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. 7^th Oliver Bearman

Oliver Bearman replaced Carlos Sainz who had appendicitis

Mar 12

Champion Hurdle – State Man (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins. 2^nd Irish Point 3^rd 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. 2^nd Gerri Colombe 3^rd 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 – Tommaso Menoncello

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). 4^th 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

Lincoln Handicap – Mr Professor

Mar 24

Australian GP – Sainz, Leclerc, Norris

Norris sets 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

April

Apr 3

Phil Foden hat-trick for Man City against Aston Villa

Apr 4

Cole Palmer hat-trick for Chelsea against Man Utd

Apr 6

Frankie Dettori wins six consecutive races at Santa Anita in California

Apr 7

Japanese GP – Verstappen, Perez, Sainz

EFL Trophy final – Peterborough United bt Wycombe Wanderers

Joe Kinnear dies

Tour Championship snooker final – Williams bt O’Sullivan

Apr 8

Everton are deducted two points for a second breach of Premier League financial rules

County Championship – Glamorgan 620-3 (Northeast 335*) Middlesex 665 (Higgins 221)

Apr 10

Masters par 3 contest – Rickie Fowler

Apr 11

Aintree Hurdle – Impaire Et Passe

Aintree Bowl – Gerri Colombe

Apr 12

Melling Chase – Jonbon

Topham Chase – Arizona Cardinal

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss invest $4.5 million in Real Bedford FC

Tiger Woods makes the cut at the Masters for a record 24th consecutive year

Olga Fikotova dies. She won the discus gold medal at the 1956 Olympics

Apr 13

Grand National – I Am Maximus (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins 2^nd Delta Work 3^rd Minella Indo

Billie Jean King Cup qualifier – GB bt France. Emma Raducanu won both her matches

Apr 14

Masters – Scottie Scheffler 2^nd Ludvig Aberg 3^rd Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa

EFL Awards –

Championship manager of the year – Kieran McKenna (Ipswich Town)

Championship player of the year – Crysencio Summerville (Leeds Utd)

Apr 15

Derek Underwood dies

Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania) produces a throw of 74.35m in the discus to break the longest-standing men's world record

County Championship – Warwickshire 698-3 against Durham

Chelsea 6 (Palmer 4) Everton 0

Wisden leading cricketers in the world – Nat Sciver-Brunt and Pat Cummins

Cricketers of the Year – Harry Brook, Ashleigh Gardner, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc and Mark Wood

Wisden Trophy for Test performance of the year – Travis Head

Noppon Saengkham hits a maximum break in World Snooker Championship qualifying

Apr 17

Champions League quarter-finals – PSG bt Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund bt Atletico Madrid

Apr 18

Champions League quarter-finals – Real Madrid bt Man City, Bayern Munich bt Arsenal

Women's college basketball superstar Caitlin Clark is drafted into the professional league as the first overall pick by the Indiana Fever. Clark played for Iowa Hawkeyes

Ken Owens retires

Apr 19

Leighton James dies

Apr 20

Scottish Grand National – Macdermott

FA Cup semi-final – Man City 1 Chelsea 0

World Snooker Championship first round – David Gilbert bt Luca Brecel

Apr 21

Chinese GP – Verstappen, Norris, Perez

FA Cup semi-final – Man Utd 3 Coventry City 3. Man Utd won on penalties

London Marathon –

Men’s – Alexander Mutiso Munyao (Kenya) 2^nd Kenenisa Bekele 3^rd Emile Cairess

Women’s – Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) in a women's only record time

Men’s wheelchair – Marcel Hug (Switzerland). Sixth win

Women’s wheelchair – Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland)

Chevron Championship – Nelly Korda, who equals an LPGA record by winning her fifth tournament in a row

Apr 22

World Snooker Championship first round – Joe O’Connor bt Mark Selby

Laureus Awards –

Sportsman of the Year award – Novak Djokovic

Sportswoman of the Year award – Aitana Bonmati

Team of the Year award – Spain women’s football team

Breakthrough of the Year award – Jude Bellingham

Comeback of the Year award – Simone Biles

Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award – Diede de Groot (tennis)

Action Sportsperson of the Year award – Arisa Trew (skateboarding)

Sport for Good award – Fundacion Rafa Nadal

Apr 23

World Snooker Championship first round – Si Jiahui bt Mark Williams

Gateshead are excluded from the National League play-offs due to not meeting the Football League's ground ownership requirements

Apr 25

Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey is to leave the team in the wake of the controversy involving allegations about team principal Christian Horner

Apr 27

Women’s Champions League semi-final – Barcelona bt Chelsea

British jump trainers' championship – Willie Mullins

British jump jockeys' championship – Harry Cobden

Women’s Six Nations – England bt France to win a third consecutive Six Nations Grand Slam and sixth straight title

Top scorer – Ellie Kildunne 45 (9 tries)

Player of the tournament – Ellie Kildunne

NFL draft first pick – Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears)