Sport and Leisure/Sport 2026

January

Jan 1

PDC World Darts Championship quarter-final – Van Veen bt Humphries

Enzo Maresca leaves Chelsea by mutual consent

Jan 2

PDC World Darts Championship semi-finals – Littler bt Searle, Van Veen bt Anderson

Brennan Johnson moves from Spurs to Crystal Palace

Ian Balding dies

Jan 3

Wolves bt West Ham to secure a first Premier League win of the season at the 20th attempt

PDC World Darts Championship final – Littler 7 Van Veen 1

PDC Master of Ceremonies John McDonald and referee George Noble retire from darts

Jan 4

Igor Thiago hat-trick for Brentford against Everton

Jan 5

Ruben Amorim sacked as manager of Man Utd

Wilfried Nancy sacked as manager of Celtic after 33 days. Martin O’Neill returns to Celtic as interim manager

Jan 6

Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior is appointed as manager of Chelsea

Four Hills Tournament – Domen Prevc (Slovenia)

Jan 7

Martin Chivers dies

Simon Yates retires

Jan 8

Terry Yorath dies

Jan 9

Luke Littler signs £20 million sponsorship deal with Target Darts

Antoine Semenyo moves from Bournemouth to Man City for £65 million

Jan 10

FA Cup third round – Man City 10 Exeter City 1

Macclesfield FC 2 Crystal Palace 1. Macclesfield are ranked 117 places below Crystal Palace, meaning this is the biggest upset in the competition of all time in terms of league places

Wolves 6 (Strand Larsen 3) Shrewsbury 1

Jan 11

Masters first round – Wu Yize bt Sean Murphy, Xiao Guodong bt Mark Selby

FA Cup third round – Martinelli hat-trick for Arsenal against Portsmouth

United Cup final (Sydney) – Poland bt Switzerland

Jan 13

Michael Carrick appointed as interim manager of Man Utd

Alvaro Arbeloa replaces Xabi Alonso as manager of Real Madrid

Jan 14

Australian Open's Million Dollar One Point Slam final – Jordan Smith bt Joanna Garland

Conor Gallagher moves from Atletico Madrid to Spurs

Every match in the first round of the Masters finishes 6-2

Jan 17

Masters semi-finals – Higgins bt Trump, Kyren Wilson bt Yu Wize

Jan 18

Masters final – Kyren Wilson bt Higgins

Dubai Invitational – Nacho Elvira (Spain)

Afcon final (Rabat) – Senegal 1 (Pape Gueye) Morocco 0

The Senegalese players refused to play after the hosts were awarded a stoppage-time penalty with the match goalless

Jan 19

Marc Guehi moves from Crystal Palace to Man City

Jan 20

Champions League – Bodo/Glimt bt Man City

International Tennis Federation World Champions. Men’s – Jannik Sinner. Women’s – Aryna Sabalenka

Jan 21

Longines World’s Best Racehorse – Calandagan

Jan 24

Bangladesh will boycott next month's men's T20 World Cup and have been replaced by Scotland

Jan 25

Big Bash League final – Perth Scorchers bt Sydney Sixers. Sixth title for Perth

Dubai Desert Classic – Patrick Reed

World Indoor Bowls Championship. Men’s – Robert Paxton. Women’s – Katherine Rednall. Seventh title for Rednall

AFC Championship Game – New England Patriots bt Denver Broncos

NFC Championship Game – Seattle Seahawks bt Los Angeles Rams

Jan 26

Besiktas buy Tammy Abraham from Roma, then sell him to Aston Villa

Jan 27

Third ODI – England 357-3 (Root 111, Brook 136) Sri Lanka 304 (Rathnayake 121)

Jan 28

Champions League – Liverpool 6 Qarabag 0

FIFA Women's Champions Cup semi-finals – Arsenal 6 AS FAR Rabat 0, Corinthians 1 Gotham FC 0

Jan 29

Australian Open women’s semi-finals – Sabalenka bt Svitolina, Rybakina bt Pegula

Jan 30

Australian Open men’s semi-finals – Alcaraz bt Zverev, Djokovic bt Sinner

Mixed doubles final – Gadecki and Peers bt Mladenovic and Guinard

Sam Curran hat-trick for England against Sri Lanka in T20 international

Jan 31

Australian Open women’s final –Rybakina bt Sabalenka

Australian Open men’s doubles final – Harrison and Skupski bt Kubler and Polmans

Australian Open women’s doubles final – Mertens and Zhang bt Danilina and Krunic

February

Feb 1

Australian Open men’s final – Alcaraz bt Djokovic

World Masters darts final (Milton Keynes) – Littler bt Humphries

German Masters snooker final – Trump bt Murphy

FIFA Women's Champions Cup final (Emirates Stadium) – Arsenal bt Corinthians

Third-place play-off – Gotham FC bt AS FAR Rabat

Irish Champion Hurdle – Brighterdaysahead

Feb 3

Transfer deadline day –

Jorgen Strand Larsen moves from Wolves to Crystal Palace

Liverpool agree a deal to sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes

Carabao Cup semi-final – Arsenal bt Chelsea

Feb 4

Carabao Cup semi-final – Man City bt Newcastle

John Virgo dies

Curling mixed doubles starts at Winter Olympics

Feb 5

Leicester City docked six points for breaking profit and sustainability rules

Premier League darts starts in Newcastle. Opening night won by Michael van Gerwen

Six Nations captains and coaches –

England – Maro Itoje and Steve Borthwick

Wales – Dewi Lake and Steve Tandy

Ireland – Caelan Doris and Andy Farrell

Scotland – Sione Tuipulotu and Gregor Townsend

France – Antoine Dupont and Fabien Galthie

Italy – Michele Lamaro and Gonzalo Quesada

France 36 Ireland 14. First try scored by Louis Bielle-Biarrey. Match played on Thursday to avoid conflict with Winter Olympics opening ceremony

NFL MVP – Matt Stafford (LA Rams)

Feb 6

Winter Olympics opening ceremony held at San Siro stadium in Milan. Games opened by President Sergio Mattarella. Mascots – anthropomorphic stoats Tina (Olympics) and Milo (Paralympics). GB flagbearers – Brad Hall and Lilah Fear

Milan primarily hosted the ice events, and the remaining events were hosted in clusters around Cortina, Livigno, and Fiemme

Ski mountaineering debuted as a Winter Olympics event

ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup final (Harare) – India 411-9 (Suryavanshi 175) England 311 (Falconer 115)

Suryavanshi, aged 14, hit 15 sixes from 80 balls

Feb 7

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen wins first gold of Olympic Games in men's downhill

Italy 18 Scotland 15

England 48 Wales 7. Hat-trick for Henry Arundell

Cole Palmer hat-trick for Chelsea against Wolves

Men's T20 World Cup Group C – hat-trick for Romario Shepherd for West Indies against Scotland

Feb 8

Super Bowl LX – Seattle Seahawks 29 New England Patriots 13

MVP – Kenneth Walker

Jason Myers kicked a record five field goals

Defensive coordinator Aden Durde becomes the first British-born coach to win the Super Bowl

Game played at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara

Half time show headlined by Bad Bunny

New England Patriots have a record 12 appearances and 6 losses in the Super Bowl

Men's T20 World Cup Group C – England bt Nepal by 4 runs

Women’s downhill – Breezy Johnson (USA)

World Grand Prix final – Zhao Xintong bt Zhang Anda

Feb 9

Women’s freeski slopestyle. 4^th Kirsty Muir

Women’s snowboard big air. 4^th Mia Brookes

Mixed doubles curling semi-final – Sweden bt GB

Feb 10

Mixed doubles curling final – Sweden bt USA

Mixed doubles curling bronze medal match – Italy bt GB (Mouat and Dodds)

Feb 11

Thomas Frank sacked as manager of Spurs

Igor Tudor appointed as interim manager of Spurs

Men’s super-G – Franjo von Allmen (Switzerland)

Ice dance. 7^th GB (Fear and Gibson)

Feb 12

European Track Cycling Championships start in Belgium

Premier League darts held in Belgium for the first time, in Antwerp

Women’s super-G – Federica Brignone (Italy)

Feb 13

Men’s skeleton – Matt Weston

Men’s figure skating – Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan). 8^th Ilia Malinin

Men's T20 World Cup, Group B – Zimbabwe bt Australia

FA Cup fourth round – hat-trick for Pedro Neto for Chelsea against Hull City

Igor Tudor appointed as interim manager of Spurs

Feb 14

FA Cup fourth round – Mansfield bt Burnley

Ireland 20 Italy 13

Scotland 31 England 20. Harry Arundell sent off

Men’s giant slalom – Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (Brazil). First-ever medal for Brazil

Women’s skeleton – 5^th Tabitha Stoecker

Men’s large hill ski jumping – Domen Prevc (Slovenia)

Feb 15

Mixed team snowboard cross – GB (Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale). First-ever GB gold medal on snow and the first time GB have won two gold medals at a single Winter Olympics

Mixed team skeleton – GB (Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston). 4^th GB (Freya Tarbit and Marcus Wyatt)

