normal age limit and Mr Giggs falls into this category. The question was whether the Football Association would allow Mr Giggs to play because of his age.
A spokesperson from the Football Association has refused to comment on whether they have received any communications from Manchester United about the issue. It seems as if this means that a legal battle about the issue is not going to take place, especially considering the typically accepting position of Manchester United that young players don’t get involved in Euro 2012. The original court decision was about whether to release players for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.