Top stars miss out on Olympic football qualifying tournament

South American football teams trying to secure a spot at the Tokyo Olympics will have to do without some of their best Under-23 players at an upcoming qualifying tournament.

The region's Pre-Olympic Tournament begins on Saturday in Colombia without many of the top players that are eligible, including Brazil's Real Madrid duo Rodrygo and Vinicius Júnior and Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli. Argentina are without Inter Milan's Lautaro Martínez and Lisandro Martínez of Ajax, while hosts Colombia are missing Luis Fernando Díaz of Porto.

The main reason is that the tournament is not an official FIFA event, and so clubs have no obligation to make their players available. Brazil had to replace five players of its final squad list because European clubs did not authorize their players to go.

"As coach what I can do is to call them and then it is up for the clubs to collaborate," said Albiceleste coach Fernando Batista.

It's the first time since 2004 that the Pre-Olympic Tournament has been staged. For the last three Olympics, the South American Youth Championship was used as the Olympic qualifying event instead.

Colombia are in group A with Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador, while Brazil feature in group B with Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia.

The top two in each group advance to the second round, with the winner and runner-up qualifying for Tokyo.

Defending Olympic champions Brazil are coached by André Jardine, who will face much less pressure than his predecessor four years ago at the Rio de Janeiro Games. His team features attacking midfielder Reinier, who is about to turn 18 and has been linked with a move to Real Madrid from Flamengo.

Argentina won Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008 but were eliminated in the first round in Rio. The team now features mainly players from the domestic league, with a few exceptions such as Joaquín Blázquez of Valencia, and Valentín Castellanos of New York City FC.

The star of the team is explosive San Lorenzo striker Adolfo Gaich, who has already been called up to the senior national team.

Colombia called up 15 domestic players and eight that play abroad.