So, the International Olympic Committee and World Squash have finally unveiled the long-awaited qualification process for our sport's Olympic debut at LA2028.

After months of waiting, the players now have a clearer idea of what they must do in the next two and a half years in order to book their tickets to California and become one of the 32 people who will forever be able to call themselves squash's first Olympians.

It was always inevitable that the qualifying criteria - aptly dubbed the Olympic Qualification System (OQS) (full document here) - would be multi-layered and complex. Indeed, an initial read of the fine print may leave the reader with more questions than answers. We’ve combed through the document to put together what we think is a clear understanding of what’s involved.

What you need to know: The top line

LA 2028 squash qualification places (for each of the men’s and women’s 16-player draws) will be determined in this order:

1.⁠ ⁠Winners of Continental Games x 5 
2.⁠ ⁠Host country place (i.e. USA) x 1
3.⁠ ⁠Highest places on PSA world rankings on 22 May 2028 x 8
4.⁠ ⁠Universality place x 1
5.⁠ ⁠Final World Qualifying tournament winner x 1

An important over-riding rule is that players outside of the top 50 in the PSA rankings as of 22 May 2028 are unlikely to be eligible for LA 2028.

Also, a maximum of three nations will be allowed two players in each draw. Other nations will only be allowed one player each.

Let's take those qualification criteria in order:

1.⁠ ⁠Continental Games Winners x 5

Five men and five women will qualify for LA as gold medal winners of their respective continental Games (i.e Asian Games, European Games, Pacific Games (Oceania), Pan-American Games and African Games). 

The first of these to take place will be the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in October this year. As of today, the top seeds would be Malaysia's Eain Yow Ng and Sivasangari Subramaniam. The gold medal winners will be the first squash players to book their tickets to the Olympics.

However, should any of the winning players at the five continental Games not be in the world top 50 on 22 May 2028, the Olympic place will be awarded to the next highest-placed eligible athlete who does meet the eligibility requirements - so if the silver-medalist at the Continental Games is ranked inside the top 50 come May 2028, and the gold medalist is not, the place at LA would go to the silver medalist.

If no-one from the medalling positions from the draw is in the world top 50 (as is currently the case in the women's event in Oceania, for example), their allocated place in the LA event would then go to the next highest player on the PSA world rankings.

If the Continental Games gold medallist is not the highest-ranked athlete from their nation on the PSA World Rankings on 22 May 2028, priority will be given to the winner of the respective Continental Games (e.g. If, based on current rankings, Jonah Bryant wins the European Games, he would go to LA, even if Joel Makin is the top-ranked British player at the time).

2.⁠ ⁠Universality Places
So-called universality places are used to increase the diversity of participating nations on the Olympic programme.

The one universality place in each LA 2028 squash draw will be decided by the IOC's Tripartite Commission once the qualification period has ended for the other 15 players. 

All eligible NOCs will be able to submit their universality place requests between 1 October 2027 and 15 January 2028.

As these last two positions are decided by the IOC Commission, these are the most difficult to predict. With diversity in mind, the two lucky players are likely to be from outside squash's traditional powerhouses but of sufficient standard not to dilute the integrity of the competition.

3.⁠ ⁠Host Country Quota

This in effect guarantees at least one place on the draw for the host nation, USA, should they fail to qualify a player via the Continental Games or World Rankings methods.

So if, for argument's sake, Olivia Weaver wins the Pan Am Games, she would have already in effect secured USA a place in the women's draw, therefore the home country quota place would no longer be valid.

If no American woman won the Pan Am Games gold, the host country quota spot would go to the highest-ranked American (currently Weaver) and the next highest-ranked American (currently Sobhy) would have to be one of the three highest-ranked second athletes for her country (see explanation below) in order to secure a place at the LA Games as USA would also be unable to exceed the two player max per gender ruling.

4.⁠ ⁠Top Eight Eligible Places On The PSA World Rankings On 22 May 2028

Once places have been given to continental Games winners and the host country, the top eight remaining eligible players from the world rankings will earn spots in LA - although, inevitably, there are some caveats!

The two nations with the highest-ranked second athletes at the cut-off date will be allocated two places per gender.

A third nation would only be allocated two places if the rest of the draw cannot be made up from eligible players inside the top 50. 

So, to pick an example at random on today's rankings, Alina Bushma of Ukraine could be the eighth eligible player via the PSA women's world rankings. If she is world no.50, she would go to LA and a third nation would NOT receive two qualification spots. But if she was world no.51, a third nation (which on the current world rankings would be Great Britain) WOULD receive a second spot. On the current rankings, this would be GB's Jasmine Hutton.

Therefore, assuming that the top seeds win their respective continental Games (e.g. Mostafa Asal in Africa Games), and removing the top-ranked USA player as a host quota, the current nations with the highest second-placed athletes who would earn one of the three extra spots would be:

Men: 
Egypt - Karim Gawad (assuming Asal wins Africa Games)
Great Britain - Marwan ElShorbagy (assuming Joel Makin wins European Games)
*France - Baptiste Masotti (assuming Victor Crouin is top-ranked Frenchman) 

*Only applicable if qualification via the eight eligible players highest on PSA world rankings on 22 May 2028 cannot be fulfilled by players from the world top 50

Women: 
Egypt - Nouran Gohar (assuming Hania El Hammamy wins African Games)
USA - Amanda Sobhy (assuming Olivia Weaver wins Pan Am Games)
*Belgium - Nele Gilis (assuming Tinne wins European Games)
*Great Britain - Jasmine Hutton (assuming Gina Kennedy is top-ranked British player)

*Only applicable if qualification via the eight eligible players highest on PSA world rankings on 22 May 2028 cannot be fulfilled by players from the world top 50

**Should a player from Great Britain, USA, Egypt, Belgium etc win their Continental Games, the individual ranking of that player would have a knock-on effect on which nation would receive a second player. To go on today's rankings, if Nele Gilis (Wr.14) won the European Games, it is likely Tinne Gilis (Wr.9) would not compete at the LA Games. That is because Egypt (El Hammamy Wr.1 and Gohar Wr.2) and USA (Weaver Wr.4 and Sobhy Wr.11) would have the higher ranked second eligible athletes.**

5.⁠ ⁠Final World Qualifying Tournament

Before the Olympics, a Final World Qualifying tournament (location as yet unknown) will decide the final two places (one male, one female) at LA 2028.

The draws will comprise of the highest-ranked athlete on the PSA world rankings from each of the next 24 nations that have not yet been allocated one of the other 14 quota places.

So there will be only one player from each remaining nation represented in each draw - and we can say with reasonable certainty there will be no Egyptians!

If the Final World Qualifying tournament was played today, the top seeds would be Pakistan's Noor Zaman and Alina Bushma of Ukraine (again, taking out the top eight eligible players in the world rankings, the host nation quota and assuming the no.1 seeds all win their respective continental Games)

My head is scrambled - please simplify all this for me!

OK, let's pretend today (Feb 2, 2026) is 22 May 2028 - the cut-off point for qualification via world ranking.

Going off the current PSA world rankings, and assuming that the no.1 ranked player wins each of the continental Games (e.g Mostafa Asal wins the African Games, Olivia Weaver wins the Pan Am Games etc), plus allocating the host nation places accordingly and assuming the two top seeds win the Final World Qualifying tournament, this would be the theoretical list of qualifiers for the Olympic Games: