Sport and Leisure/Sport 2024
January
Jan 2
Wayne Rooney sacked as manager of Birmingham City after just 83 days in charge
PDC World Darts Championship semi-finals – Luke Littler bt Rob Cross, Luke Humphries bt Scott Williams
Luke Humphries becomes world number one
Jan 3
PDC final – Humphries bt Littler. Humphries is nicknamed “Cool Hand Luke”. Littler is nicknamed “The Nuke” and his walk-on-music is ‘Greenlight’ by American rapper Pitbull
PGA Tour Player of Year – Scottie Scheffler
Jan 4
India bt South Africa by seven wickets in the shortest Test to produce a winner in the history of the game, lasting 642 balls
Jan 6
Mario Zagallo dies
Four Hills Tournament – Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japan)
Jan 8
Ding Junhui 147 against Ronnie O’Sullivan in Masters
Tony Mowbray appointed as manager of Birmingham City
Franz Beckenbauer dies
JPR Williams dies
Jan 10
European Track Cycling Championships start in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands
Jan 11
Bill Belichick leaves New England Patriots after 24 years as head coach
Andy Farrell is appointed head coach of the British and Irish Lions for the 2025 tour to Australia
Jan 12
Mark Allen 147 against Mark Selby in Masters
Men’s individual pursuit – Dan Bigham
Women’s sprint – Emma Finucane
Jan 13
Afcon starts in Ivory Coast
Masters semi-finals – O’Sullivan bt Murphy, Carter bt Allen
Men’s omnium – Ethan Hayter
Women’s 500m time trial – Katy Marchant
Jan 14
Masters final – O’Sullivan bt Carter. Eighth title
Women’s individual pursuit – Josie Knight
Jan 15
Fifa Best Awards –
Best Men’s Player – Lionel Messi
Best Women’s Player – Aitana Bonmati
Best Men’s Coach – Pep Guardiola
Best Women’s Coach – Sarina Wiegman
Best Men’s Goalkeeper – Ederson
Best Women’s Goalkeeper – Mary Earps
Jan 16
Jose Mourinho sacked as Roma manager
Louis Rees-Zammit to quit rugby union to play American football
Jan 19
Jordan Henderson moves from Al-Ettifaq to Ajax
Joe Schmidt appointed as head coach of Australia rugby union team
Bahrain Darts Masters final – Littler bt Van Gerwen
Dakar Rally – Cars classification won by Carlos Sainz, driving an Audi RS Q e-tron. Fourth win for Sainz
Jan 21
Dubai Desert Classic – McIlroy
World Grand Prix final – O’Sullivan bt Trump
Nick Dunlap wins The American Express title to become the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991
Australian Open fourth round – Zverev bt Norrie
Jan 22
World Indoor Bowls Championship. Men’s – Stewart Anderson. Women’s – Katherine Rednall
Jan 23
EFL Cup semi-final – Chelsea 6 Middlesbrough 1. Chelsea win 6-2 on aggregate
Longines World’s Best Racehorse – Equinox
Jan 24
EFL Cup semi-final – Liverpool bt Fulham
Big Bash League final – Brisbane Heat bt Sydney Sixers
Jan 25
Australian Open women’s semi-finals – Sabalenka bt Gauff, Zheng Qinwen bt Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine)
Lancashire spinner Tom Hartley makes England debut against India. His first ball is hit for six by Yashasvi Jaiswal
Jan 26
Australian Open men’s semi-finals – Sinner bt Djokovic, Medvedev bt Zverev
Mixed doubles final – Zielinski and Hsieh bt Skupski and Krawczyk
Luka Doncic scores 73 points for Dallas Mavericks against Atlanta Hawks
ICC Cricketer of the Year awards –
Men's Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) – Pat Cummins
Men's Test Cricketer of the Year – Usman Khawaja
Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year – Virat Kohli
Men's T20 Cricketer of the Year – Suryakumar Yadav
Women’s Cricketer of the Year (Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy) – Nat Sciver-Brunt
Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year – Chamari Athapaththu
Women's T20 Cricketer of the Year – Hayley Matthews
Jan 27
Australian Open women’s final – Sabalenka bt Zheng
Men’s doubles final – Ebden and Bohanna bt Bolelli and Vavassori
Rohan Bopanna, aged 43, becomes the oldest men's doubles number one
FA Cup fourth round – Maidstone Utd bt Ipswich
Joao Pedro hat-trick for Brighton against Sheffield Utd
