Cristiano Ronaldo Could Play for Portugal at the 2016 Olympic Games

Cristiano Ronaldo could be one of Portugal's three overage players for next summer's Olympics.

Cristiano Ronaldo could be one of Portugal's three overage players for next summer's Olympics.

Although the squad is made up of players under 23-years-old, there are three slots for players born before January 1st 1993. The chairman of the Portuguese football association, Bruno Gomes, has said that nothing is decided yet, but "Cristiano is one of those being considered".

If Ronaldo does turn out in the Olympics, it would be a busy summer. It looks likely that Portugal will qualify automatically for Euro 2016 but, if they don't, they're already guaranteed to be in the qualification play-offs. For that tournament, there's no way they'll leave Ronaldo out, so he could be playing there in June and July, before flying out to Brazil for the Olympics less than a month later. 

He probably won't be the only big name overage player. 

 

If Ronaldo does play, he probably won't be the only big name player to take an overage slot.

In the last Olympics, Ryan Giggs captained the reformed Great Britain team, Luis Suarez led Uruguay's Under 23s and Ronaldo's Real Madrid team mate Marcelo played for Brazil. Before that, players like RonaldinhoJavier Mascherano and Thiago Silva (twice) have been the overage players for their country.

[via ESPN]

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