CONCACAF minnows Honduras have emerged as favourites to win gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, after the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) ruled that league clubs were not obliged to release their players for the tournament.

Barcelona, Werder Bremen and Schalke all had a bit of a girly strop after their players expressed a wish to represent their countries at a two-week long tournament that only takes place once every four years. The CAS ruled in favour of the clubs, throwing doubt over the participation of Argentina’s Olympic diving sensation Lionel Messi.

This means that it could be a three-way battle between China, New Zealand and Honduras to take the medals, with Honduras emerging as likely champions, says the BBC’s Olympic football ‘expert’ Gabby Logan. She said: “Most people will have a punt on Brazil or Argentina or even 1996 winners Nigeria, but trust me, it will either be China, New Zealand or Honduras. The smart money will be on Honduras if you ask me, which I realise you’re probably not, mostly on account of the fact I just sit here with a load of cheap make up on trying not to sound quite as fucking dumb as I look.”

Honduras are currently ranked 61st by FIFA and are most famous for the 1970 World Cup qualifier against El Salvador that sparked off a six-day war between the two countries. They have only qualified for one World Cup, in 1982, where they drew against hosts, Spain, and Northern Ireland. However, they have won two UNCAF Gold Cups (1993 and 1995) and they also finished third in the 2001 Copa America, beating Brazil in the quarter-finals.

But they have not been invited to compete in the Copa America since 2004 after six Honduras players were caught smuggling a lorryload of cows back into the country. Honduras is currently subject to tough UN sanctions banning the import and export of all bovine livestock after it was discovered the Honduras government is engaged in a human-cow interbreeding programme.

The programme is thought to be an alleged attempt to create a super-race of cattle that would be capable of ruling India and other Hindu nations. One IOC member commented: “The Olympics are about sport not politics – what crazy shit Honduras get up to in their own time is up to them.”

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