Is Street Football Ready to be an Olympic Sport

Short answer, no. Long answer, yeah no.

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Finally! 3X3

We're finally at the stage where Street Football globally has collectively decided on a structure for it's team aspect of the sport, 3v3. Right now you're able to see 3v3 crews popping up all over the world and it's glorious. I've seen teams from New York to Auckland beginning to make a name for themselves, and I hope that they do. With this new found and much needed guidance, athletes have been able to band together and create crews that can take on this format.

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Olympics?

Believe it or not, I'm not pulling this out of no-where, I have personally been made aware of these intentions. I have been told that Street Football is attempting to be an Olympic Sport by 2032. Yes I'm serious, I'm honestly not joking here. So that we're all on the same page, yes that would be absolutely ELITE, I'm actually hoping that happens. The last urban sport to enter the Olympics however didn't do to well, not well at all. Breakdancing unfairly was left with a terrible taste in everyone's mouth due to the absolute minority of competitors, which took away the deserved shine of many phenomenal athletes. This poor showing from one sport happened to be a lightbulb moment for many other urban and niche sports, "if Breakdancing is that bad and they have a spot in the Olympics, why can't we?", probably the worst thought process to have, but believe me, many had it. Street Football is no exception either, there's only one major difference, or two actually.

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3X3 Basketball??

Yes, 3X3 Basketball was in the 2024 Paris Olympics. That means Basketball has 2 forms of it's discipline in the coveted world games, so why can't football? I think this comes down to the same argument for many of, "What about Futsal?". In reality, the fact that 3X3 basketball is in the Olympics is a great sign for the potential of 3X3 Football, just the thorn in the side of Futsal creates a real problem. Many have argued for decades for Futsal to be in the Olympics, so why would a brand new and completely un-professionalised sport get in the door first? It probably wouldn't.

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Professionalism...

Street Football is probably the furthest thing from being a professional sport both on and off the streets. There isn't a global governing body (that works as it should), athletes don't make money from the actual sport, grassroots is non-existent, and there isn't really a global rule set either. So yes, the sport lacks professionalism on all ends, breaking any real chance of becoming an Olympic sport.

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Road to the Olympics!

This is what needs to change to make 3X3 an Olympic sport:

• Choose 1 governing body.
• Create a global rule set.
• Set up actual federations in each continent and each country within.
• Create a genuine roadmap for grassroots development.
• Somehow topple Futsal.

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I'd genuinely love Street Football to be in the Olympics, so this wasn't a hate or hit piece, but there needs to be some critical thinking. It can happen, we just can't get ahead of ourselves, let's do the boring work first that results in a great worldwide sport, then we can look at the shiny object that is the Olympics.