Sport and Leisure/Sport 2023

January

Jan 1

European Capital of Sport – Glasgow

Shot clock in rugby union introduced. Players will have 90 seconds to take a conversion and a minute for penalties, or the kick will be disallowed

Cody Gakpo moves from PSV Eindhoven to Liverpool

Jan 2

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffers cardiac arrest during match against Cincinnati Bengals

PDC semi-finals – Michael Smith bt Gabriel Clemens (Germany), Michael van Gerwyn bt Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)

Jan 3

PDC Final – Smith bt van Gerwen

Jan 4

West Ham co-chairman David Gold dies

Jan 6

Gianluca Vialli dies

Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong are replaced by David Gilbert and Hossein Vafaei in The Masters following match-fixing allegations

Four Hills Tournament – Halvor Egner Granerud (Norway)

Jan 7

FA Cup third round – Wrexham bt Coventry

Jan 8

FA Cup third round – Stevenage bt Aston Villa

The Masters first round – Hossein Vafaei bt Mark Selby

Tournament of Champions – Jon Rahm

Jan 9

Gareth Bale retires

Jan 10

David Duckham dies

Jan 11

Carabao Cup quarter-final – Southampton bt Man City

Jan 12

On-loan Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix sent off on Chelsea debut against Fulham

Jan 15

The Masters final – Trump bt Williams

Mykhailo Mudryk moves from Shakhtar Donetsk to Chelsea

Dakar Rally (Saudi Arabia) – Cars classification won by Nasser Al-Attiyah, driving a Toyota. 6th win

Jan 16

Eddie Jones is appointed as head coach of Australia

Australian Open first round – Murray bt Berrettini

Jan 18

Australian Open second round – Mackenzie McDonald bt Nadal

Australian Open second round – Gauff bt Raducanu

Jan 19

Australian Open second round – Murray bt Thanasi Kokkinakis. Match finished at 04:05

NBA match in Paris – Chicago Bulls bt Detroit Pistons

World’s richest football clubs – Man City, Real Madrid, Liverpool

Jan 20

Danny Ings moves from Aston Villa to West Ham

Leandro Trossard moves from Brighton to Arsenal

Jan 21

Australian Open third round – Roberto Bautista Agut bt Murray

Jan 22

Haaland hat-trick against Wolves

Jan 23

Frank Lampard sacked as manager of Everton

Scottish Cup fourth round – Darval bt Aberdeen

Darval play in the West of Scotland Premier Division, the sixth tier of Scottish football

World Indoor Bowls Championship. Men’s – Jamie Walker. Women’s – Katherine Rednall

Longines World’s Best Racehorse – Flightline

Jan 24

Mikaela Shiffrin passes Lindsey Vonn's women's World Cup record of 82 wins

Jan 26

Australian Open women’s singles semi-finals – Rybakina bt Azarenka, Sabalenka bt Magda Linette (Poland)

ICC Cricketer of the Year awards –

Men's Test Cricketer of the Year – Ben Stokes

Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam

Men's T20 Cricketer of the Year – Suryakumar Yadav

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy – Babar Azam

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy – Nat Sciver

Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year – Nat Sciver

Women's T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tahlia McGrath

Jan 27

Australian Open men’s singles semi-finals – Djokovic bt Tommy Paul, Tsitsipas bt Khachanov

Mixed doubles final – Matos and Stefani bt Bopanna and Mirza

Men's wheelchair doubles – Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid

16-year-old Billy Loughnane is top of the Flat jockey standings

Jan 28

Women’s singles final – Sabalenka bt Rybakina

Men’s doubles finals – Hijikata and Kubler bt Nys and Zielinski

Men's wheelchair singles – Alfie Hewett

Jan 29

Men’s singles final – Djokovic bt Tsitsipas. Tenth Australian Open title and 22nd major singles title overall

Women’s doubles final – Krejcikova and Siniakova bt Aoyama and Shibahara

Women's Under-19 World Cup final – England 68 India 69-3. Tournament played in South Africa

Anthony Gordon moves from Everton to Newcastle Utd

Cazoo Masters final – Chris Dobey bt Rob Cross

AFC Championship Game – Kansas City Chiefs bt Cincinnati Bengals

NFC Championship Game – Philadelphia Eagles bt San Francisco 49ers

Pegasus World Cup – Art Collector

BBL Cup final – London Lions bt Leicester Riders

WBBL Cup final – London Lions bt Leicester Riders

Jan 30

Sean Dyche appointed as manager of Everton

Dubai Desert Classic – McIlroy

Jan 31

Transfer deadline day –

Enzo Fernandez moves from Benfica to Chelsea for £107 million

Jorginho moves from Chelsea to Arsenal

Marcel Sabitzer moves from Bayern Munich to Man Utd on loan

Joao Cancelo moves from Man City to Bayern Munich on loan

Carabao Cup semi-final – Newcastle Utd bt Southampton

February

Feb 1

Carabao Cup semi-final – Man Utd bt Nottingham Forest

Feb 4

Six Nations captains – Owen Farrell, Ken Owens, Jonathan Sexton, Jamie Ritchie, Antoine Dupont, Michele Lamaro