Dutch Masters final – Van Gerwen bt Littler
Jan 28
Australian Open men’s final – Sinner bt Medvedev
Women’s doubles final – Hsieh and Mertens bt Kichenok and Ostapenko
First Test (Hyderabad) England 246 and 420 (Pope 196) India 436 and 202 (Hartley 7-62). England won by 28 runs
West Brom vs Wolves FA Cup tie suspended for 38 minutes due to crowd trouble
AFC Championship Game – Kansas City Chiefs bt Baltimore Ravens
NFC Championship Game – San Francisco 49ers bt Detroit Lions
Pegasus World Cup – National Treasure
British Basketball League (BBL) Trophy final – London Lions bt Cheshire Phoenix
WBBL Trophy final – London Lions bt Essex Rebels
Jan 29
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is given a four-year ban for doping
Jan 30
Elijah Adebayo hat-trick for Luton against Brighton
February
Feb 1
Transfer deadline day – Adam Wharton moves from Blackburn Rovers to Crystal Palace
Feb 2
Six Nations captains and coaches –
England – Jamie George and Steve Borthwick
Wales – Dafydd Jenkins and Warren Gatland
Ireland – Peter O’Mahony and Andy Farrell
Scotland – Rory Darge and Finn Russell (co-captains) and Gregor Townsend
France – Gregory Alldritt and Fabien Galthie
Italy – Michele Lamaro and Gonzalo Quesada
France 17 Ireland 38. Paul Willemse sent off
Shoaib Bashir makes England debut against India
Lewis Hamilton to join Ferrari in 2025
World Aquatics Championships start in Qatar
Mixed team diving – GB
Feb 3
Italy 24 England 27. England debuts for Fraser Dingwall and Ethan Roots. George Ford kicked 17 points
Wales 26 Scotland 27
Irish Gold Cup – Galopin des Champs
Feb 4
Matheus Cunha hat-trick for Wolves against Chelsea
Barry John dies
German Masters snooker final – Trump bt Si Jiahui
Feb 5
Second Test (Visakhapatnam) India 396 (Jaiswal 209) and 255 (Gill 104) England 253 (Bumrah 6-45) and 292. India won by 106 runs
Phil Foden hat-trick for Man City against Brentford
Cazoo Masters final – Bunting bt van Gerwen. First televised PDC title for Bunting
Feb 7
Player of the match award at this year's Super League Grand Final will be renamed after Rob Burrow. The new award will replace the Harry Sunderland Trophy
Feb 9
NFL MVP – Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens)
Feb 10
England 16 Wales 14. Hollie Davidson becomes the first female assistant referee in a men's Six Nations Championship match
Scotland 16 France 20
2023 Asian Cup final (Qatar) Qatar 3 Jordan 1. Akram Afif scored a hat-trick of penalties
Feb 11
Ireland 36 Italy 0
West Ham 0 Arsenal 6
2023 Africa Cup of Nations final (Abidjan) Ivory Coast bt Nigeria. Third title. Ivory Coast lost matches in the group stage to Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria
Super Bowl LVIII – Kansas City Chiefs 25 San Francisco 49ers 22
Winning touchdown scored by Mecole Hardman with just three seconds left in overtime
Chiefs become first team to win back-to-back since the New England Patriots in 2004
MVP – Patrick Mahomes
Game played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas
Half time show headlined by Usher
Feb 12
Kelvin Kiptum dies
Feb 13
Mansfield 9 Harrogate 2
Feb 14
Men’s 800m freestyle – Daniel Wiffen (Ireland)
Feb 15
Women’s 200m butterfly – Laura Stephens
Men’s high diving – Aiden Heslop
Feb 16
Ashwin takes 500th Test wicket, dismissing Zak Crawley
England are awarded five penalty runs after Ashwin is caught running into the protected area of the pitch
Feb 17
Mike Proctor dies
Welsh Open snooker semi-final – Gary Wilson 147 against John Higgins
Feb 18
Third Test (Rajkot) India 445 (Jadeja 112) and 430-4 (Jaiswal 214*) England 319 (Duckett 153) and 122 (Jadeja 5-41). India won by 434 runs
World Seniors Darts Championship – John Henderson. Lisa Ashton reached the semi-finals
Welsh Open final – Gary Wilson bt Martin O’Donnell
Men’s 1500m freestyle – Daniel Wiffen
Women’s 400m medley – Freya Colbert
China won 23 of the 75 gold medals available at the World Aquatics Championships
Feb 19
Former Eintracht Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner replaces Roy Hodgson as manager of Crystal Palace
