OlympicTalk · Jun 25, 2021
Kylian Mbappé will not play in Tokyo Olympics
Kylian Mbappé was not on the France men’s soccer roster named Friday for the Tokyo Olympics.
His absence was expected, given his club team, Paris Saint-Germain, would have needed to sign off on him playing at the Games.
PSG had no choice but to let Mbappé play at the ongoing European Championship, and most stars do not compete in two major tournaments in one summer for national teams. Clubs prefer they rest ahead of their league seasons.
Mbappé, the breakout of France’s 2018 World Cup champion team, would have been particularly valuable to France at the Olympics. At 22 years old, he would not take up one of the three over-age roster spots for players born before Jan. 1, 1997.