LA Olympics 2028: Cricket qualifiers expected in Jan-Feb, says report | Olympic Games 2024

The qualifiers for the Los Angeles Olympics’ cricket competition will take place in January-February 2028, a media report has stated.

According to ‘Cricinfo’, the window for the qualifiers for both men and women “feature in a global events list that the ICC shared with its member boards after meetings in October in Dubai.” It also said that the 2029 World Test Championship final will take place in England from June 8 to 12.

“Overall, there are 12 men’s, seven women’s and five Under-19 events (including qualifiers) currently scheduled between the 2027 and the 2031 ODI World Cups.

“While several marquee events were already finalised by the ICC in 2021, multiple tournaments have now been assigned dates even as some dots remain to be connected,” the report said.

Cricket would be returning to the Olympics after over 100 years in the 2028 Games.

Australia, India, South Africa and Great Britain have already qualified for the women’s event as the highest-ranked teams from their respective continents based on their performance at the T20 World Cup earlier this year.

In the men’s competition, the top four teams as on December 31 this year from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania will make the cut.

Hosts USA were declared eligible to participate in both the men’s and women’s events if they finish in the top 15 of the rankings during the qualification period from June 30, 2026 to December 31, 2026.

“If the host (USA) does not meet the ranking criteria by 31 Dec 2026, that spot is reallocated based on the ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027 standings (cut-off 1 March 2027),” Cricinfo quoted the ICC communication to member countries in October.

The qualifiers will each feature eight countries to be finalised by ICC based on the international rankings.