Several star players turned out to have been unable to carry their countries to success while playing at the Olympics.
Football has been part of the summer Olympics since 1900. In fact, it was considered the most prestigious international competition before the FIFA World Cup was created in 1930. The change of roster rule since 1984 had finally enabled professional footballers as well as the senior players who did not have a chance to play during their youth to make the cut in the Olympic squad.
In Paris 2024, fans could see how Alexandre Lacazette, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Achraf Hakimi or Nicolás Otamendi plus Julián Álvarez helped their team to progress further. France and Spain were eventually the remaining two teams in the final, and their stars did contribute well in their campaign.
Unfortunately, not all star players have been able to demonstrate their quality. Being a top figure did not guarantee any success. Such is not exactly new, and some well-known global names performed badly at the Olympics. Here are some of the stars who failed to win a single medal or performed below par.
David De Gea and Juan Mata (Spain)
David De Gea and Juan Mata were part of the Spain U23 squad at the London 2012 Olympics. The former was already a mainstay at Manchester United in the same year, while the latter was part of the Spain squad that won the 2010 FIFA World Cup and EURO 2012. He even helped Chelsea win their first Champions League title before the summer tournament.
Unfortunately, they both were not able to inspire the team to replicate their success at the club and on the senior team at the Olympics. Spain was even winless and scoreless at the group stage, losing twice against Japan and Honduras and only mustering a goalless draw versus Morocco. Such was a woeful campaign for the team, whose senior side had just won the World Cup two years earlier and had a star-studded squad in the competition.
Edison Cavani & Luis Suárez (Uruguay)
These two frontmen were the key figures in Uruguay’s rise in the 2010s. They were paired up with Diego Forlán as the trio brought La Celeste to the 2010 World Cup semifinals as well as clinching the Copa América title in 2011.
Cavani and Suárez were also known as prolific goalscorers in their own clubs. The former rose to prominence at Napoli before switching sides to PSG and enjoying a trophy-laden stint in Paris. The latter thrived in Liverpool, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid with a top scorer award in La Liga 2015/16, meddling with the Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly beside the silverware.
However, both were surprisingly scoreless. Suárez did slightly better by registering one assist in the opener versus the UAE, which was their only win. Yet, they were unable to lead the U23 team to the quarterfinals as Uruguay was beaten by Sadio Mané’s Senegal and Great Britain. La Celeste has yet to qualify at the Olympics again ever since.
Ronaldinho (Brazil)
The two-time FIFA Best Player Award winners in the 2000s made appearances twice at the Olympics: in Sydney 2000 and in Beijing 2008. Unfortunately, he did not win a gold medal in either edition. In 2000, the Brazilian talisman only bagged one goal and was unable to help them reach the semifinal. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the former PSG and AC Milan man did better, as he led the U23 side to win the bronze medal and contributed two goals and one assist.
Such achievement was nothing compared to what he did with the senior team and his clubs, particularly with Barcelona and Atlético Mineiro. Ronaldinho was instrumental when Seleção clinched their fifth World Cup in 2002 as well as the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005.
The former attacking midfielder scored two goals and made three assists in the former, and he notched up three times and created one assist in the latter tournament. He also won two league titles and the 2006 UEFA Champions League for the Catalan giant. In addition, he lifted the Copa Libertadores trophy for the Mineiro-based club in 2013.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
The 39-year-old superstar also had a miserable performance at the Olympics. He was included in the 2004 Athens Olympics squad but failed to help his team advance to the knockout stage. CR7 only featured twice and scored once in the competition.
Such a performance was nowhere near his regular form for the senior team and his clubs. He was the captain when Portugal snatched their first titles in major competition at the senior level: EURO 2016 and the UEFA Nations League 2019. Ronaldo also won five Champions League titles with Manchester United and Real Madrid, plus the FIFA Club World Cup. The former Sporting Lisbon man also clinched five league titles for the Red Devils, Los Blancos, and Juventus. He is also still the current record holder in goal scoring at UCL with 140 goals.