Lionel Messi at Paris 2024 Olympics? IOC President Thomas Bach: "It would be fantastic if he would play in Paris"
By playing at the next Olympic Games, Messi could become the first player in history to be both a world champion and two-time Olympic champion.
Football
Will Lionel Messi play at the 2024 Olympic Games? International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach certainly hopes so.
Considered one of the greatest football players of all time, 36-year-old Messi won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina at Beijing 2008 and led his country to their third FIFA World Cup title in 2022. A triumph at Paris 2024 would add another historic mark to his already dazzling resume.
"For Lionel Messi it would be an opportunity to write history again. If he would play in Paris and Argentina would win the gold medal, then he would be the only football player in history to have won two Olympic gold medals and the World Cup,” Bach told journalists during his visit to Argentina.
"I cannot interfere in the coach's decisions, but it would be fantastic for him to write history, it would be fantastic for football having his appearance and it would be fantastic for the Olympic Games to have him back there at the Games," he continued. "Let's keep our fingers crossed."
Bach is also hoping that French superstar Kylian Mbappé will suit up for the hosts at the Paris Games. Mbappé and Messi played together at Paris St. Germain.
Men’s football tournaments at the Olympics feature players under the age of 23. However, teams are also allowed to include three players over that age limit on the roster and the coach of Argentina’s Olympic football Javier Mascherano, who played alongside Messi at Beijing 2008, has said that he would like to recruit his former teammate as one of those players.
While Argentina has not yet secured a quota at Paris 2024, they will have an opportunity to do so at the 2024 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, to be held in Venezuela in January and February.
Messi was 21 years old when Argentina won gold, in a final against Nigeria, in 2008. He scored two goals in the tournament.
A return to the Olympic stage at Paris 2024 would also mark his return to the French capital where he played for Paris Saint-Germain for two seasons. The celebrated striker is currently playing for Inter Miami in the United States.