After a long wait, cricket is finally returning to the Olympics. At the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics, both the men’s and women’s events will feature six teams each, with a total of 28 matches to be played. The ICC revealed these details following a meeting held in Dubai.
ICC Chief Executive Sanjay Gupta said, “Inclusion in the Olympics is a monumental step for us. It will increase access to government funding, which will greatly help in development and infrastructure investment.”
Following the meeting, an ICC official explained, “This meeting focused on how the teams for the Olympic cricket event will be selected. It has been decided that the top five regionally ranked teams will qualify directly, while the sixth team will come through a qualifying tournament. ICC will announce the detailed process in due course.”
According to the current ICC rankings, the likely automatic qualifiers are:
India from Asia,
Australia from Oceania,
England from Europe,
South Africa from Africa, and
West Indies from the Americas.
As the host nation, the United States is also in contention for direct entry, though a final decision on this has yet to be made.
The matches will be played in the T20 format, with 15 players allowed per team, as the Olympic Committee has approved 90 athletes per event. The cricket competition will run from July 12 to July 29, 2028.
The women’s medal match will be held on July 20, while the men’s final is scheduled for July 29. All the games will take place at the Pomona Fairgrounds, located about 50 kilometers from Los Angeles.
