Insight

ICC and IOC confirm Olympic Games Qualification Pathway

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 28: Ashleigh Gardner and Georgia Wareham of Australia walks off the field after the ICC Women's T20 World Cup match between Australia and India at Lord's Cricket Ground on June 28, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed the pathway route for cricket’s return to the Olympic Games at Los Angeles 2028.

Six nations will compete in each of the Men’s and Women’s T20 competitions, with all matches to be played at the purpose-built cricket venue in Pomona.

Five qualification places for each event are to be decided through a combination of existing ICC events and ICC T20I rankings.

The final place in both the Men’s and Women’s competitions will be decided through a new ICC Olympics Qualifier, which will take place in 2027.

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup currently being played out in the United Kingdom decided the first participants of the Olympics, with Australia, Great Britain (via England), India and South Africa qualifying as the highest-placed teams from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

On the men’s side, five of the six nations will be decided through ICC Men’s T20I rankings, with the highest-ranked eligible teams from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania at the 31 December 2026 cut-off progressing to LA28, provided they are in the top-15 of the rankings.

Despite the event on USA soil, the American men and women will only be able to qualify for the event via the qualifier if they too end the year inside the rankings top-15.

As it stands, the men are in 13th, though the women stand in 20th with 98 rating points, well behind 15th placed UAE on 137 rating points.

Qualification paths are slightly different for both men’s and women’s events should the USA not be in the top-15. For the women’s event, should the USA women’s team not meet that criteria, a fifth automatic qualification spot will be awarded to the highest-placed non-qualified nation in the ICC T20I rankings from any continent as of 1 March 2027. For the men’s event, the fifth automatic qualification spot will be allocated to the next-highest-ranked nation from any continent that has not already qualified by 31 December 2026.

The sixth and final place for both Men’s and Women’s competition will be decided at the first ICC Olympics Qualifier 2027. This will include eight nations in both Men’s and Women’s fields, though details on those events will be confirmed at a later date.

Importantly, as a composite ICC Member representing multiple nations in the Caribbean, the West Indies is not recognised as a National Olympic Committee. However, as long as they are among the eight highest-ranked teams not yet qualified by 31 December 2026, the ICC will host a dedicated Caribbean Qualifier event to determine which NOC will represent the region at the ICC Olympics Qualifier.

The ICC also confirmed the format at the Olympics tournament.

The six teams in the Olympic competition will be divided into groups of three. Each team will play each other once before playing two further matches against teams in the opposite group who did not finish in the same position.

The final top two will contest for gold and silver medals, with the third and fourth nations competing for bronze.

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