It’s possible, arguably likely, that the entire 2016 U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team will be made up of 2015 Women’s World Cup players, in part because the Olympic roster maximum is 18 players, versus 23 for the World Cup.
Take a look at history. Women’s soccer debuted at the Olympics in 1996. In five Olympics, an average of 3.4 players per Games made the U.S. Olympic team after not being on the previous year’s World Cup team.
But that was when World Cup roster sizes were 20 or 21 players, making it tougher to pull off the World Cup-Olympic double.