By Alfredo Di Cesare
24 Jul 2024, 17:17 PM EDT
Junior Firpo is one of the Dominican players with the most presence in Europe after the emergence of Mariano Díaz. However, he will not be representing his country in the Olympic Games on the national football team. The reason? His club did not give him permission.
Leeds United did not want to release the defender for the ecumenical event, as they prefer to use him for pre-season, according to technical director Daniel Farke. Firpo will have to tour Germany with his current team, which plays in the second division.
In this regard, the Dominican coach, the Spaniard Ibai Gómez, also confirmed it yesterday Tuesday. “Junior Firpo will not be with us at the Olympic Games, it is a sensitive loss (…), it has been a shame because he has done everything possible to be there, together with the Federation,” he declared.
For this reason, Gómez confessed that his sporting planning has been based on working “as if Junior were not there.”
Why didn’t they give him permission?
The Olympic Games are not part of the official FIFA calendar and, for this reason, many clubs reserve the right to release their players to qualified teams to fight for a medal.
An example of this is what happened with Kylian Mbappé and Real Madrid. The French striker wanted to play in the Olympic Games after participating in the Euro 2024 that was held in Germany.
However, months before officially confirming his arrival at the white team, the Spanish team had already taken a position regarding not giving up its stars to the ecumenical competition.
The Dominican Republic drew 0-0 against Egypt in Group C of the Olympic Games. They also share a venue with Uzbekistan and Spain.
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