Stars ruled out of Olympic football comp
Updated
Even before the opening ceremony the Olympic games have already begun, womens soccer matches started yesterday and the Australia's OIlyroos will take on Serbia in Shanghai today.
But the football tournament has received a blow. A court ruling will see some clubs prevent their young stars from playing for their countries in Beijing.
Presenter: Karen Barlow
Speakers: President of FC Barcelona; Zhilbert Felli The Executive Director of the International Olympic Committee
KAREN BARLOW: In the relative cool of the night, tens of thousands of Beijingers come out to marvel at the brilliantly lit Olympic venues. It's a carnival atmosphere and cameras are snapping madly.
(Sounds of celebratory crowd.)
But it's now time for the sporting events to get under way.
Soccer is up first, but a ruling from the international Court of Arbitration for Sport has hit the tournament hard. CAS has ruled that high-powered clubs aren't obliged to release players for the Olympics.
The immediate impact is that Barcelona's Lionel Messi won't play for the reigning Olympic champions, Argentina. And he's not the only one not able to represent their country. The clubs are holding on to their players because the European season has started and they've invested heavily in these young men.
The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta:
JOAN LAPORTA: We are trying to defend our interest and we're just doing this with respect, with humility and trying to respect our rights.
KAREN BARLOW: The Court of Arbitration for Sport has overruled football's world governing body, FIFA, which called on all clubs to release their under-23 players for the Olympics. FIFA head Sepp Blatter is surprised and disappointed by the decision but says FIFA will respect it.
The International Olympic Committee is also less than impressed. The IOC's executive director is Gilbert Felli.
GILBERT FELLI: First of all I'm sad for the athletes because those athletes are here and then they're dreaming of the Olympic Games and probably for those athletes the dream doesn't go true.
KAREN BARLOW: The Court of Arbitration for Sport says it made the ruling because the Olympics is not on the official FIFA calendar of events. The IOC's Gilbert Felli is urging FIFA to change its charter for the sake of clarity.
GILBERT FELLI: I don't have exactly the, how the task came to this conclusion so we're going to work hard with FIFA to see how they can make sure that the rules that they've got will let the athletes, the best athletes come to the Games for the future.
KAREN BARLOW: Argentina's Olympic team is vowing to hold on to Lionel Messi so it's not known if the Australian team will have to contend with the star in the group stages of the Olympics.
