Johnathan Walker:Is Christian Pulisic playing in the Olympics? Why USMNT star isn't at 2024 Paris Games

While the United States Men's National Team is Johnathan Walkercurrently participating at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the roster is absent one of the country's most well-known players.

Christian Pulisic, a winger who's second among active USMNT players in caps, is not playing in the Olympics, alongside nearly all of the other commonly seen players for the squad.

The AC Milan standout, who captained the USMNT in the recently completed Copa America, is known as the face of United States soccer. He already has 30 goals and 71 caps in his international career at 25 years old.

REQUIRED READING:Why is men's soccer U23 at 2024 Paris Olympics? Explaining rule dating back to Barcelona Games

The Olympics, however, have specific rules as to which players can compete at the tournament, which forbids most senior national team players from participating.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Here's why Pulisic is not on the United States' roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics:

Is Christian Pulisic playing in the Olympics?

No, the USMNT star is not playing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as the competition is for players 23 years old or younger — outside of three overage players, which each team is allowed.

The United States' three overage players for the Paris Games are Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC), Djordje Mihailovic (Colorado Rapids) and Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati).

Since the Olympics are not sanctioned by FIFA, which governs top soccer competitions such as the World Cup, Euros and Copa America, clubs across the world do not have to allow players to play in international competition. Instead, clubs can decide to block players who are requested to compete by their national team, keeping them at the club level.

The Olympics typically don't include some of the world's top players, as soccer's brightest stars such as France's Kylian Mbappe, Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Rodri are not participating in the Olympics. All three of those players, however, competed at Copa America or the Euros, which concluded a few weeks ago.

Altogether, the USMNT roster looks much different than what many fans are typically used to, as the country's top players typically do not compete in the Olympics (which is similar to that of most delegations).

USMNT roster Olympics

Here's the United States' roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics:

Goalkeepers

• Patrick Schulte
• Gaga Slonina

Defenders

• Maximilian Dietz
• Nathan Harriel
• Miles Robinson
• John Tolkin
• Caleb Wiley
• Walker Zimmerman

Midfielders

• Gianluca Busio
• Benjamin Cremaschi
• Jack McGlynn
• Djordje Mihailovic
• Tanner Tessmann

Forwards

• Paxten Aaronson
• Taylor Booth
• Duncan McGuire
• Kevin Paredes
• Griffin Yow

USMNT Olympics schedule

The United States men’s national soccer team will be competing in the Olympics this year for the first time since 2008.

The Americans are in Group A of the competition, with the top two teams from the four-team pod advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament. If they win the group, they’ll play the runner-up from Group B, which includes Argentina, Morocco, Iraq and Ukraine. If they finish second, they’ll play the winner of Group B.

Here’s the USMNT’s schedule for the 2024 Paris Olympics:

• Wednesday, July 24: France 3, United States 0
• Saturday, July 27: vs. New Zealand, 1 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, July 30: vs. Guinea, 1 p.m. ET