Softball will be reintroduced at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles after it was not contested at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Softball was on the Olympic program from 1996 to 2008. It was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016, but was added for a one-off appearance, along with baseball, for the 2020 Summer Olympics (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Olympic softball is governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

The competition will be held in Oklahoma City after it was decided not to build new temporary venues in Los Angeles for softball.Why two 2028 Los Angeles Olympics events are moving to Oklahoma City, NBC4 Los Angeles, June 24, 2024

Competition format The softball tournament will feature a single round-robin tournament of six teams in which each team plays one game against each other. The top two teams will advance to a gold medal game, while the third and fourth-placed teams will qualify for the bronze medal game.

Qualification

Six national teams will qualify for the Olympic softball tournament. The United States automatically qualified, as the host nation.

The highest ranked unqualified team of the 2027 Women's Softball World Cup will qualify in April 2027. The WBSC will host three continental qualification events throughout 2027, with one team qualifying for each. The first will consist of four teams from Asia and two from Oceania, the second will have five European teams and one from Africa, and the third will solely host six teams from the Americas. The runner-up and third placed teams in each event will qualify for a final tournament, scheduled to be held no later than March 2028.

Event Dates Location(s) Berth(s) Qualified Host nation 1 2027 Women's Softball World Cup April 5–11, 2027 Redcliffe 1 Asia/Oceania Qualifying Event 2027 Shaoxing 1 Africa/Europe Qualifying Event September 2027 Barcelona 1 Americas Qualifying Event 2027 TBD 1 Final Qualifying Event No later than March 2028 TBD 1 Total 6

Competition schedule A full day-by-day official schedule was released in November 2025.

PRPreliminary roundBBronze medal gameFGold medal game Sun 23 Mon 24 Tue 25 Wed 26 Thu 27 Fri 28 Sat 29PR B F

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