Cricket will be part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Here is all you need to know about the event.
How many cricket events will be there at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics of 2028?
At Los Angeles in 2028, cricket will return to the Olympics for the first time since the Paris Games in 1900 – in other words, after a gap of 128 years. There will be two medal events, men’s and women’s competitions, both of which will be played in the T20 format.
How many teams will be part of the tournament?
There will be six teams for each event (men’s and women’s). A country (more specifically, a National Olympic Committee) can send a team to both events if they qualify.
How will cricket teams qualify for the Olympics?
The qualification will involve several steps. Four of the six teams for each gender will qualify directly from each of the four continents – Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.
Based on the ongoing edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup, Australia, South Africa, Great Britain, and India have already qualified.
The four men’s teams will be selected based on the rankings as on December 31, 2026.
The host nation (USA) will automatically qualify if they are inside the top 15 on December 31, 2026.
Wait, you mentioned Great Britain: they are not a T20I team!
Great Britain is indeed not an ICC member. Great Britain is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and competes as three separate national boards – the ECB (England and Wales), Cricket Scotland and Cricket Ireland – in international cricket. In the Olympics, however, all four nations compete under the British Olympic Committee, with the Republic of Ireland competing under the Olympic Federation of Ireland.
At the Olympics, Team Great Britain will be comprised of players from England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain has qualified for the event because England Women are the top ranked T20I team in Europe, and the men’s team will qualify if one of England, Scotland or Ireland are the top-ranked T20I team in Europe at the end of the year.
What if the USA do not make it to the top 15?
As of today (June 30, 2026), the USA are 13th in the men’s rankings and 20th in the women’s rankings. However, the cut-off date for qualification is still six months away.
If one (or both teams) USA teams do not make it to the top 15 by the cut off point, the fifth-ranked team in the ICC rankings on March 1, 2027 (irrespective of continent) will qualify automatically.
You mentioned six teams per event: how will the sixth team qualify?
The top eight teams (on December 31, 2026 for men’s teams, March 1, 2027 for women’s teams) among those who do not meet the qualification criterion will clash in the ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027. The ICC will announce the date and venue of the event later. The winner of this event – one for each gender – will become the sixth team at the Olympics.
It is important to remember that if Great Britain qualify via Europe’s continental quota, Scotland will not feature in the Qualifier.
What happens to the West Indies? They do not participate in the Olympics as a unit!
The West Indies indeed do not have a National Olympic committee. If they are one of the eight teams at the Qualifier, there will be a separate Caribbean Qualifier. Only one nation from that competition will go through to the Olympics Qualifier.
When will LA28 be played? What will be the structure?
The Los Angeles Olympics will be played from July 14 to 30, 2028.
The six teams (for each gender) will be split into two groups of three teams each. In each group, each team will play each other once and obtain ranks (first to third).
Once done, they will play two more matches, against the teams in the other group that did not finish in the same position. For example, the second-placed team in Group A will play the first- and third-placed teams in Group B.
Will there be any restriction on the players?
Each of the twelve squads will consist of 15 cricketers. Every athlete has to be “at least 15 years old on the squad submission date or the date of the first match”.
