The 2024 Summer Olympics are quickly approaching, with the football competition kicking off on July 24.

16 countries will compete for medals in the men’s football tournament and the potential presence of Inter Miami star Lionel Messi has been touted by Javier Mascherano, his former teammate at Barcelona who is in charge of the Albiceleste Under-23s.

The squads will be made up of players under the age of 23, with the exception of three senior stars called upon by each side to guide the locker room. Given the rules, we may just see Messi representing Argentina again after Copa America.

Only 12 of the 16 teams have qualified for the men’s football competition so far. France qualify as hosts, while Spain and the United States will also hope to challenge Argentina for gold. Three teams from Asia are still to be confirmed.

Football at the Olympic Games will have 16 teams in the first phase. The teams will be divided into four groups of four; countries from the same continent cannot be drawn together.

The top two from each zone will advance to the knockout stages, starting with the quarterfinals. A third place play-off will take place fo the bronze medal and the final will determine the gold and silver winners.

The venues include Parc des Princes, Saint-Etienne, Nice, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nantes.

Although the opening of the Olympics takes place on July 26, the men’s football kicks off two days before and concludes on August 9, a day before the women’s tournament final.

Each national team squad can have three players over 23 years of age.

Messi is technically eligible to compete in the Olympic Games as one of the three senior players and his former teammate Mascherano has been vocal about including him in his squad if the chance arrives.

He recently said: “Everyone already knows my relationship with Leo [Messi], the friendship I have.

“A player like him has the doors open to accompany us [at the Olympics], then it will obviously depend on him and his commitments.”

Thiago Almada, another Argentine MLS star, has also admitted he would love Messi to be included, adding: “I hope he has the desire, that he can be there.

“We have to see how he is at that time, it would be a dream that he would be able to play.”

However, so far there has been no official confirmation that the Inter Miami superstar will feature in the tournament. He still remains part of Lionel Scaloni’s senior Argentina squad, who compete in the Copa America hosted in the US from June 20 to July 14, less than two weeks before the Olympics begin in Paris.

Major League Soccer may be taking a break in the months of July and August, but Leagues Cup action will take over. Should Messi travel to France to participate in the Olympics, he would miss Inter Miami’s opening campaign of the tournament.

Leagues Cup runs from July 26 to August 25, giving Messi an opportunity to feature in the later stages of the competition if he departs for national team duty. He won Leagues Cup in 2023, lifting the inaugural trophy with Miami.