Barcelona—the team, not the city—must be in a pretty cranky mood today. You have to be any time you A) lose a battle with your league and B) thoughts of this happening to your most prized player while not wearing your team’s kit keep on cycling through your head. FIFA ruled against the La Liga club, which tried to prevent Lionel Messi from heading to Beijing with the rest of the Argentine national soccer squad because, well, dammit it’s just not fair to allow players under 23 to miss playing for their country. Jesus, who was the judge, Kobe Bryant?

“Taking part in the Olympic Games is a unique opportunity for all athletes of any sporting discipline,” FIFA said in a statement. “It would not be justifiable to prevent any player younger than 23 from participating in such an event if his representative team had qualified.”

A list of Olympic-qualifying teams with the most international players this effects after the jump.

Brazil
Marcelo (Real Madrid), Anderson (Manchester United), Lucas (Liverpool), Alexandre Pato (Milan), Jô (Manchester City), Rafinha (Schalke), Diego (Werder Bremen)

Argentina
Fabian Monzon (Boca Juniors), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Ever Banega (Valencia), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Netherlands
Dirk Marcellis (PSV Eindhoven), Gianni Zuiverloon (West Brom), Urby Emanuelson (Ajax), tman Bakkal (PSV Eindhoven), Evander Sno (Celtic), Royston Drenthe (Real Madrid), Ryan Babel (Liverpool)

Cameroon
Stéphane Mbia (Stade Rennais), Landry Nguemo (AS Nancy), Alexandre Song (Arsenal)

FIFA: Clubs must allow players under 23 to attend Olympics [USA Today]
Image [Goal.com]