Sport and Leisure/Sport 2021

January

Jan 1

European Capital of Sport – Lisbon

PDC quarter-final – Dave Chisnall bt Michael van Gerwen

Jan 2

Mauricio Pochettino replaces Thomas Tuchel as manager of Paris St Germain

WBC interim lightweight title – Ryan Garcia bt Luke Campbell

Jan 3

PDC final – Gerwyn Price bt Gary Anderson. First Welshman ever to win the tournament

Jan 5

Colin Bell dies

Carabao cup semi-final – Spurs bt Brentford

Jan 6

European Tour golfer of the year – Lee Westwood

Carabao cup semi-final – Man City bt Man Utd

New Zealand’s Test cricket team achieve number one ranking status for the first time in their history

Four Hills Tournament – Kamil Stoch

Jan 8

FA Cup third round – Liverpool bt Aston Villa youth team

Jan 9

Welsh Grand National – Secret Reprieve

FA Cup third round – Blackpool bt WBA, Chorley bt Derby youth team

Jan 10

Masters Snooker starts in Milton Keynes. Gary Wilson and Joe Perry replace Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski

FA Cup third round – Crawley bt Leeds, Vinicius hat-trick for Spurs against Marine

Tournament of Champions – Harris English

Jan 12

Sheffield Utd gain first win in 18th Premier League match, against Newcastle

Jan 15

Quarter-final – John Higgins bt Ronnie O’Sullivan. Five consecutive centuries in the match. First time this has happened since Neil Robertson v Steven Maguire in 2009

Dakar Rally (Saudi Arabia) –

Cars – Stephane Peterhansel, driving a MINI. 14th win

Bike – Kevin Benavides (Argentina), riding a Honda

Jan 13

Houston Rockets trade James Harden to Brooklyn Nets. Harden is the top scorer in the NBA for the past three seasons

Jan 17

Masters snooker final – Yan Bingtao bt John Higgins

First Test (Galle) Sri Lanka 135 (Dom Bess 5-30) and 359 (Lahiru Thirimanne 111, Jack Leach 5-122) England 421 (Joe Root 228) and 76-3. England won by 7 wickets

Dan Lawrence makes 73 on England debut

Jan 18

Phil Neville to manage Inter Miami

Jan 19

India score 329-7 in fourth innings to beat Australia. First defeat for Australia at The Gabba since 1988. India win series 2-1

Jan 20

Copa Del Rey last-32 – third division outfit Alcoyano beat Real Madrid 2-1

Jan 21

Burnley end Liverpool's 68-game unbeaten run at home in the Premier League

Jan 22

FA Cup fourth round – Wolves bt Chorley

Hank Aaron dies

Jan 23

FA Cup fourth round – Southampton bt Arsenal

Dustin Poirier beats Conor McGregor at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi

Pegasus World Cup – Knicks Go

Jan 24

Abu Dhabi Championship – Tyrell Hatton

FA Cup fourth round – Tammy Abraham hat-trick for Chelsea against Luton

NFC Championship – Tampa Bay Buccaneers bt Green Bay Packers

AFC Championship – Kansas City Chiefs bt Buffalo Bills

World Indoor Bowls Championship. Men’s – Mark Dawes. Women’s – Laura Daniels

BBL Cup final – Newcastle Eagles bt London Lions

Jan 25

Second Test – Sri Lanka 381 (Angelo Mathews 110, Jimmy Anderson 6-40) and 126 England 344 (Joe Root 186, Lasith Embuldenya 7-137) and 164-4. England won by 6 wickets

Thomas Tuchel replaces Frank Lampard as manager of Chelsea

Jan 26

Longines World’s Best Racehorse – Ghaiyyath

Jan 29

Said Benrahma moves from Brentford to West Ham

Jan 30

Copa Libertadores final – Palmeiras bt Santos

Jan 31

Dubai Desert Classic – Paul Casey

German Masters snooker final – Judd Trump bt Jack Lisowski

February

Feb 2

Man Utd 9 Southampton 0. Alex Jankewitz sent off after 82 seconds of Southampton debut

Feb 5

Leon Spinks dies

Feb 6

Six Nations captains – Owen Farrell, Alan Wyn Jones, Jonathan Sexton, Stuart Hogg, Charles Ollivon, Luca Bigi

Six Nations coaches – Eddie Jones, Wayne Pivac, Andy Farrell, Gregor Townsend, Fabien Galthie, Franco Smith

England 6 Scotland 11. Only try scored by Duhan van der Merwe. Scotland’s first win at Twickenham since 1983

Mark Wright makes debut for Crawley Town

Big Bash final – Sydney Sixers bt Perth Scorchers

Alex Hales (Sydney Sixers) was leading run scorer in the tournament

Feb 7

Winning try for Wales against Ireland scored by Louis Rees-Zammit

Super Bowl LV – Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Kansas City Chiefs 9

Tampa Bay become the first team to win the Super Bowl in their home stadium

MVP – Tom Brady

Sarah Thomas became the first female Super Bowl official

Half time show – The Weeknd

Super Bowl LVI is scheduled to be held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California

NFL MVP – Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers)

Fifa Club World Cup semi-final – Tigres (Mexico) bt Palmeiras (Brazil)

Dan Evans wins Murray River Open, his first ATP Tour title

ATP Cup final (Melbourne) – Russia by Italy

Feb 8

Tony Collins, the Football League's first black manager, dies. Manager of Rochdale

Fifa Club World Cup semi-final – Bayern Munich bt Al Ahly (Egypt)

Alpine Ski World Championships start in Cortina

Feb 9

First Test (Chennai) England 578 (Joe Root 218) and 178 (Ravi Ashwin 6-61) India 337 and 192. England won by 227 runs. Joe Root’s 100th Test match

Feb 10

Former Wales goalkeeper Dai Davies dies

FA Cup fifth round – Everton 5 Spurs 4

Man City win record 15th consecutive game in all competitions

Feb 11

Men’s Super-G – Vincent Kreichmayr

Women’s Super G – Lara Gut-Behrami

Fifa Club World Cup third place play-off – Al Ahly bt Palmeiras

Fifa Club World Cup final (Qatar) – Bayern Munich 1 (Pavard) Tigres 0

Cross World Championships start in Sweden

Women’s snowboard cross – Charlotte Bankes

Feb 12

Nick Kyrgios wins set against Dominic Thiem at Australian Open with underarm serve

WBBL Cup final – Leicester Rivers bt Sevenoaks Suns

Feb 13

Australian Open third round – Rafael Nadal bt Cameron Norrie

Women’s downhill – Corinne Suter

Feb 14

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hat-trick for Arsenal against Leeds

Doug Mountjoy dies

Men’s downhill – Vincent Kreichmayr

Feb 16

Second Test (Chennai) India 329 (Rohit Sharma 161) and 286 (Ravi Ashwin 106) England 134 (Ravi Ashwin 5-43) and 164 (Axar Patel 5-60). India won by 317 runs

Feb 17

Elliot Giles claims British record with second-fastest indoor 800m in history

Feb 18

Australian Open semi-finals – Naomi Osaka bt Serena Williams, Jennifer Brady bt Karolina Muchova

Australian Open semi-final – Novak Djokovic bt Aslan Karatsev

Women’s giant slalom – Lara Gut-Behrami

Feb 19

Australian Open semi-final – Daniil Medvedev bt Stefanos Tsitsipas

Australian Open women’s doubles final – Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka bt Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova

Australian Open men’s doubles semi-final – Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury bt Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares

Men’s giant slalom – Mathieu Faivre

Feb 20

Australian Open women’s final – Naomi Osaka bt Jennifer Brady

Australian Open mixed doubles final – Raveej Ram and Barbora Krejcikova bt Ebden and Stosur

Women’s slalom – Katharina Liensberger

Feb 21

Australian Open men’s final – Novak Djokovic bt Daniil Medvedev. Ninth Australian Open title and 18th Grand Slam

