The International Olympic Committee and the International Cricket Council confirmed the LA28 cricket qualification pathway on June 29, 2026, locking in how the sport’s six-team T20 tournaments at the Los Angeles Games will be filled. Six nations will compete in each of the men’s and women’s events at the purpose-built cricket venue in Pomona, and the structure includes the first ICC Olympics Qualifier, scheduled for 2027. The framework hands five of the six places to the highest-ranked team from each Olympic continent, leaving one slot open to a new global qualifier.
The geographic-first design carries cost. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, all ICC Full Members and mainstays of the sport’s marquee rivalries, are at risk of missing the LA28 cricket tournament unless they reach the ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027. ICC Chairman Jay Shah called the confirmation “a landmark moment for our sport” in the ICC’s release on the pathway.
The LA28 Cricket Qualification Pathway at a Glance
Five of the six places in each gender go to the highest-ranked eligible teams from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, plus the host nation, decided through existing ICC events and the ICC T20I rankings. The sixth and last place in both the men’s and women’s fields will be settled at the newly introduced ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027, an eight-team event per gender. The structure leaves the door open to a wider set of nations while still rewarding the top-ranked sides in each continental block. the ICC and IOC announcement confirming the pathway was issued from the ICC’s news desk on June 29.
For the men’s competition, the cut-off is the ICC Men’s T20I rankings on 31 December 2026. The top-ranked eligible team from each of Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania qualifies, provided they sit in the top 15 of the rankings at that snapshot. The USA are eligible to qualify as hosts in both genders, subject to the same top-15 cut-off. On the women’s side, a fallback slot exists: if the USA women’s team does not reach the top 15, the fifth automatic berth will move to the highest-ranked non-qualified nation in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings as of 1 March 2027.
Seven of the eight teams in each ICC Olympics Qualifier field will come from the next-highest-ranked teams on the relevant ICC T20I rankings, excluding those already through. The remaining entrant, in either gender, will come from the Caribbean qualifier pathway carved out for the West Indies.
Cricket’s return to the Olympic Games is a landmark moment for our sport and a powerful opportunity to showcase the very best of cricket to the world. The confirmation of this qualification pathway is an important step towards Los Angeles 2028 and gives Members across the world a clear and exciting route to the Olympic stage. The Olympic Games represent the pinnacle of multi-event sport, and cricket’s inclusion at LA28 will inspire players and fans in every region.
That was ICC Chairman Jay Shah in the ICC’s June 29 release confirming the pathway alongside the IOC.
First Four Women’s Teams Already Locked In
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 has already done part of the LA28 qualifying work. Australia, Great Britain (via England), India, and South Africa are confirmed as the highest-placed teams from Oceania, Europe, Asia, and Africa in the ongoing tournament, securing four of the six women’s slots at LA28.
The four teams were not allocated by ranking points alone. Each represents the highest-placed team from one of the four continental qualification zones. Australia seals Oceania, India seals Asia, Great Britain, formed from ECB, Cricket Scotland, and Cricket Ireland players, seals Europe, and South Africa seals Africa. The women’s tournament at LA28 begins on July 12 and runs through the women’s gold medal match on July 20. On the men’s side, none of the six slots is finalised yet; all five continental places will be set when the ICC T20I rankings snapshot closes on December 31, 2026. All matches will run at the purpose-built venue in Pomona, the LA28 cricket competition page confirms.
What the Geography-First Model Costs the Game’s Giants
The trade-off sits in the Asia slot. With one team per continent, India is virtually certain to take Asia’s place, and Pakistan, ranked among the top T20I sides, is forced into the global qualifier route. Full Members of the ICC with deep Test and T20I pedigree find themselves competing for a single spare slot, a structural break from the ICC’s original top-six rankings idea.
Sri Lanka and New Zealand sit in the same boat. Both are ICC Full Members with white-ball pedigree, and both would have been near-certainties under the original top-six rankings cut-off. Under the geography-first design, they must finish among the next-highest unqualified teams in the T20I rankings to reach the ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027. A failure at that stage means no LA28 cricket.
The possibility of an India-Pakistan Olympic match, the fixture that anchors the sport’s largest television audience, is in genuine doubt. With only one Asian slot, the two sides cannot both take the direct path, and only a meeting at the ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027 could deliver the rivalry on the Olympic stage.
ECB chairman Richard Thompson laid out the philosophy in a BBC Test Match Special interview. “The preference from the IOC is to work to the ‘five ring‘ principle, which is teams from each of the continents represent their continent,” Thompson said. The ICC’s original LA28 proposal had shortlisted the top six T20I-ranked teams at a predetermined cut-off date, a model rejected because it would not have delivered the IOC’s continental coverage. the ICC’s continental qualification plan later moved to the geography-first model to satisfy the IOC’s universal representation principle.
| Olympic Continent | Slot path | Highest-ranked team currently projected |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | Top T20I ranking on 31 Dec 2026 | India |
| Oceania | Top T20I ranking on 31 Dec 2026 | Australia |
| Europe | Top T20I ranking on 31 Dec 2026 | Great Britain (via England) |
| Africa | Top T20I ranking on 31 Dec 2026 | South Africa |
| Americas | Host or Caribbean Qualifier | USA (host) or Caribbean NOC |
| Sixth slot | ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027 | Open |
The Caribbean Carve-Out and the USA Host Path
The West Indies face a structural problem. Cricket West Indies is a composite ICC member covering multiple Caribbean nations and is not recognised by the IOC as a single National Olympic Committee, leaving West Indies are ineligible to obtain a quota place. The ICC has built a workaround: if the West Indies men’s or women’s side is among the eight highest-ranked unqualified teams on 31 December 2026, the ICC will host a dedicated Caribbean Qualifier to decide which NOC will represent the region at the ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027.
