LA Olympics qualifiers to take place in January-February 2028

LONDON (Agencies): The men’s and women’s qualifiers for the Los Angeles Olympics are scheduled to take place in January and February 2028. The 2029 World Test Championship final, meanwhile, is scheduled to be played in England from June 8 to 12. The dates for these tournaments and the women’s and men’s T20 World Cups in 2028 feature in a global events list that the ICC shared with its member boards after meetings in October in Dubai. 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 ICC had originally pencilled in 2027 to host the Olympics qualifiers, but those events have been shifted to early 2028, less than six months before the start of the LA28 Games, the first Olympics since 1904 to feature cricket. While the schedule and tournament structure for the six teams participating in the Olympics had been put out in June, the ICC has now updated the qualification criteria for direct entry for hosts USA in the women’s category.

While Australia, India, South Africa and Great Britain have qualified as the highest-ranked eligible teams (based on their performance at the T20 World Cup earlier this year) from their respective continents in the women’s category, the top four teams on the ICC T20I rankings as on December 31, 2026, will secure slots as the top teams eligible from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania in the men’s category. Out of the remaining two slots, the ICC said in June that USA, as hosts, were eligible to participate in both men’s and women’s events subject to their finishing in the top 15 of the respective T20I rankings at any time during the qualification period from June 30, 2026 to December 31, 2026. The USA men’s team are currently ranked 13th, assuring them of direct entry to the Olympics, but the women’s team are in danger of missing out as per the ICC’s updated qualification norms.

In June the ICC had said in case USA Women, currently ranked 19th, failed to satisfy the criteria to qualify as hosts for the Olympics, a fifth automatic qualification spot would be awarded to the highest-placed non-qualified nation in the T20I rankings from any continent as of March 1, 2027. However, the ICC has updated that criteria stating that the fifth slot will be awarded based on the standings in the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy, to be played in India in February 2027. “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),” the ICC noted in the communication to member countries in October. The ICC has not yet finalised the venues for the men’s and women’s Olympics qualifiers, which will each feature eight nations to be finalised by ICC based on the international rankings. The eight teams will include the seven highest-ranked teams (outside automatic qualifiers), plus the winner of the Caribbean Regional Qualifier.

Back-to-back T20 World Cups in 2028:

The women’s and men’s T20 World Cups in 2028, scheduled to be played in Pakistan and Australia/New Zealand respectively, will be played back-to-back with just an 11-day gap between them. While the Women’s T20 World Cup, comprising 12 teams, is scheduled to be played from September 7 to October 1, the 20-team men’s tournament is slotted from October 12 to November 12. The ICC has also moved the window for the 2030 Men’s T20 World Cup to July-August from June, which had been the original plan when the 20-team tournament had been allotted to England, Ireland and Scotland.