Australian Open men’s doubles final – Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek bt Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury

Prada Cup final – Luna Rossa 7 Team Ineos 1

Prada Cup replaced the Louis Vuitton Cup this year. It is a sailing competition whose purpose is to determine the challenger for the America's Cup

Welsh Open snooker final (Newport) – Jordan Brown bt Ronnie O’Sullivan. Brown is from Northern Ireland, and ranked world number 81

Men’s slalom – Sebastian Foss-Solevag

Feb 24

Neil Lennon resigns as manager of Celtic

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships start in Oberstdorf

Feb 25

Third Test (Ahmedabad) England 112 (Zak Crawley 53, Axar Patel 6-38) and 81 (Axar Patel 5-32, Ravi Ashwin 4-48) India 145 (Rohit Sharma 66, Joe Root 5-8, Jack Leach 4-54) and 49-0. India won by 10 wickets

Match finished in two days and lasted 140.2 overs

Ravi Ashwin takes 400th Test wicket

Europe League Round of 32 – Slavia Prague bt Leicester

Women’s individual normal hill – Ema Klinec (Slovenia)

Feb 27

Wales 40 England 24. Wales win Triple Crown

George North wins 100th cap for Wales

Men’s individual normal hill – Piotr Zyla (Poland)

Feb 28

Glenn Roeder dies

Scottish League Cup final – St Johnstone bt Livingston

Players Championship final – John Higgins bt Ronnie O’Sullivan

WGC-Workday Championship – Collin Morikawa

March

Mar 1

Racehorse trainer Gordon Elliott banned after a photo was shared on social media of him straddling a dead horse

Mar 2

Ian St John dies

Stephen Hendry loses comeback match against Matthew Selt in first round of Gibraltar Open

Women’s individual large hill – Maren Lundby (Norway)

Mar 3

Kieron Pollard hits six sixes in one over off Akila Dananjaya, who had earlier taken a hat-trick, in West Indies' Twenty20 defeat of Sri Lanka

Mar 5

European Indoor Athletics Championships start in Torun, Poland

Women’s 3000m – Amy-Eloise Markovc. Bronze – Verity Ockenden

Men’s individual large hill – Stefan Kraft (Austria)

Mar 6

Fourth Test (Ahmedabad) England 205 and 135 (Ravi Ashwin 5-47, Axar Patel 5-48) India 365 (Rishabh Pant 101, Washington Sundar 95). India won by an innings and 25 runs

India win series 3-1

Women’s 1500m. Silver – Holly Archer

Women’s 400m. Bronze – Jodie Williams

Women’s pole vault. Bronze – Holly Bradshaw

Saracens lose first match in Rugby Championship, to Cornish Pirates

Mar 7

Women’s 800m – Keely Hodgkinson

Men’s 800m. Bronze – Jamie Webb

Women’s 60m hurdles. Silver – Cindy Sember. Bronze – Tiffany Porter

Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter are sisters (née Ofili)

Men’s 60m hurdles. Silver – Andrew Pozzi

Man Utd end Man City’s 21-game winning run

Rangers win Scottish Premiership after Celtic fail to beat Dundee Utd

Liverpool lose sixth straight home game, to Fulham

UK Open darts final – James Wade bt Luke Humphries

Mar 10

Hege Riise named as head coach of Team GB's women's football team at this summer's Tokyo Olympics

Mar 11

Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships start in Aspen

Mar 12

Halfpipe. Bronze – Zoe Atkin

Ex-British Cycling and Team Sky chief doctor Richard Freeman is found guilty of ordering banned testosterone in 2011

Mar 13

Maro Itoje scores winning try for England against France. Debut for Max Malins

Murray Walker dies, aged 97

Chris Wilder leaves as manager of Sheffield United

1919-20 EFL Trophy final – Salford bt Portsmouth. Competition sponsored by Papa Johns

