Why Aren’t France and Germany in the Olympics?

July 20, 2021
By Hope Quinonez

The Olympic women’s soccer tournament is set to begin on July 21st. Twelve teams will compete to claim the gold and be named the best in the world and powerhouse squads like France and Germany have not qualified for this year’s Olympics. The teams that will compete to be titled Olympic champions are Japan (No. 11), Canada (No. 8), Great Britain, Chile (No.37), China (No. 14), Brazil (No. 7), Zambia (No. 104), Netherlands (No. 3), Sweden (No. 5), USA (No. 1), Australia (No. 9), and New Zealand (No. 22).

Now, qualifying for the Olympics is definitely not a walk in the park. In fact, due to the different qualifying processes, some of the best teams are missing the tournament.

The nine best teams from UEFA competed at the World Cup with the top three European teams earning a spot in the Olympic games. The top-performing European World Cup teams were Great Britain, Netherlands, and Sweden, who eliminated the 2016 gold medalists, Germany. Though France and Germany are world powers of the game, they’ll miss out on the tournament due to Europe’s qualifying process. The games won’t be the same without them.

At the 2020 CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, the United States and Canada earned their spots by winning the tournament’s semi-finals. Additionally, Zambia secured their Olympic spot by winning the CAF Olympic qualifying tournament. Australia and China qualified after winning the play-off round of the AFC Olympic Qualifying tournament.

Competition is at an all-time high at the international level, and frequent upsets make the games much more interesting. But, despite all the shake-ups in Europe, the United States’ domination has almost never faltered (we’re gonna try to forget about 2016). Eventually, teams will catch up to them, but for now, the USWNT are heavy favorites to win the games again. In fact, the absence of European teams France and Germany are a big reason why. However, they are in the group of “death” and will be facing teams that have defeated them in the past. It will be exciting to see who will come out on top and get the bragging rights of being the best in the world.

The group stages kick off with the USWNT facing Sweden on July 21st, and the USWNT are seeking redemption after their last Olympic games appearance in 2016.

Featured Image via @equipedefrance on Instagram