Will Pickleball Be in the Olympics?

Why isnt pickleball in the 2028 Olympics?

Los Angeles chose other sports, and pickleball was not structurally eligible to be one of them.

Host cities can add sports to their own Games. For 2028, the Los Angeles organizing committee submitted five: flag football, squash, cricket, baseball and softball, and lacrosse. The International Olympic Committee approved all five at its 141st Session in Mumbai. Pickleball, despite its growth in the host country, was not among them.

The deeper problem is governance, not popularity. Before the IOC will consider any sport, it wants a single international federation governing that sport worldwide. Pickleball does not have one. Two organizations, the World Pickleball Federation and the Global Pickleball Federation, each describe themselves as building the sport’s international governing structure. The IOC recognizes only one federation per sport, according to the Global Pickleball Federation’s own published FAQ on the Olympic pathway. Until pickleball settles that question internally, the door to 2028 was never really open.

What does a sport actually need to become Olympic?

A short list, and almost none of it happens on a court.

According to the pathway the Global Pickleball Federation lays out for its member countries, a sport can reach the Olympics one of three ways. The most direct route is a single, unified international federation that meets IOC standards for governance, anti-doping compliance, and global reach. A second route runs through AIMS and SportAccord, the umbrella bodies for international sport federations, which require at least 60 national federations spread across three continents, compliance with the World Anti-Doping Agency code, and a roughly 35-point evaluation. A third, rarer option is joining as a discipline inside an existing sport’s federation, the way new formats have sometimes folded into badminton, table tennis, or tennis.

Measured against that list, pickleball’s position is mixed. The World Pickleball Federation reports 81 national federations across five continents, more than the AIMS threshold on paper. But recognition depends on one federation carrying that case to the IOC, not two federations each claiming the role.

Who is doing the work?

Two international federations, and one national one that most American competitive players already deal with.

USA Pickleball is the sport’s national governing body in the United States. It writes the annual rulebook, sanctions tournaments, and runs the membership system that underlies competitive play domestically, covered in the Pickler Junction guide to what USA Pickleball is. USA Pickleball’s own website lists the Global Pickleball Federation among its strategic affiliations, which places the American federation inside one of the two international structures rather than above the dispute.

On the global side, the World Pickleball Federation unified with the International Pickleball Federation under what it calls its “Unified with IPF, Stronger Together” initiative, building out to 81 member federations. The Global Pickleball Federation, a separate nonprofit, is pursuing the same Olympic recognition through its own network and has published guidance urging the sport toward a single federation. Both organizations want the same outcome. Neither has absorbed the other.

Professional tours matter less to this story than fans assume. Major League Pickleball, an active professional league running a season of franchised teams, builds audience and prize money, but the IOC deals with federations, not leagues. A visible pro game, covered in the explainer on Major League Pickleball, helps the sport’s case without being the case itself.

When could it realistically happen?

No specific year, and anyone who names one is guessing.

The Global Pickleball Federation’s own Olympic FAQ does not name a target Games. It lays out the governance work required and stops there, which is itself informative: the organization closest to the effort will not commit to a date. Brisbane hosts the next Summer Olympics in 2032. That is a scheduling fact, unrelated to any decision about pickleball.

The pattern for sports pursuing Olympic status elsewhere is fixed. A single federation earns IOC recognition first, spends years meeting anti-doping and governance standards, and only then makes a case to a host city or the IOC program commission. Pickleball is still working through the first step, a single federation, before any later step can start its clock.

Does the Olympic question matter for regular players?

Less than the online debate suggests, and in a few concrete ways, yes.

Olympic status would likely direct funding toward national federations, build junior pathways, and speed the sport’s growth in countries where it is still small. Those effects would take years to reach a neighborhood court. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, US pickleball participation grew from 4.2 million players in 2020 to 24.3 million in 2025, growth that happened with no Olympic status at all.

What already touches players is the same governance doing quieter work close to home: USA Pickleball’s rulebook, sanctioned tournaments, and a membership system that puts competitive players under the same standard. Watching USA Pickleball and the two competing world federations is the closest thing to following the Olympic pathway in real time.

FAQ

Is pickleball in the 2028 Olympics? No. Los Angeles added five sports for 2028: flag football, squash, cricket, baseball and softball, and lacrosse. Pickleball was not one of them.

Why isnt pickleball an Olympic sport yet? Mainly governance. The International Olympic Committee recognizes one international federation per sport, and pickleball currently has two organizations, the World Pickleball Federation and the Global Pickleball Federation, each pursuing that role.

Is there a single world governing body for pickleball? Not yet. The World Pickleball Federation unified with the International Pickleball Federation and reports 81 national federations, while the Global Pickleball Federation operates separately with its own Olympic campaign.

What is the earliest pickleball could reach the Olympics? No year is set. Brisbane hosts the next Summer Olympics in 2032, but neither international federation has named a target Games.

Who governs pickleball in the United States? USA Pickleball, the national governing body that writes the annual rulebook and sanctions tournaments nationwide.

Does professional pickleball help the Olympic case? Only indirectly. The IOC recognizes federations, not leagues, though an active professional tour like Major League Pickleball builds the sport’s audience argument.

What would Olympic status change for everyday players? Mostly effects with a long timeline: junior pathways, national federation funding, and faster growth abroad. A Tuesday night at a local court would look the same the next morning.

Has pickleball appeared in any major multi-sport event? Yes. The World Pickleball Federation says pickleball became a full medal sport at the 2026 World Maccabi Games in Jerusalem, a multi-sport event outside the Olympic movement.

The Olympic question will take years to resolve, and the two federations chasing it know that better than anyone reading a headline. Until one federation speaks for the whole sport, the more useful move for players is local: find a coach in the Pickler Junction directory and get better at the game as it is played today, Olympic status or not.

Written by the Pickler Junction Team.