Ultimate sports crossover: When Gianni Infantino met Jay Shah at the Winter Olympics

Dubai: So far as crossovers go, this would be right at the top of the list – the head of world cricket getting together with the head of world football at the site of Winter Olympics.

While football is truly a global sport, cricket has been struggling to move beyond a handful of nations, although, of late, there have been efforts to spread the game beyond the traditional strongholds, thanks to the Twenty20 format, which, truth be told, has breathed new life into the gentleman’s game.

In this backdrop, FIFA president Gianni Infantino met the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Jay Shah in Milan, with the world football boss lauding Shah's work in the growth of cricket and also wishing him luck as cricket gets back to the Olympics.

"It was my pleasure to meet ICC Chairman Jay Shah today in Milan. The outstanding work he has done to grow the beautiful game of cricket is exemplary. I wish him and everyone the very best as cricket gets reintroduced to the Summer Olympic Games in two years' time," he wrote in an Instagram post.

Unite the world

Infantino also expressed his desire to work with Shah to unite the world with the help of sports. "I also look forward to working together and collaborating as we unite the world through sports," he added.

Cricket is set to return to the Olympics in the 2028 Summer Games, to be held in Los Angeles, 128 years after its debut in Paris 1900, when Great Britain claimed gold in a one-off match against France.

At LA 2028, cricket will be back in the T20 format for men and women – each with its own set of medals – gold, silver and bronze. The competitions for the men's and women's categories will run from July 12 to July 29. The medal matches will be held on July 20 (women's) and July 29 (men's), respectively.

Six teams will be competing in each of the men's and women's tournaments, comprising 28 matches in all. A total of 90 athlete quotas have been allocated for each gender, allowing every team to name a 15-member squad.

All cricket matches at the LA 2028 Olympics will be held in a temporary, purpose-built venue at the Fairgrounds in Pomona – a city located about 50 kilometres from Los Angeles.

However, the qualification scenario for the LA28 Olympics is yet to be decided. It is expected that the topic will likely be discussed during the ICC's annual conference in Singapore, which will start on July 17.