Mar 14

Marvin Hagler dies

1920-21 EFL Trophy final – Sunderland bt Tranmere

Lamela scores rabona goal for Spurs against Arsenal

Women’s League Cup final – Chelsea 6 (Sam Kerr 3) Bristol City 0

Players Championship –Justin Thomas. 2^nd Lee Westwood

Mar 16

Champion Hurdle – Honeysuckle (Rachael Blackmore), trained by Henry de Bromhead. 2^nd Sharjah 3^rd Epatante. Blackmore is first female to win the race

Eoin Morgan wins100th T20 cap for England

Mar 17

Champion Chase – Put The Kettle On (Aidan Coleman)

Cross Country Chase – Tiger Roll

America’s Cup – Team New Zealand bt Luna Rossa (Italy) 7-3

German motor racing driver Sabine Schmitz dies

Mar 18

Ryanair Chase – Allaho (Rachael Blackmore)

Europa League Round of 16 – Dinamo Zagreb bt Spurs, Slavia Prague bt Rangers

Mar 19

Gold Cup – Minella Indo (Jack Kennedy), trained by Henry de Bromhead, 2^nd A Plus Tard (Rachael Blackmore), 3^rd Al Boum Photo

Leading rider at Cheltenham Festival – Rachael Blackmore (6 wins)

Leading trainer at Cheltenham Festival – Willie Mullins

Ireland win Prestbury Cup 23-5

Mar 20

France 32 Wales 30. Winning try scored by Brice Dulin. Red card – Paul Willemse

Ireland bt England. Red card – Bundee Aki

Italy lose 31st successive rugby union match

India bt England 3-2 in T20 series. All matches played in Ahmedabad

Mar 21

Alpine Ski World Cup –

Men’s overall – Alexis Pinturault

Men’s downhill – Beat Fuez

Women’s overall – Petra Vlhova (Slovakia)

Women’s downhill – Sofia Goggia

Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Halvor Egner Granerud (Norway)

Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Nika Kriznar (Slovenia)

BBL Trophy final – London Lions bt Plymouth Raiders

WBBL Trophy final – London Lions bt Nottingham Wildcats

Mar 22

Racing driver John Crichton-Stuart, the seventh Marquess of Bute. Better known a Johnny Dumfries

World Figure Skating Championships (Stockholm). Men’s – Nathan Chen. Women’s – Anna Shcherbakova (Russia)

Mar 23

Frank Worthington dies

Scottish Cup second round – Brora Rangers bt Hearts

Mar 24

Group stage of UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 starts. Co-hosted by Hungary and Slovenia

Mar 25

James Ward-Prowse and Ollie Watkins score first goals for England, against San Marino

Mar 26

England successfully chase 337 to beat India in second ODI. Jonny Bairstow 124, Ben Stokes 99 including 10 sixes

Scotland bt France in final match of Six Nations. Winning try scored by Duhan van der Merwe. Finn Russell sent off

Final table – Wales, France, Ireland, Scotland, England, Italy

Leading try scorer – Duhan van der Merwe (5)

Leading points scorer – Johnny Sexton (65)

Player of the Tournament – Hamish Watson

Mar 27

Dillian Whyte bt Alexander Povetkin in heavyweight fight in Gibraltar

Luxembourg bt Ireland in Fifa World Cup qualifier

Dubai World Cup – Mystic Guide

Lincoln Handicap – Haqeeqy

Mar 28

Formula One teams –

Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas

Ferrari – Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz

Red Bull – Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez

McLaren – Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris

Williams – George Russell, Nicholas Latifi

Aston Martin – Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll

AlphaTauri – Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda (Japan)

Alpine – Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon

Haas – Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazapin (Russia)

Alfa Romeo – Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi

Bahrain GP – Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas

Tsunoda finished ninth in F1 debut

Third ODI – India 329 England 322-9 (Sam Curran 95)

India win series 2-1. All matches played in Pune

Tour Championship final – Neil Robertson bt Ronnie O’Sullivan

WGC Matchplay final – Billy Horschel bt Scottie Scheffler

Mar 31

Steven Davis breaks the British international caps record with a 126th cap for Northern Ireland

England knocked out of Group stage of UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021. England beat Croatia, but lost to Switzerland and Portugal

