Leeds United man named in final Olympic squad list despite Whites' tournament stance — YEP 5/7/24

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By Graham Smyth

Junior Firpo has received a final Olympics call.

Leeds United's Junior Firpo has been named in the Dominican Republic's final squad list for the Olympics, despite his club's stance on tournament involvement.

The Whites made their position clear when it was suggested that Mateo Joseph was in line for a call up by Spain for the tournament, which begins in Paris on Wednesday July 24 and concludes at the Parc de Princes on Saturday August 10 - the same day that Leeds' Championship campaign kicks off.

Joseph had his nationality change from England to Spain approved by the International Olympic Committee as Spain explored the possibility of selecting him, before their squad list was confirmed without his presence.

Involvement in the Olympics would deny Daniel Farke the chance to have a player for almost all of the pre-season training camp in Germany, friendly games and the final preparation for the season. Leeds' view has been the same as a number of other European clubs, that because The Olympics is not part of the official FIFA calendar they are under no obligation to release players for the competition.

Dominican Republic boss Ibai Gomez has named Firpo in his final list after the left-back made a switch of allegiance from Spain back to the country of his birth and made his senior international debut earlier this year.

To date he has won four international caps but the likelihood of him wearing his country's colours in The Olympics appears slim. Leeds' options at left-back currently consist of Sam Byram and Firpo, who both had to contend with injury issues last season but ultimately shared the responsibility in that position for the vast majority of the 2023/24 season.

Speaking after confirming Spain's initial squad list, Santi Denia admitted it had been a difficult process due to a number of factors, including the withholding of players by foreign clubs, but he refrained from naming those who had not been given permission.

He said: “It is the most difficult list we have made due to all the conditions we have had. Here are the ones that are available. The conditions are the age, number of players, of which we will have to discard four and then the foreign clubs that do not release players. It’s not a FIFA window so if foreign clubs don’t consider it beneficial then they won’t give you the players. In these months we have done a great job to make the filter. We started working with 180 players.”

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