Last week CrossFit announced the structure for the 2027 CrossFit Games season. One of the major changes was how the teams would qualify to the CrossFit Games. Next year teams will only qualify via an in-person competition. There will not be an Online Semifinal.
In a high-level summary, teams will complete the 2027 CrossFit Open and then compete in an in-person Team Qualifier. The top teams based on an aggregated worldwide leaderboard will qualify to the CrossFit Games.
Since the initial announcement, CrossFit has released additional details surrounding the team format next year.
TEAM ROSTERS
Similar to previous years, teams are established during the Open. Affiliates can create as many teams as they like, but once the Open begins the teams cannot change.
Athletes must enter valid scores for all three Open workouts to be eligible to advance to later stages in the season.
MULTIPLE TEAMS TO GAMES
The last two seasons CrossFit has limited affiliates to sending one team to the CrossFit Games. While that isn’t an issue for 99.9% of affiliates, it has impacted gyms like CrossFit Mayhem.
The last two years athletes who regularly train at CrossFit Mayhem in Cookeville, Tennessee, registered under the CrossFit Hendersonville affiliate located an hour west in Hendersonville, Tennessee (just north of Nashville).
These athletes did this because the main CrossFit Mayhem team was going to go to the Games and these athletes wanted to also compete.
That’s the case in 2027. A single affiliate can now field more than one team to the CrossFit Games if they rank high enough on that global leaderboard.
Get caught up on all the structural changes coming up in 2027:
WHEN ARE THE TEAM QUALIFIERS?
The new Team Qualifiers will take place between March 22 and June 13, 2027. March 22 is the last day of Individual and Age-Group Quarterfinals.
Since teams do not have a Quarterfinals stage, they will go straight from the Open to Team Qualifiers.
WHERE ARE THE TEAM QUALIFIERS?
The simple answer right now is…we don’t know.
CrossFit is still in the process of accepting applications from event organizers who want to host an official 2027 Team Qualifier.
Before you apply, here are the requirements you will need to meet:
- Eligible events must possess a licensed event history with CrossFit and/or maintain a positive reputation.
- Current Semifinals (Syndicate Crown, French Throwdown, Torian Pro, etc) events may also be a Team Qualifier.
- Hosts must demonstrate experience in hosting competitions that include athletes from outside their own affiliate.
- Hosts must have a minimum competition field size of five teams.
- Hosts must have access to the necessary floor space and universally available equipment.
- Hosts are permitted, but not required, to run their own online qualifier, provided it is straightforward (recommended three workouts or fewer).
- Hosts must have some tie to a CrossFit affiliate, mirroring existing licensing requirements.
- Teams must register for the event under their CFID name/number.
- The Head Judge must hold the Advanced Judges Course and a Level 1 Certificate or higher. Floor judges must hold the seasonal Judges Course at a minimum, but the Advanced Judges Course is recommended.
- Sanctioned athletes are not eligible to compete.
- Hosting requires a yearly application.
There are some interesting requirements listed above that need to be discussed…
Fields as small as 5 teams
This is a small competition. It also shows that CrossFit is going to likely accept a lot of event organizers to run these micro-competitions around the world.
I would anticipate we see a ton of these pop up all over the place.
Universally available equipment
This sounds like the programming is going to be very basic. It has to be because of the worldwide leaderboard (more on this later). With standardized programming and fielding competitions from the United States to South America to Africa and Asia, the equipment is going to need to be standardized.
So I’m expecting to see Online Semifinals level equipment. At most you are going to see rope climbs, GHD Sit-ups and heavy dumbbells.
I would be shocked if we see the worm, odd objects, Echo Bike, etc.
HOW TO COMPETE
This is actually up to the organizer. In the requirements, CrossFit is allowing organizers to run their own qualifier, provided it is straightforward and has no more than three workouts.
I have no clue how this will work given the tight turnaround from the Open to Team Qualifiers. This could get messy and confusing so make sure to follow us on Instagram to stay informed.
WORLDWIDE LEADERBOARD
Ok, this is where it gets interesting. Like it was mentioned last week, teams from all of the Team Qualifiers will be placed on a consolidated worldwide leaderboard. The top teams from that will qualify to the CrossFit Games.
How many? They have not announced that.
But here’s the catch…
Recent score will be official score
Teams will be allowed to compete in more than one Team Qualifier. However, their most recent score will be used for the worldwide leaderboard.
That is, if a team competes in a Team Qualifier and sits in 20th worldwide. Then, once they compete in another Team Qualifier those scores from the first qualifier are wiped out and only the scores from the second Team Qualifier will be shown.
In other words, if you compete again, your most recent attempt will be the team’s official score. Do worse and you’ll be ranked worse.
