Explained: How to qualify for 2028 LA Olympics in Cricket?

The Olympic Qualification System (OQS) for Cricket at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games was officially confirmed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday.

Cricket returns to the Olympics after 128 years at the Los Angeles Games, featuring two medal events with six teams each in the men's and women's sections.

This marks the first-ever women's cricket competition at the Olympics, while the men's event returns after a solitary appearance in the 1900 Paris Games.

The six teams will be split into two groups of three in both competitions, with each team first playing the other two teams in its own group once.

Then they will play two additional matches against teams from the opposing group that finished in a different position. For example, the first-placed team in Group A will play the second and third-placed teams from Group B.

The top two teams overall will then compete for the gold and silver medals, while the third- and fourth-placed teams will play for the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, each team will consist of 15 players, bringing the total athlete quota for cricket at the LA Games to 180.

Qualification Process

Hosts Quota

The host nation is guaranteed one spot each in the men's and women's competitions. However, their teams must be ranked inside the top 15 of the ICC Team Rankings as of 31 December 2026 to be eligible.

If either USA team fails to meet this criterion, the unused host quota will be reallocated to the next highest-ranked eligible team (regardless of continent) that has not yet qualified.

Women's T20I World Cup 2026

The first Olympic qualifier for Cricket is the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in England & Wales, where four of the six quota spots will be decided.

These spots will be awarded to the highest-ranked eligible National Olympic Committees (NOCs), with one berth each allocated to the top team from four different continents: Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

Note: Although the West Indies women’s team has reached the semi-finals, they are not eligible for an Olympic quota as they are not recognised as a single IOC National Olympic Committee.

As a composite team representing multiple Caribbean nations, a separate West Indies Nations Regional Tournament will be held to determine which individual NOC from the region will advance to the final global Olympic qualifier.

World Rankings

In the men's competition, the ICC Team rankings will determine the first quota, which will be allocated to the highest-ranked eligible NOCs, with one berth each allocated to the top team from four different continents.

The Olympic qualification ranking window for the men's team will end on 31st December 2026, and the results post that will not be counted in the ranking points.

Global Qualifiers

The final spot in each of the two disciplines will be decided by a Global Qualifier named the Final Olympic Games Qualification Tournament (FOGQT).

The eight highest-ranked eligible teams not yet qualified, based on the ICC T20 Team Rankings, will fight it out at the Global qualifier to grab the final spots.

ICC will allocate these FOGT spots based on the ICC Team Rankings as of 31 December 2026 for men's, while the women's event will use the rankings as of 1 March 2027.