FA hopeful of fielding GB football team for Tokyo Games

Team GB fielded a men's and women's football team for the London 2012 Games, but did not have a presence in the Rio Olympics.

FA hopeful of fielding GB football team for Tokyo Games

(Reuters)

Last month, Bill Sweeney, the British Olympic Association's chief executive, said meetings would be held with the FA to push the issue.

"I want to reach out and work with them and all four of us wanted to reintroduce the formal annual meeting where the four chairmen and presidents work together with our chief executives to resolve any outstanding issues," FA chairman Greg Clarke told British media.

The Football Associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were worried about losing their independent status within FIFA if they played as a unified team.

However, FA's chief executive Martin Glenn said that would no longer be a cause for worry.

"We've had a discussion with the home nations this morning on a range of issues. The CEOs of the home nations are going to sit down and take a look at it," Glenn said.

"The CEOs of the home nations are going to sit down and take a look at it. The big fear in the past was that if we did it we would jeopardise our individual country status."

"That issue was sorted out under (former FIFA president Sepp) Blatter and (current FIFA president) Gianni (Infantino) has also reinforced it. That's not the issue, it becomes whether it suits the interest of all the home nations."

(Reporting by Nivedita Shankar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world