The USA path is conditional. As host nation, the USA are eligible to qualify for both the men’s and women’s events, subject to being in the top 15 of the relevant ICC T20I rankings at the 31 December 2026 cut-off. If the USA men miss the threshold, the fifth automatic spot moves to the next-highest-ranked nation from any continent that has not already qualified by that date. If the USA women miss the threshold, the same logic applies using the 1 March 2027 snapshot.
For Europe, the path runs through a Great Britain team. The ECB, Cricket Scotland, and Cricket Ireland have formed Great Britain Cricket as a single entity to field a unified side at LA28, effectively defending the gold medal won by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers at the 1900 Paris Games. The carve-outs sit against a wider LA28 push, with Cricket’s Asian Games 2026 exclusion context setting the stage for the Olympic return.
How the LA28 Cricket Tournament Will Run
The competition format splits six nations into two groups of three. Each team plays the other two sides in its group once, then plays two additional matches against teams from the opposite group that finished in a different position. Results across those four matches per team build a final standings table.
The top two sides contest the gold medal match, and the third and fourth sides play for bronze. The first match is scheduled for July 12, the women’s gold medal match for July 20, and the men’s gold medal match for July 29, 2028. Each qualified nation may pick from a 15-player squad, with cricket allocated 90 athlete places per gender at LA28.
- 6 teams per gender
- T20 format, 20 overs per side
- 15-player squads
- 90 athletes allocated per gender
- 12 July to 29 July 2028 (tournament window)
128 Years From Vélodrome de Vincennes to Pomona
Cricket has appeared at the Olympics exactly once. The lone match took place at the 1900 Paris Games, a two-day contest between Devon and Somerset Wanderers, representing Great Britain, and the French Athletic Club Union, a side dominated by British expatriates. It was played on 19 to 20 August at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, with twelve players a side by mutual agreement.
Great Britain won by 158 runs, bowling France out for 26 in the second innings with five minutes left on the final day. The medals were originally silver for the winners and bronze for the runners-up, later upgraded to gold and silver, and the players did not realise they had competed in an Olympic event at all. The match had been advertised as part of the Exposition Universelle, the world’s fair running alongside the Games.
The sport was scheduled for the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis but cancelled before the Games started, and was not considered again for over a century. At LA28 the action moves to the Knight Riders Cricket Ground at the Fairplex in Pomona, a $21 million modular stadium announced on 19 March 2026, expandable to a 15,000-seat capacity for the Olympics. The venue will also serve as the home ground of the Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket, giving cricket a permanent American base after the Games close. The wider LA28 picture, including how other LA28 sports are placed across LA County, sits within the IOC EB’s LA28 qualification approval release, which lists the dozens of sports and disciplines whose pathways have been endorsed in the lead-up to the Games.
- Two-day match, 12-a-side, played 19 to 20 August 1900
- Great Britain won by 158 runs, awarded gold (medals upgraded retroactively)
- Players did not know they were in an Olympic event
- Cricket was scheduled for 1904 but cancelled before the Games
Frequently Asked Questions
When does cricket return to the Olympics?
Cricket returns at the LA28 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, with the first T20 match scheduled for 12 July 2028 at the Fairplex in Pomona. The women’s gold medal match is set for 20 July, and the men’s final for 29 July.
How many teams will play cricket at LA28?
Six teams will compete in each of the men’s and women’s T20 events at LA28. Five of the six places go to the highest-ranked eligible team from each Olympic continent plus the host nation; the sixth and final place will be decided at the new ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027.
Why is Pakistan at risk of missing out?
Pakistan can take only the Asia slot at LA28, currently on course for India, since only one team per continent earns direct qualification. Pakistan would need to finish among the next-highest-ranked unqualified teams on 31 December 2026 and then win the ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027 to book its place.
What is the ICC Olympics Qualifier?
The ICC Olympics Qualifier is a new eight-team, single-gender event scheduled for 2027 that awards the sixth and final LA28 cricket slot. Seven of the eight entrants come from the next-highest T20I rankings outside the already-qualified teams, with the eighth entrant coming from the Caribbean pathway for the West Indies.
Where will cricket be played at LA28?
Cricket matches at LA28 will run at the purpose-built Knight Riders Cricket Ground in Pomona, California. The modular venue was announced on 19 March 2026 at a cost of $21 million, with capacity expandable to 15,000 seats for the Olympic window.