Women’s freeski big air. 4^th Kirsty Muir

Women’s giant slalom – Federica Brignone

Women’s slalom – Mikaela Shiffrin

Wales 12 France 54

Vitor Pereira appointed as manager of Nottingham Forest

Feb 16

FA Cup fourth round – Brentford bt Macclesfield

Men’s slalom – Loic Meillard (Switzerland)

Feb 18

Champions League Knockout Round Play-offs – Qarabag 1 Newcastle 6 (Gordon 4)

Feb 19

World Club Challenge – Hull KR bt Brisbane Broncos

Men’s curling semi-final – GB bt Switzerland

Women’s figure skating – Alysa Liu (USA)

Women’s ice hockey final – USA bt Canada

Feb 21

James Milner breaks Gareth Barry’s record of 653 Premier League appearances

England 21 Ireland 42

Maro Itoje wins 100th cap for England

Men’s curling final – Canada bt GB (Mouat, Hardie, Lammie and McMillan)

Feb 22

Women’s freeski halfpipe – Eileen Gu. Bronze – Zoe Atkin

Men’s ice hockey final – USA bt Canada

4-man bobsleigh – Germany. 7^th GB, piloted by Brad Hall

Johannes Lochner piloted both the winning German teams

Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Hosflot Klaebo won the most gold and overall medals, with six medals (all gold)

Italian short track speed skater Arianna Fontana becomes the first woman to win Olympic medals in six straight Winter Olympics

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from competing for wearing a "helmet of memory" with 24 images of Ukrainian athletes killed in the Russian invasion

Brazil won the first medal and first gold medal in their Winter Olympic history; also the first tropical, Latin American and South American National Olympic Committee to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Georgia also won the first medal in their Winter Olympic history

Closing ceremony held in Verona Olympic Arena. GB flagbearers – Matt Weston and Charlotte Bankes

Final medal table – 1st Norway (18-12-11) 41 2nd USA (12-12-9) 33 3rd Netherlands 10-7-3) 20 15th GB (3-1-1) 5

Norway’s total of 18 gold medals is an Olympic record

France 33 Italy 8. Match played in Lille

Sheffield Wednesday relegated from the Championship with 13 matches to play

Players Championship final – Zhao Xintong bt Higgins

Saudi Cup – Forever Young

Feb 24

Welsh Open first round – Chang Bingyu hits four centuries in a row against Shaun Murphy

Men's T20 World Cup Super 8 Group 2. Harry Brook scores 100 for England against Pakistan

Champions League – Bodo/Glimt bt Inter Milan

Feb 25

Beau Greaves becomes the first woman to hit a nine-darter on the PDC ProTour

March

Mar 1

Welsh Open final – Hawkins bt Lisowski

HSBC Women’s World Championship – Hannah Green (Australia)

Mar 4

Men's T20 World Cup semi-final – New Zealand bt South Africa. Finn Allen scored 100 off 33 balls for New Zealand

Joao Pedro hat-trick for Chelsea against Aston Villa

Luke Donald named as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain

Mar 5

Men's T20 World Cup semi-final – India 253-7 (Samson 89) England 246-7 (Bethell 105)

Mar 6

Ireland 27 Wales 17

Winter Paralympics opening ceremony is held at the Verona Arena

Mar 7

Scotland 50 France 40

Darcy Graham overtakes Duhan van der Merwe as Scotland's leading try scorer

Italy 23 England 18. Winning try scored by Leonardo Marin

Italy's first-ever win over England after 32 consecutive defeats

Mar 8

Men's T20 World Cup final – India 255 (Samson 89) New Zealand 159 (Bumrah 4-15)

Player of the tournament – Sanju Samson

FA Cup fifth round – Port Vale bt Sunderland

UK Open darts final – Littler bt Wade

Brett Randell becomes the first bowler to take five wickets in five balls, in Plunket Shield match in New Zealand

Formula 1 teams –

Red Bull – Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar

McLaren – Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri

Ferrari – Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes – George Russell, Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Aston Martin – Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll

Alpine – Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto

Racing Bulls – Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad (UK)

Haas – Esteban Ocon, Oliver Bearman

Williams – Carlos Sainz, Alexander Albon

Audi – Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto

Cadillac – Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas

The new hybrid engines - with their 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, have "boost" and "overtake" modes provide extra electrical energy to help drivers pass their rivals

Australian GP – Russell, Antonelli, Leclerc. 4^th Hamilton. 5^th Norris. 7^th Bearman. 8^th Lindblad

