No more than three players from the U.S. men’s soccer roster at the 2026 World Cup can be on the 2028 Olympic team, should traditional Olympic age eligibility rules remain in place.
Olympic men’s soccer has largely been for players 23 years and younger. Teams have traditionally been allowed three over-age exceptions.
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Though final 2028 Olympic qualification procedures have not been posted on the IOC website yet, FIFA did say last December that the age rules will remain in place for LA.
“The men’s tournament is a U-23 competition,” the document read. “All players participating in the final competition of the men’s tournament shall be born on or after 1 January 2005. However, a maximum of three players who do not meet this age limit may also be included in the official list of players for the final competition.”
None of the players on the U.S.’ 26-man World Cup team were born in 2005 or later.
So any 2026 World Cup players who make it to the 2028 LA Games — where the U.S. gets an automatic spot as host nation, per the FIFA document — will have to be one of the three over-age exceptions.
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If past rules remain, their club teams would also have to release them to play in the Olympics. In other summer senior competitions, clubs are forced to release players, which can make clubs less likely to release players for the Olympics when they don’t have to.
However, every U.S. Olympic men’s soccer roster since 1992 included at least one player from the previous World Cup.
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1990 World Cup and 1992 Barcelona Olympics: Chris Henderson
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1994 World Cup and 1996 Atlanta Olympics: Alexi Lalas, Claudio Reyna, plus Kasey Keller from 1990 World Cup
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1998 World Cup and 2000 Sydney Olympics: Jeff Agoos, Brad Friedel, Frankie Hejduk
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U.S. did not qualify for 2004 Athens Olympics.
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2006 World Cup and 2008 Beijing Olympics: Brian McBride
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U.S. did not qualify for 2012, 2016, 2020 Olympics.
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