Los Angeles 2028/Football: "We will have 16 women's teams & 12 men's teams, as FIFA wanted" (IOC)

"We have traditionally had in the Olympic Games, 16 men's teams and 12 women's teams, but that will be reversed for Los Angeles 2028: we will have 16 women's teams and 12 men's teams," announced Kit McConnell (AUS/NZL), sports director for the IOC, in Lausanne (SUI) on 09/05/2025.

"We've seen incredible growth in women's participation in team sport and popularity and visibility of women's team sport with women's football being an absolute leader in that regard. We explored every avenue, taking into account athlete quotas, the popularity of the sport and the wishes expressed, and we chose this solution, which is also what FIFA wanted," explained McConnell.

"We've been asking the International Olympic Committee whether we can have 16 men's and 16 women's teams. Our proposal would be that if it's not possible to have 16 and 16, then we should think about swapping it, meaning you have 16 women's teams and 12 men's teams at the Olympics in order to foster even more the women's football movement. This will be a strong signal," said Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA at the 49^th UEFA…