Cricket Discussion | Qualification to Summer Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 Road to LA 2028

[Josh 13,558]

6 hours ago, JoshMartini007 said:

Pretty much. I hope this is just a layover when the 10,500 athlete quota was for all sports, including the invitational ones.

 

When cricket likely returns for 2032, I hope they expand it to 12 teams and have a real tournament. Yes, getting  more involved at the Olympics is the big prize, but  and  are both in the top 10 in world population, yet currently do not care about the Olympics. It would be so easy for the IOC to get those nations invested in the games.

I doubt they'll do that unless it gets added to the programme as a core sport

[Fly_like_a_don 1,162]

10 hours ago, JoshMartini007 said:

While this was reported earlier, I'm disappointed they are going with world rankings. I guess they don't want to risk India missing the Olympics. 

Would have preferred regional qualifier + global qualifier.

 

Since India won the T20 WC it could have been WC Winner + 5 regional qualifiers. 

[Roamingrover86 968]

On 4/9/2026 at 6:51 PM, JoshMartini007 said:

While this was reported earlier, I'm disappointed they are going with world rankings. I guess they don't want to risk India missing the Olympics. 

I understand your disappointment as a neutral Olympics fan  , but the qualification pathway that both ICC & IOC has agreed on is based on pure merit. In fact many other Olympic sports has world ranking system as the primary  means of qualification . This achieves 2 things, it rewards the best nations in that particular sports who have managed to perform at the highest level over a period of time rather than a one off playoff/qualifiers & secondly it ensures you get quality matches among the best teams in the world at the Olympic level. There is a reason world rankings are used as a parameter for qualification in multiple Olympic sports. 

I am delighted for  & they qualified on merit albeit via penalty kicks, but how many Canadians (or the global audience)will be interested to watch a World cup opening match at home v  as compared to v .

You will get your answer as to why ICC choose world rankings over  a random qualifier. 

[Fly_like_a_don 1,162]

2 hours ago, Roamingrover86 said:

I understand your disappointment as a neutral Olympics fan  , but the qualification pathway that both ICC & IOC has agreed on is based on pure merit. In fact many other Olympic sports has world ranking system as the primary  means of qualification . This achieves 2 things, it rewards the best nations in that particular sports who have managed to perform at the highest level over a period of time rather than a one off playoff/qualifiers & secondly it ensures you get quality matches among the best teams in the world at the Olympic level. There is a reason world rankings are used as a parameter for qualification in multiple Olympic sports. 

I am delighted for  & they qualified on merit albeit via penalty kicks, but how many Canadians (or the global audience)will be interested to watch a World cup opening match at home v  as compared to v .

You will get your answer as to why ICC choose world rankings over  a random qualifier. 

I don't think rankings are fair in cricket. There's no cricket between India and Italy or Papua New Guinea for the latter team to improve their performance or get better in rankings. It's just top 8 teams that regularly play against each other.

 

In long term, if more teams being competitive there will be more interesting match ups rather than between same old teams.