Football and also the Olympic Games
Soccer was in the first times of development throughout the first Olympics in 1896. Soccer wasn't on the Olympics program guide for the event but there has been some sources which claim that an Olympic tournament occured during the first Olympics.
In 1900 Soccer was contained in the Olympics. However, there happen to be soccer games during every Summer Games FIFA does not accept or acknowledge soccer as an official Olympic sport to this day. The first proper tournament was organized by the Football Association within the London Games of 1908. This featured six teams which were increased to eleven teams throughout the 1912 Olympic Games.
By the 1920s, the way soccer was played throughout the Olympics had changed slightly. Whole international teams couldn't send their entire lineup and would need to pick which teammates visited compete. In the 1936 games, the British played against the Germans by which even Adolf Hitler attended the sport match.
In 1984 for the Los Angeles Games, the IOC brought back the idea of sending professional athletes towards the Olympics. Even though FIFA didn't accept the game as official for that Olympics, they would still dictate what comprised an official team. Both FIFA and the IOC wanted teams that were made up of younger individuals. Some say this was a method to sabotage the game for other countries with stronger football teams, as shown by the low scoring these countries receive every Summer Olympics. However England has been working about this problem for a long time before the United States. In 1974 the Football Association of England asserted that there was no longer a distinction between "Amateur" and "Professional" soccer.
As 2012 is now looking for the Olympic Games to occur, all eyes take presctiption Great Britain to make use of this home court advantage to assemble what some believe to become the most impressive football team yet. Many countries have football teams within the Olympics vying for the title and it is becoming more and more relevant, including France, America, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Japan, Canada, Russia, Spain and Mexico.