Why isnt the spanish national football/soccer team going to the olympics?

Question

Why isnt the spanish national football/soccer team going to the olympics?

Answer 1

Failed to qualify.

Edit:  Olympics is for under 23 players.

Answer 2

The Olympic qualification for Europe started in 2006 and was based on the U-21 teams.  Spain didn't qualify, thus didn't make it.

Answer 3

UEFA, which only has four representatives in Beijing 2008, designated that the teams qualifying for the Olympic finals would be those that reached the semifinals of the 2007 Under-21 European Championships held in the Netherlands.

(The Olympics are contested by Under-23 teams, but UEFA does not stage an U-23 tournament)

For their part, Spain easily won their initial qualifying group ahead of Slovakia and Albania, but were eliminated from Olympic competition after failing to qualify for the 8-team UEFA finals in Holland, losing a playoff to Italy 2-1 on aggregate (0-0, 1-2).

As for the four teams going to China, the Netherlands, Serbia and Belgium all qualified by reaching the semifinals of the UEFA U-21 tournament.

But the fourth semifinalist was England. And since England participates in the Olympics as part of the UK (which does not participate in football) the next two highest ranked teams, Italy and Portgual, had a playoff to see who would join the semifinal trio in Beijing.

After a goalless encounter that included extra time, Italy defeated Portugal 4-3 on penalties to claim UEFA's final Olympic berth.