Six Nations coaches – Steve Borthwick, Warren Gatland, Andy Farrell, Gregor Townsend, Fabien Galthie, Kieran Crowley

Six Nations – Ireland bt Wales. First try of the tournament scored by Caelan Doris

Six Nations – Scotland bt England. Winning try scored by Duhan van der Merwe

Big Bash League final – Perth Scorchers bt Brisbane Heat

Feb 5

Harry Kane breaks Jimmy Greaves’ goal scoring record for Spurs, with his 267th goal, against Man City

Great Britain win a first four-man bobsleigh medal at the World Championships for 84 years with silver in St Moritz. Pilot – Brad Hall

German Masters final – Ali Carter bt Tom Ford

Feb 6

Jesse Marsch sacked as manager of Leeds Utd

Alpine World Ski Championships start in France. Men’s events held in Courchevel. Women’s events held in Meribel

Feb 7

FA Cup fourth round – Sheffield Utd bt Wrexham

LeBron James becomes the NBA's all-time leading scorer, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 39-year-old record of 38,387 points

FIFA Club World Cup semi-final – Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) bt Flamengo (Brazil)

Feb 8

FIFA Club World Cup semi-final – Real Madrid by Al Ahly (Egypt)

Feb 9

Tony Faulkner dies

Feb 10

Women’s T20 World Cup starts in South Africa

Feb 11

Women’s downhill – Jasmine Flury (Switzerland)

Six Nations – Ireland bt France

Six Nations – Scotland bt Wales and win the Doddie Weir Cup

FIFA Club World Cup final (Rabat) – Real Madrid 5 Al-Hilal 3

Feb 12

Men’s downhill – Marco Odermatt (Switzerland)

Six Nations – England bt Italy

Nathan Jones sacked as manager of Southampton

World Senior Darts Championship final (Circus Tavern, Purfleet) – Robert Thornton bt Richie Howson

Super Bowl LVII – Kansas City Chiefs 38 Philadelphia Eagles 35

Winning field goal kicked by Harrison Butker

MVP – Patrick Mahomes

Game played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona

Half time show headlined by Rihanna

NFL MVP – Patrick Mahomes

Feb 13

British Horseracing Authority's revised whip regulations come into effect

Feb 16

Women’s giant slalom – Shriffrin

Welsh Open round of 32 – Adam Wells bt Trump

Feb 17

Men’s giant slalom – Marco Odermatt

Welsh Open quarter-final – Teng Pengfei bt O’Sullivan

Feb 18

World Club Challenge – Penrith Panthers 12 St Helens 13. Lewis Dodd kicked the winning drop-goal in golden-point extra time

Women’s slalom – Laurence St-Germain (Canada)

Feb 19

First Test – England 325-9 and 374 New Zealand 306 (Blundell 138) and 126. England won by 267 runs

Anderson and Broad become the most successful bowling partnership in Test history, passing Warne and McGrath's record of 1,001 wickets

Welsh Open final (Llandudno) – Milkins bt Murphy

Men’s slalom – Henrik Kristoffersen (Norway). Silver – AJ Ginnis (Greece)

FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships start in Georgia

Feb 21

Greg Foster dies

England score record 213-5 against Pakistan to post the highest total in Women's T20 World Cup history

Javi Gracia appointed as manager of Leeds Utd

Feb 22

Champions League – Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 5

Feb 23

John Motson dies

Women's T20 World Cup semi-final – Australia bt India

Feb 24

Women's T20 World Cup semi-final – South Africa bt England

Feb 25

Six Nations – Ireland bt Italy

Six Nations – England bt Wales. Winning try scored by Ollie Lawrence

Saudi Cup – Panthalassa. World’s richest horse race

Feb 26

Six Nations – France bt Scotland. Mohamed Haouas (France) became the first player to receive two career red cards in Six Nations. Grant Gilchrist was also sent off

Scottish League Cup final – Celtic bt Rangers

Women’s T20 World Cup final (Cape Town) – Australia bt South Africa

Carabao Cup final – Man Utd 2 (Casemiro, Rashford) Newcastle Utd 0

Players Championship snooker final – Murphy bt Carter

Tommy Fury bt Jake Paul in boxing match in Saudi Arabia

Feb 27

Novak Djokovic surpasses Steffi Graf's record for the most weeks as world number one after entering a 378th week at the top of the men's rankings

