Team GB wants to field men's and women's football and cricket teams the Olympic Games in Los Angeleswhen the country's national summer sport makes its debut at the modern Games.
As part of their evaluation of the decline of gold medals in ParisDespite another bumper medal haul, the British Olympic Association (BOA) and UK Sport are looking at ways to maximise podium chances and are keen to introduce popular British sports such as cricket and squash, as well as lacrosse and flag football.
The various national football associations are determined to work together to create a men's team, just as the women did, after missing out on qualification in Paris for a tournament won by an American team led by Emma Hayes.
The British team has only fielded a men's football team at the Olympic Games once in the past 60 years, when Stuart Pearce led a Great Britain team captained by Ryan Giggs.
“It's something I would very much like to do,” said Andy Anson, the chief executive of the BOA and a former commercial director at Manchester United. “I would like to work with the FA, with the Scottish FA, with the Welsh and Northern Irish FA, if we can make it happen.
“I think it would be great for football, for youth football and football in general. I think it would be great to see the women's team compete, and I would love to see the men's team compete in the same way.”
There is also an expectation that cricket's governing bodies will back a Team GB, in the same way that professionalised sports such as golf and tennis have established themselves in the Olympics. The Olympic cricket tournament in LA is expected to follow a Twenty20 format.
“We've got good experience in golf, rugby, women's football, how the Four Nations can come together and nominate one country as the main governing body, and work with the other countries,” Anson said. “I think cricket will be the same. The ECB will be central to that. They'll have to work with Cricket Scotland to make sure that's done in the right way. And we'll help them sign agreements to come together and create one national governing body, as we've done in those other sports. We're working very closely with the ECB at the moment to get them to become a full member of the National Olympic Committee.”
Anson was particularly impressed by the way rowing and athletics had improved their performances significantly in Paris. He believes that the decline in boxing was largely cyclical, because the team was young and all the Tokyo medallists had turned professional.
With no British representative in the sport of breaking (which has been dropped from the Los Angeles Olympics), he also highlighted the existing world-class potential in the other new sports for 2028.
“I think our women's team is in the top three in the world in lacrosse,” Anson said. “In flag football, we're in the top couple in the world in the women's section. In squash, we have men and women in the top 10 in the world.”