Published On 2/7/2026
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Last update: 10:16 (Mecca time)
Young Michael Olise, Bayern Munich player, imposed his name as one of the brightest stars in the current edition of the World Cup, with his intense brilliance in the French national team shirt.
Olissi (24 years old) amazed football fans with his magical left foot and his superior ability to make a difference with one touch. He provided his teammates with 6 decisive passes in 4 World Cup matches, and he is the only one to do so in the World Cup.
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Olissi had appeared in the French national team shirt for the first time in September 2024, and today he has become a “rhythm organizer” for the Roosters, in the words of the French network “rmcsport”, but despite that, he could have represented 3 other teams: Algeria, Nigeria or even England.
Diverse assets
Olissi has diverse origins. The player was born on December 12, 2001 in the British capital, London, to a Nigerian father and a mother who holds dual Algerian and French citizenship.
In this regard, Olisey was very clear from his “infancy”, as he decided to represent France and actually wore the Roosters’ shirt in all age groups with a number of coaches, most notably Thierry Henry, all the way to the first team with Didier Deschamps.
“My mother is from France. When I was young, I used to come here. I’ve always had this connection with France, and I’m proud of that,” Olisey said in a press conference when he was called up for the first time to the senior national team.
Regarding the most prominent players he admired, he added at the same conference, “Zinedine Zidane, Henry. In fact, there are many talented players on this team, but I was impressed by these two players in particular.”
During his upbringing in England, Olisey went through the academies of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Reading, yet “he remained loyal to the French teams in all their age groups, ignoring the temptations of the Three Lions teams.”
Attempts of the rest of the teams
The Nigerian national team was the first to call up Olissi, and he was selected in 2021 to be on the reserve list for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho.
Two years later, at a time when Olissi was shining with Crystal Palace, he received signs of interest from the Algerian national team, led by its coach at the time, Djamel Belmadi.
In October 2023, former Algerian international Yasser Laroussi posted a message on his Instagram account to motivate the player to wear the Algeria shirt, in which he wrote, “Michael Olise, we are waiting for you,” without any reaction from the player’s family and those close to him.
After that, the European Cup (Euro 2024) could have been a decisive turning point in Olisey’s international career. In that season, the player scored 10 goals and provided 6 assists for Crystal Palace, and despite that, Deschamps did not include him in the France roster.
This was not lost on the English national team officials, led by coach Gareth Southgate, who hoped to call him up to the “Three Lions” list, but administrative procedures took a lot of time and did not allow him to be with the team in the Euro.
Strong start
Instead of appearing in Euro 2024, Olissi participated with the French Olympic team in the Paris Olympics, and he presented a wonderful tournament with coach Henry, during which he won the silver medal, scored two goals and made five assists.
During the Olympics, Henry said, “His desire to play for France gives me goosebumps. He could have gone to the Euros with England, but he decided to play the Olympics with France. We are talking about players today and their lack of loyalty or love for the shirt… Him, his dream is to play for France. So I have great respect for him.”
At the beginning of the 2024-2025 season, Deschamps called up Olisey, and France won the “battle for his inclusion,” leading the team’s dream of winning the World Cup for the third time in its history after 1998 and 2018. He also became a fierce competitor for the Golden Ball according to the same network.
