A test bench for Paris 2024: Maurice Revello, the tournament that brought together promising players under 23

Soccer players under 23 years old defending the colors of their country in different cities in France with the aim of embracing glory. The description could faithfully portray what will take place in the men’s soccer competition in Paris 2024 in just over a year, but before that it was adjusted to the Maurice Revello Tournament, the emblematic annual youth competition that takes place in the south of the French nation and that on June 18 saw Panama celebrate for the first time with a 4 to 1 against Mexico in the final. Australia completed the podium.

The world’s leading talent hunters were distributed in Aubagne, Mallemort and Salon-de-Provence, venues of the “festival” that will not host matches during the Olympic Games (in addition to Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice and Saint-Étienne will host) with the aim of looking at the players with the greatest projection. Nine of the 12 participating teams competed in their Olympic category, the U-23, although without the three largest teams accepted at the Games. The exceptions were the local team, which presented its under-21 team, Japan, that traveled with the under-19, and an impromptu Mediterranean team with local players under 21 that came around the time to replace Togo.

In the absence of a U-23 World Cup and the scarcity of official multi continental competitions in the preparatory category for the Olympic Games, this edition of Maurice Revello, the 49th, and next year have been valid and will be used as stained glass windows and test benches essential for the formation of the squads for the Games. Like Olympic football, it draws on teams from all confederations and also offers a women’s championship. In other annual events such as the Alcudia Tournament, under-20 teams participate, which could be understood as a half-rehearsal for the Olympic event.

This requirement forces those selected to settle for the continental competition: in November, the African U-23 Cup will be held in Morocco, between October and November the Pan American Games will face the U-23 (and three majors) in Santiago de Chile and from June 23 the U-22 will be played at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador. The September Asian Games, in Hangzhou, will also have the under-23 players, while the European Games, starting next Wednesday, June 21, do not include football in their program.

The Maurice Revello Tournament has seen numerous Olympic champions compete. One of the most iconic is Javier Mascherano, who defended Argentina in the 2003 edition, a year before winning the first of his two gold medals. With a greater gap between one and the other, Daniel Alves won both tournaments: the French one in 2002 and, 19 years later, the Tokyo Games. The strongest contrast is the Mexican Héctor Herrera, who in 2012 won both championships just 70 days apart. Juan Román Riquelme was crowned in 1998 and a decade later in Beijing 2008.

This competition has an advantage that football does not enjoy in the Games, and that is that it is played with the club season that has already ended. The historic struggle of the National Olympic Committees to secure the transfer of players may find a turning point in Paris 2024 with Kylian Mbappé when France must negotiate with its club on duty (PSG, Real Madrid or unknown?).

Regarding the local team, last week was a source of Olympic enthusiasm not only because they announced Mbappé's desire to be able to participate, but also because it transpired that Hugo Lloris and Raphaël Varane, the world champions and runners-up who said goodbye to the senior team after Qatar 2022, could return to face their “Last Dance” in the search for the gold medal that their country has been denied since Los Angeles 1984.

So far, only three have been selected that have their guaranteed spot for Paris 2024: France, as host, and the United States and the Dominican Republic by CONCACAF. The remaining 13 places will be resolved as follows: three through the Under-21 Euro Cup (July 2023), another three through the aforementioned African U-23 Cup (September 2023), three more in the U-23 Asian Cup (January 2024), two in the South American Olympic Qualifying Championship (January 2024), one in the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Championship and the remaining in a repechage between an African and an Asian.