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Bangladesh will boycott next month's men's T20 World Cup and have been replaced by Scotland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