April

Apr 3

Thomas Tuchel loses first match as Chelsea manager in fifteenth match, 5-2 to WBA

Richard Johnson retires. Champion National Hunt Jockey four times

Carl Frampton retires after losing to Jamel Herring in WBO world title fight

Apr 4

Cambridge win men’s and women’s boat races, held on Great Ouse near Ely. Sarah Winkless is first-ever female referee

Extreme E Desert X-Prix in Saudi Arabia won by RXR (Rosberg Team). Each race is two laps – one driven by the female and one by the male

ANA Inspiration – Patty Tavatanakit (Thailand). 2^nd Lydia Ko, who shot 62 in the final round

Apr 5

Irish Grand National – Freewheelin Dylan, at 150-1

Apr 6

World Snooker first qualifying round – Stephen Hendry bt Jimmy White

Apr 8

Betway Bowl – Clan des Obeaux

Justin Rose shoots 65 in first round of the Masters. Hole-in-one for Tommy Fleetwood

Apr 9

Topham Chase – Livelovelaugh

Apr 10

Grand National – Minella Times (Rachael Blackmore), trained by Henry de Bromhead. 2^nd Balko Des Flos (100-1) 3^rd Any Second Now

Rachael Blackmore becomes first ever female jockey to win the race

Rugby Union Champions Cup quarter-final – Leinster bt Exeter

Apr 11

Masters golf – Hideki Matsuyama 2^nd Will Zalatoris

Apr 13

Champions League quarter-final – PSG bt Bayern Munich, Chelsea bt Porto

Apr 14

Champions League quarter-final – Real Madrid bt Liverpool, Man City bt Borussia Dortmund

Apr 15

Wisden's leading cricketer in the world – Ben Stokes

Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year – Zak Crawley, Jason Holder, Mohammad Rizwan, Dom Sidley, Darren Stevens

Wisden's leading woman cricketer in the world – Beth Mooney

Monte Carlo Masters round of 16 – Dan Evans bt Novak Djokovic

Apr 16

John Dawes dies. Coached the 1977 British Lions

Monte Carlo final – Stefanos Tsitsipas bt Andrey Rublev. First ATP Tour title

Apr 17

FA Cup semi-final – Man City bt Chelsea

Sheffield Utd relegated with six games to play after defeat by Wolves

Apr 18

FA Cup semi-final – Leicester bt Southampton

Emilio Romagna GP (Imola) – Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris

Ollie Pope scores 245 for Surrey against Leicestershire

Ollie Robinson takes 9-78 for Sussex against Glamorgan

Scottish Grand National – Mighty Thunder

Floriento Perez, the chairman of Real Madrid, announces the formation of the European Super League, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan, Juventus, Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, and Real Madrid

Apr 19

Jose Mourinho fired by Spurs

Apr 20

Plan for European Super League is dropped following universal opposition from fans, players and managers

Apr 22

Champion jump jockey – Harry Skelton

Champion jump trainer - ?

Apr 23

World Snooker Championship second round – Anthony McGill bt Ronnie O’Sullivan

Apr 24

Women’s Six Nations final – England bt France

Apr 25

Carabao Cup final – Man City 1 (Aymeric Laporte) Spurs 0

Chris Wood hat-trick for Burnley against Wolves

European Gymnastics Championships (Basle)

Women’s floor – Jessica Gadirova

Ravindra Jadeja hits 37 in an over for Chennai Super Kings in IPL

Apr 26

Fara Williams to retire. England’s most-capped footballer with 172 caps

Apr 28

Europa League semi-final – Man Utd 6 Roma 2

Apr 29

NFL draft – first pick is Trevor Lawrence, for Jacksonville Jaguars

Championship Player of the Year – Emi Buendia (Norwich)

League One Player of the Year – Jonson Clarke-Harris (Peterborough)

League Two Player of the Year – Paul Mullin (Cambridge)

Apr 30

Kyren Wilson concedes 53 points from a snooker in World Championships

France v England women’s rugby union international ends early due to floodlight failure