The 2027 European Games table tennis competition in Istanbul will feature 192 athletes and a new mixed-team event whose gold medallists will earn direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The European Table Tennis Union said the qualification system, agreed with the European Olympic Committees, provides for 96 men and 96 women at the Games. Table tennis is scheduled to run from 16 to 22 June, within the wider Istanbul event from 16 to 27 June 2027.
The field is larger than the 152 players who competed at Kraków 2023. Men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed team will make up the programme, with mixed team appearing at the European Games for the first time.
Mixed-team route will shape Istanbul field
Sixteen national Olympic committee teams will contest the new event. Twelve will qualify directly: the hosts and the top 11 NOCs in the European Mixed Team Ranking due to be published on 6 November 2026.
The final four places will be settled at an Istanbul qualification event from 9 to 12 February 2027.
Each selected mixed team will contain three men and three women, with one reserve in each gender. The eight-athlete team roster adds a squad-selection dimension to the qualification system.
Those squad places are distinct from the singles allocations attached to a qualified mixed-team NOC. The published system identifies the NOC as receiving those allocations, while the two singles places in each gender are assigned through the relevant April 2027 individual ranking.
The ETTU said its new European Mixed Team Ranking was created for this qualification pathway. It combines an association’s highest-placed male and female singles players, its positions in the European team rankings, and its best men’s, women’s and mixed doubles results from the most recent European Individual Championships.
That combination gives the pathway a wider basis than singles results alone. It also means a country’s standing before the November ranking will be affected by evidence across individual, team and doubles competition, as specified in the system.
The system therefore uses separate ranking points in the process: the November mixed-team ranking establishes the 11 non-host direct qualifiers, while the April singles ranking determines the players receiving places and the remaining ranking-based singles entries.
Singles places linked to team qualification
There will be 64 players in each singles event. Every NOC that qualifies a mixed team will receive two men’s and two women’s singles places, assigned to its two highest-ranked players on the ETTU European Singles Ranking of 9 April 2027.
A further 31 places in each singles draw will go to the best-ranked players not already qualified on that same ranking. The system imposes a maximum of two players per NOC through that allocation route. One universality place per gender will then be allocated jointly by the EOC and ETTU.
Across each singles event, the two places attached to every qualified mixed team sit alongside the 31 ranking-based places and one universality allocation. The published rules therefore set out how the 64-player men’s and women’s draws will be filled, while making the April 2027 singles ranking relevant both to the players selected by mixed-team NOCs and to those pursuing the remaining ranking places.
If all 16 mixed teams take their two available places per gender, those allocations account for 32 places in each singles draw. The remaining 32 comprise the 31 places allocated through the singles ranking and the universality place, under the published distribution.
The structure makes mixed-team qualification especially valuable. A successful NOC will secure entries for both its team and two singles players in each gender, subject to the ranking-based player selection described by the ETTU. Nations seeking places through the singles ranking instead will be competing for the remaining positions after the mixed-team allocations are made.
Olympic consequence for the winners
The most significant competitive reward concerns the mixed-team champions. The ETTU said the gold-medal-winning mixed team in Istanbul will qualify directly for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The direct Olympic consequence is attached to the mixed-team gold medal, rather than to either of the singles events. The team competition will consequently determine both an Istanbul title and the stated route to Los Angeles for its winners.
For the European Games mixed-team field, the host and the top 11 NOCs in the November ranking qualify directly, while four further teams will qualify in Istanbul in February 2027.
The published system therefore turns the European Games into both an expanded continental event and a defined Olympic qualification opportunity, with team performance carrying consequences for singles participation as well as the mixed-team title.