Mar 10

Champion Day at Cheltenham

Champion Hurdle – Lossiemouth (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins 2^nd Brighterdaysahead 3^rd The New Lion

Bam Adebayo scores 83 points – the second highest number in an NBA game, for Miami Heat

Alpine combined. Silver – Neil Simpson and guide Rob Poth

Mar 11

Ladies Day

Queen Mother Champion Chase – Il Etait Temps

Federico Valverde hat-trick for Real Madrid against Man City

Mar 12

St Patrick’s Thursday

Stayers’ Hurdle – Home By The Lee

Ryanair Chase – Heart Wood

Mar 13

Cheltenham Gold Cup Day

Gold Cup – Gaelic Warrior (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins. 2^nd Jango Baie 3^rd Inothewayurthinkin. Envoi Allen died after the race

Prestbury Cup – Ireland 15 GB 13

Leading Jockey – Paul Townend

Leading Trainer – Willie Mullins

Mar 14

Ireland 43 Scotland 21

Wales 31 Italy 17

France 48 England 46. Bielle-Biarrey scored four tries. Winning penalty scored by Thomas Ramos

Six Nations final table – France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, England, Wales

Leading points scorer – Thomas Ramos (74)

Leading try scorer – Louis Bielle-Biarrey (9)

Player of the tournament – Louis Bielle-Biarrey

F1 cancels Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix

Sixteen-year-old Max Dowman becomes the youngest scorer in Premier League history, for Arsenal against Everton

Mar 15

Women’s League Cup final – Chelsea bt Man Utd

Chinese GP – Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton. First GP win for Antonelli. First podium as a Ferrari driver for Hamilton

Spain-Argentina Finalissima in Qatar cancelled

Indian Wells women’s final – Sabalenka bt Rybakina

Indian Wells men’s final – Sinner bt Medvedev

The Players Championship – Cameron Young. 2^nd Matt Fitzpatrick

Winter Paralympics final medal table – 1^st China (15-13-16) 44 2^nd USA (13-5-6) 24 3^rd Russia (6-1-3) 12 23^rd GB (0-1-0) 1

Brazil and Latvia won their first Winter Paralympic medals

English Prem Rugby Cup final – Leicester Tigers 66 Exeter Chiefs 14

Mar 17

Champions League Last 16 aggregate scores – PSG bt Chelsea 8-2, Real Madrid bt Man City 5-1

Morocco are declared the winners of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after the CAF overturned the result of their final defeat to Senegal following their walk-off

World Baseball Classic final – Venezuela bt USA

Mar 18

Champions League Last 16 aggregate scores – Barcelona bt Newcastle 8-3, Atletico Madrid bt Spurs 7-5, Bayern Munich bt Atalanta 10-2

Mar 20

Ronnie O'Sullivan makes highest-ever professional break with a 153 at the World Open in Yushan against Ryan Day

World Athletics Indoor Championships start in Torun, Poland

Men’s 60m – Jordan Anthony (USA). 4^th Jeremiah Azu

Mar 21

Men’s 3000m – Josh Kerr

Mar 22

EFL Cup final – Man City 2 (O’Reilly 2) Arsenal 0

Women’s 800m – Keely Hodgkinson

Women’s 1500m – Georgia Hunter Bell

Women’s pole vault – Molly Caudery

Final medal table – 1^st USA (5-7-6) 18 2^nd GB (4-0-0) 4

World Open final – Un-Nooh bt O’Sullivan. Un-Nooh made a 147 break

Mar 26

World Cup Play-offs semi-finals – Bosnia-Herzegovina bt Wales, Italy bt Northern Ireland, Czech Republic bt Republic of Ireland

Alpine Ski World Cup –

Men’s overall and downhill – Marco Odermatt

Women’s overall – Mikaela Shiffrin

Women’s downhill – Laura Pirovano (Italy)

Mar 28

Miami Open women’s final – Sabalenka bt Gauff

World Figure Skating Championships (Prague) –

Men – Ilia Malinin

Women – Kaori Sakamoto

Pairs – Hase and Volodin (Germany)

Ice dance – Beaudry and Cizeron (France). 4^th Fear and Gibson

Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Domen Prevc

Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Nika Prevc

Lincoln Handicap – Urban Lion

Mar 29

Japanese GP – Antonelli, Piastri, Leclerc

Igor Tudor sacked as manager of Spurs

Miami Open men’s final – Sinner bt Ledecka

Mar 31

England 0 Japan 1 (Mitoma)

Scotland 0 Ivory Coast 1. Match played at Hill Dickinson Stadium

World Cup Play-offs finals – Bosnia-Herzegovina bt Italy