Michael Beale sacked as manager of Sunderland after just 12 games in charge
Feb 20
Andreas Brehme dies
Feb 24
Stan Bowles dies
Chris Nicholl dies
Ireland 31 Wales 7. Ireland equal England's record of 11 consecutive wins in the Six Nations
Scotland 31 England 20. Duhan van der Merwe becomes the first Scotland player to score a Calcutta Cup hat-trick
World Club Challenge – Wigan Warriors bt Penrith Panthers
Claressa Shields bt Kelsey De Santis in first professional women’s MMA bout in Saudi Arabia
Marco Odermatt wins his third consecutive overall Alpine World Cup title with 10 races to spare
Saudi Cup – Senor Buscador
Feb 25
France 13 Italy 13. Paolo Garbisi's injury-time penalty hit the post. Jonathan Danty was sent off and received a five-week suspension
EFL Cup final – Liverpool 1 (Van Dijk) Chelsea 0. Tenth win for Liverpool
Players Championship snooker final – Mark Allen bt Zhang Anda
Feb 26
Fourth Test (Ranchi) England 353 (Root 122*) and 145 (Ashwin 5-51) India 307 (Bashir 5-119) and192-5. India won by five wickets
Jarrod Bowen hat-trick for West Ham against Brentford
FA Cup fifth round – Coventry 5 Maidstone 0
Everton's penalty for breaching Premier League financial rules is reduced from 10 points to six after an appeal
Feb 27
FA Cup fifth round – Luton 2 Man City 6 (Haaland 5)
Feb 29
Paul Pogba is banned from football for four years for a doping offence
March
Mar 1
World Indoor Athletics Championships start at Commonwealth Arena in Glasgow
Men’s 60m – Christian Coleman (USA)
Men’s shot put – Ryan Crouser (USA)
Mar 2
Formula One teams –
Red Bull – Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez
Ferrari – Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz
Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton, George Russell
Aston Martin – Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll
McLaren – Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri
Williams – Logan Sargeant, Alexander Albon
RB – Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda
Alpine – Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon
Haas – Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber – Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu
Bahrain GP – Verstappen, Perez, Sainz
Men’s 400m – Alexander Doom (Belgium)
Men’s 3,000m – Josh Kerr
Men’s high jump – Hamish Kerr (New Zealand)
Men’s triple jump – Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso)
Women’s pole vault – Molly Caudery
Women’s 400m – Femke Bol (Netherlands) in a world record time
Women’s 60m – Julien Alfred (Saint Lucia)
LeBron James becomes the first NBA player to reach 40,000 career regular-season points
Maurice Bembridge dies
Mar 3
UK Open darts final – Van den Burgh bt Humphries
Men’s 1500m – Geordie Beamish (New Zealand)
Men’s pole vault – Armand Duplantis
Women’s 800m – Tsige Duguma (Ethiopia). Silver – Jemma Reekie
Women’s 4x400m relay. Bronze – GB (Lina Nielsen, Laviai Nielsen, Ama Pipi, Jessie Knight)
USA topped the medal table, winning six gold medals
Katie Boulter wins her first WTA 500 title by defeating Marta Kostyuk in the San Diego Open final
HSBC Women’s World Championships – Hannah Green (Australia)
Mar 4
Sheffield Utd 0 Arsenal 6
Mar 6
Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker final – O’Sullivan bt Brecel. First tournament played with the golden ball, worth 20 points
Mar 7
Jonny Bairstow wins 100th England cap
Mar 9
Jimmy Anderson takes 700th Test wicket, having Kuldeep Yadav caught by Ben Foakes
Fifth Test (Dharamsala) England 218 (Kuldeep 5-72) and 195 (Ashwin 5-77) India 474 (Gill 110, Rohit 103, Padikkal 65, Bashir 5-173) India won by an innings and 64 runs
India win series 4-1
Anthony Joshua bt Francis Ngannou. Fight held in Saudi Arabia
Mar 10
England 23 Ireland 22. Winning drop goal scored by Marcus Smith. Danny Care wins his 100th cap for England
Italy 31 Scotland 29. First home Six Nations win since 2013
Saudi Arabian GP – Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc. 7th Oliver Bearman
