Liverpool's £11million striker Ryan Babel and Everton front-man Victor Anichebe have been called up for the respective squads of Holland and Nigeria for Beijing.

Babel's inclusion will annoy Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, who has already lost Javier Mascherano, Lucas and - probably - Emiliano Insua to the Games next month.

The 21-year-old missed Holland's involvement in Euro 2008 because of an ankle injury a week before the tournament started in Austria and Switzerland.

And he has battled back to fitness earlier than expected, allowing the Dutch to call him up today in coach Foppe de Haan's 18-man squad.

As part of their preparations for the Games, Holland will face Belgium on July 23 before flying to Hong Kong for the ING Cup.

The team will then move on to Tianjin in China, where they play their first Olympic match against Nigeria on August 7 before also facing Japan and the United States in Group B.

So it is likely that Babel and Anichebe will clash when their countries meet in the first group match.

Benitez cannot stop Babel going under the competition rules, with the winger expressing his keenness to participate.

Benitez said recently: "Obviously, we are really pleased that Ryan has come back to training because he is an important player for us and he has worked hard to recover from the injury he suffered with Holland.

"But we are really worried because after getting him fit we will lose him again. This is a big problem - we prepare him and then he goes away with the national team.

"This season is very important for him. In his first season he was settling in but this time he has more experience and we are looking for him to give something from the beginning, so it is really important for him to start working with his team."

Anichebe is in a 26-man party and will leave for a training camp in South Korea tomorrow.

The squad will then be whittled down to the 22 that will compete in the Games, with Anichebe - already a full international - a near certainty to be selected.

If Nigeria make the final on August 23, he could miss the first two games of the new Premier League season.

Anichebe played his first game for Nigeria in March and scored on his debut to help them reach the Olympics with a 3-0 win over South Africa.

The 20-year-old hit five goals in 41 appearances last season for Everton.