India’s women are already in for LA28, and the Olympic cricket qualifiers have moved to early 2028
The ICC’s new events list puts both Olympic qualifiers in January and February 2028, and gives the 2029 World Test Championship final a June date in England.
Oct 23, 2026
The ICC has put dates on the road to Los Angeles. The men’s and women’s qualifiers for the 2028 Olympics will be played in January and February 2028, according to a global events list the ICC sent to its member boards after its October meetings in Dubai. Cricinfo reported the list on 23 October.
That is a year later than first planned. The ICC had pencilled the qualifiers in for 2027, and the move leaves less than six months between the last qualifying game and the start of the LA28 Games. Cricket has been to the Olympics once before, at Paris in 1900.
Where India stand
India’s women do not need the qualifier at all. They, Australia, South Africa and Great Britain took four of the six places in the women’s event as the top eligible finishers from their continents at this year’s T20 World Cup.
The men’s route runs through the rankings. The four continental places in the men’s event go to the highest-ranked team from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania on the ICC T20I table as it stands on 31 December 2026. India were top of that table at the ICC’s annual update in May, on 275 points. Every series between now and the end of the year still counts, and that includes the five T20Is under way in New Zealand.
Each qualifier will have eight teams: the seven highest-ranked sides not already through, plus the winner of a Caribbean regional event. That extra event exists because West Indies, a combined side drawn from several countries, cannot enter the Olympics as a team. Venues for both qualifiers have not been decided.
The USA women’s problem
Hosts USA get a place in each event only if they reach the top 15 of the T20I rankings at some point between 30 June and 31 December 2026. The men are 13th, which is enough. The women have been outside the top 15 all along, and the window shuts in ten weeks.
When the qualification system came out in June, the fallback was simple: if USA Women missed out, the spot would go to the highest-ranked team not yet qualified on 1 March 2027. The ICC has now changed that. The spare place would instead be decided by the standings at the first Women’s Champions Trophy, which India host in February 2027.
Two World Cups, eleven days apart
The same list sets up a crowded end to 2028. The 12-team Women’s T20 World Cup in Pakistan runs from 7 September to 1 October, and the 20-team men’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand starts on 12 October and finishes on 12 November. That leaves 11 days between the women’s final and the start of the men’s event.
Indian fans will look at the host first. When the ICC Board confirmed Pakistan as hosts at its meeting in Ahmedabad earlier this year, it was with India playing their matches at a neutral venue. That venue has not been named.
The 2029 World Test Championship final has a date as well: 8 to 12 June, in England, which was already lined up to stage the 2027, 2029 and 2031 finals.