Oliver Bearman replaced Carlos Sainz who had appendicitis
Mar 12
Champion Hurdle – State Man (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins. 2nd Irish Point 3rd Luccia
Supreme Novices' Hurdle – Slade Steel (Rachael Blackmore)
Mar 13
Queen Mother Champion Chase – Captain Guinness (Rachael Blackmore)
Willie Mullins becomes the first person to post 100 winners at the Cheltenham Festival
Bournemouth recover from 3-0 down to beat Luton 4-3
Mar 14
Stayers’ Hurdle – Teahupoo
Ryanair Chase – Protektorat. Owned by Alex Ferguson
TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase – Shakem Up'Arry. Owned by Harry Redknapp
Europa League – Roma bt Brighton, Benfica bt Rangers
Liverpool 6 Sparta Prague 1. Liverpool win 11-2 on aggregate
Mar 15
Gold Cup – Galopin des Champs (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins. 2nd Gerri Colombe 3rd Corach Rambler
Prestbury Cup – Ireland bt GB
Leading Jockey – Paul Townend
Leading Trainer – Willie Mullins
Premiership Rugby Cup final – Gloucester bt Leicester Tigers
Mar 16
Wales 21 Italy 24
George North retires after winning his 121st cap
Ireland 17 Scotland 13
France 33 England 31. Match played in Lyon. Ollie Lawrence scored two tries for England. Thomas Ramos kicked the winning penalty for France
Final table – Ireland, France, England, Scotland, Italy, Wales
Ireland retain the Six Nations title. Wales lost all five matches
Leading points scorer – Thomas Ramos (63)
Leading try scorer – Dan Sheehan, Duhan van der Merwe (5)
Player of the tournament – ?
Mar 17
Women’s Premier League final – Royal Challengers Bangalore bt Delhi Capitals
FA Cup quarter-final – Man Utd 4 Liverpool 3. Winning goal scored by Diallo
Indian Wells women’s final – Swiatek bt Sakkiri
Indian Wells men’s final – Alcaraz bt Medvedev
The Players Championship – Scottie Scheffler. First player to defend the title
World Women's Snooker Championship – Bai Yalu (China)
Women’s Premier League final – Royal Challengers Bangalore bt Delhi Capitals
Mar 18
Nottingham Forest receive an immediate four-point deduction for breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules
Pakistan Super League final – Islamabad United bt Multan Sultans
Mar 22
World Figure Skating Championships (Montreal) –
Women – Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)
Pairs – Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (Canada)
Mar 23
Men – Ilia Malinin (USA) with a new world record score
Ice dance – Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA). 4th Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
England 0 Brazil. Winning goal scored by 17-year-old Endrick. Debut for Anthony Gordon
Jasmin Paris becomes the first woman to complete the Barkley Marathons ultramarathon in Tennessee
Mar 24
Australian GP – Sainz, Leclerc, Norris
Norris set new record for number of podium finishes (14) without winning a GP
Marlie Packer wins 100th cap for England, against Italy
World Open snooker final – Trump bt Ding Junhui
Alpine Ski World Cup –
Men’s overall – Marco Odermatt (Switzerland)
Men’s downhill – Marco Odermatt
Women’s overall – Laura Gut-Behrami (Switzerland)
Women’s downhill – Conny Hutter (Austria)
Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Stefan Kraft (Austria)
Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Nika Prevc (Slovenia)
Scottish Challenge Cup final – Airdrieonians bt The New Saints
Mar 26
European Championship play-off eliminator. Wales 0 Poland 0. Poland win 5-4 on penalties. Daniel James missed the only penalty
Ivan Toney, Kobbie Mainoo, and Ezri Konsa make England debuts against Belgium
Mar 29
Louis Rees-Zammit joins the Kansas City Chiefs
Danny Care retires from international rugby
World Athletics Cross Country Championships (Belgrade) – Kenya wins 6 of the 9 gold medals. GB win bronze in Mixed relay
Mar 30
Cambridge win men’s and women’s boat races
Miami Open women’s final – Collins bt Rybakina
Dubai World Cup – Laurel River
Mar 31
Miami Open men’s final – Sinner bt Dimitrov
Women’s League Cup final – Arsenal bt Chelsea
