Football star, Neymar Junior will not represent his home country at the Tokyo Olympics. The Paris Saint Germain striker was not named as part of the Brazilian squad that was announced on Thursday.

According to Brazilian media, Neymar did ask if he might be made available but the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said he would have to be satisfied with the Copa for this year.

“Neymar is our reference point .. a great leader of the national team and we would like to be able to count on him. But we couldn’t,” admitted CBF coordinator Branco.

However, he conceded it was difficult to expect any player to double up for both tournaments and then head off to join pre-season club commitments and wished the star luck in landing Copa glory.

Twenty-nine year-old Neymar scored the winning penalty kick in the gold medal game at the Maracana five years ago. And he’s not the only star player who wasn’t named for the squad.

Neymar’s PSG teammate Marquinhos, who also landed a gold medal in Rio five years ago, is another name not on coach Andre Jardine’s list.