Sport Editors Lucy Blitz and Lucy Parry look ahead to another thrilling year of sporting events.
2023 was another mammoth year for sport, featuring football, cricket, netball, and rugby World Cups, as well as the Tour de France, the Invictus Games, and the World Gymnastics Championships. As we prepare to see in the new year, here are all the major sporting events coming your way in 2024.
Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, July 26 – Aug 11 (O), Aug 28 – Sep 8 (P)
Perhaps the biggest event in the sporting calendar next year, France will host the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games as athletes head to Paris in search of a place on the podium.
With four new sports – breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing – included this year, the Olympic Games are set to draw in huge numbers after the first phase of ticket sales saw more than 3.25 million tickets sold to people in 158 different countries.
International sports stars Simone Biles, Armand Duplantis and Ariarne Titmus are among those heading to the capital in July. French swimmer Leon Marchand will likely be the face of these Olympics after winning three gold medals and breaking one of Michael Phelps’ world records at the World Championships this year. Team GB’s Laura Kenny is targeting a return to the velodrome in time for the Games.
Meanwhile, cyclist Sarah Storey, swimmer Maisie Summers-Newton and equestrian rider Lee Pearson are all hoping to add to their tallies at the Paralympic games.
UEFA EURO 2024, Jun 14 – Jul 14
The 17th edition of the UEFA European Football Championship will take place across Germany next summer – the third time the games will be held on German territory.
17 of the teams featured during EURO 2020 will return for next year’s edition after successfully qualifying for the tournament – including defending champions Italy, 2020 runners-up England and World Cup runners-up France.
Scotland have qualified through their group for the first time since 1998, while Sweden failed to reach the tournament following their absence at last year’s World Cup. Meanwhile, Russia have not participated in qualifiers following the country’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in their omission from the process.
As for the predicted champions, Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions are favourites to win the tournament after their recent unbeaten run, ahead of France and hosts Germany.
Men’s T20 World Cup, Jun 4 – 30
Taking place in the United States and West Indies next summer, the T20 World Cup will see the USA and Canada make their competition debuts as short-format cricket returns once again.
After securing their places by finishing in the top eight of the 2022 World Cup, England, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Australia, South Africa, Netherlands and Sri Lanka will all feature in next year’s edition, alongside Afghanistan and Bangladesh who earned places as the next two highest teams in the T20I rankings.
Defending champions England will be hoping to improve on their short-format record, after crashing out of this year’s ODI World Cup.
World Aquatics Championships, Feb 2 – 18
The World Aquatics Championships will take place in Doha next February, having been rescheduled from November 2023 due to the Covid-19 backlog of aquatics events. It will mark the first time the Championships are held in the Middle East.
However, a number of athletes and governing bodies have expressed their concern at the minimal time between the culmination of the Championships and the start of the Olympic Games. British Swimming have noted that participation in the Championships is entirely optional for athletes, with James Guy choosing not to compete while Duncan Scott has questioned the timing of the events. There will be a strong British 4x100m freestyle relay team attending though as they still need to qualify for that event at the Olympics after being disqualified in the 2023 World Championships.
Copa America, Jun 20 – Jul 14
The 48th edition of the Copa América will take place across the United States next June and July, with Argentina as the defending champions. Expected to take place in Ecuador due to host rotation, the country declined to stage the tournament in November 2022. The tournament is now acting as a prelude for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, also hosted by the US along with Canada and Mexico.
16 teams will compete throughout the competition, with the winners competing in the 2025 CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions against the EURO24 winner.
Tour de France, Jun 29 – Jul 21
Italy will host the Grand Départ for the first time in 2024, while the Tour celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first Italian winner, Ottavio Bottecchia.
As the route visits San Marino, it will also not finish in Paris for the first time in its history, due to preparations for the Olympic Games. Instead, the Tour will finish in Nice with an individual time trial – the first time the competition has ended this way since 1989.
World Indoor Athletics Championships, Mar 1-3
Glasgow will host the 19th edition of these championships. The compact nature of indoor athletics often makes for an electric atmosphere, and the Scots certainly know how to provide that.
Three fantastic Scottish athletes are hoping to impress in front of the home crowd. 800m runner Jemma Reekie just missed out on medals in the 2021 Olympics and this year’s World Championships, so she is determined to get on that podium. Neil Gourley won the World Indoor Tour over 1500m; he will try to replicate that dominant run. Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir finished her 2023 season strongly and wants to continue that form into these championships, where she will compete over 3000m.
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