Best Fifa Football Awards –

The Best men's player – Lionel Messi

The Best women's player – Alexia Putellas

The Best men's coach – Lionel Scaloni

The Best women's coach – Sarina Wiegman

Snowboard slopestyle – Mia Brookes, who becomes Great Britain's youngest world champion in snowboarding history at the age of 16

Feb 28

Second Test (Basin Reserve, Wellington) – England 435-8 (Brook 186, Root 153*) and 256 New Zealand 209 and 483 (Williamson 132, Leach 5-157). New Zealand won by one run. Series drawn 1-1

Last man James Anderson was caught down the leg side by Tom Blundell off Neil Wagner when England needed two to win

West Indies defeated Australia in 1993 in the only other Test match to have been won by one run

March

Mar 1

Just Fontaine dies

FA Cup fifth round – Grimsby bt Southampton

Mar 2

Mixed snowboard team cross – GB (Huw Nightingale and Charlotte Bankes)

European Athletics Indoor Championships start in Istanbul

Mar 4

Philip Billing scores after 9 seconds for Bournemouth against Arsenal

Ski halfpipe. Silver – Zoe Atkin

1500m – Laura Muir

Mumbai Indians bt Gujarat Giants in the first game of the Indian Women’s Premier League

World Women’s Snooker Championship – Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan (Thailand)

Mar 5

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 (Australia)

Williams – Logan Sargeant (USA), Alexander Albon

AlphaTauri – Nyck de Vries (Netherlands), Yuki Tsunoda

Alpine – Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon

Haas – Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg

Alfa Romeo – Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu

Bahrain GP – Verstappen, Perez, Alonso

Liverpool 7 Man Utd 0

Salah breaks Robbie Fowler's record of 128 Premier League goals for Liverpool

Women’s League Cup final – Arsenal bt Chelsea

800m – Keely Hodgkinson

Long jump – Jazmin Sawyers

UK Open darts championship – Andrew Gilding bt Michael van Gerwen

HSBC Women’s World Championships – JY Ko (South Korea)

Mar 7

Champions League Round of 16 – AC Milan bt Spurs

Mar 11

Six Nations – England 10 France 53

Six Nations – Wales bt Italy

Mikaela Shiffrin becomes the greatest Alpine skier of all time with her 87th World Cup win, surpassing the record of 86 held by Swede Ingemar Stenmark since 1989

Mar 12

Six Nations – Ireland bt Scotland

Players Championship (Sawgrass) – Scottie Scheffler. 2^nd Tyrell Hatton

Aaron Rai made a hole-in-one at the 17th hole

Mar 13

Dick Fosbury dies

Mar 14

Champions League Round of 16 – Man City 7 (Haaland (5)) RB Leipzig 0

Fifa switch the format for the expanded 2026 World Cup back to four-team groups

Champion Hurdle – Constitution Hill (Nico de Boinville), trained by Nicky Henderson. 2^nd State Man 3^rd Zanahiyr

Mares’ Hurdle – Honeysuckle (Rachael Blackmore)

Bangladesh bt England 3-0 in T20 series

Mar 15

Queen Mother Champion Chase – Energumene

Cross Country Chase – Delta Work

Champions League Round of 16 – Real Madrid bt Liverpool

Mar 16

Ryanair Chase – Envoi Allen

Stayers’ Hurdle – Sire Du Berlais

Europa League Round of 16 – Sporting Lisbon bt Arsenal

Women’s snooker pioneer Vera Selby dies

Mar 17

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is sacked

Gold Cup – Galopin des Champs (Paul Townend), trained by Willie Mullins. 2^nd Bravemansgame 3^rd Conflated 4^th Noble Yeats

Prestbury Cup – Ireland bt GB

Leading Jockey – Paul Townend

Leading Trainer – Willie Mullins

Mar 18

Six Nations – Scotland bt Italy. Hat-trick for Blair Kinghorn

Six Nations – Wales bt France. 100th cap for Taulupe Faletau

Six Nations – Ireland bt England. Freddie Steward sent off. 100th cap for Dan Cole

Johnny Sexton surpasses Ronan O'Gara (557 points) as the Six Nations' record scorer

Ireland's first Grand Slam in five years, and first won in Dublin

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

Leading points scorer – Thomas Ramos (84)

Leading try scorer – Damian Penaud (5)

Player of the tournament – Antoine Dupont

FA Cup quarter-final – Man City 6 (Haaland (3)) Burnley 0

Pakistan Super League final – Lahore Qalandars bt Multan Sultans

Mar 19

FA Cup quarter-final – Brighton 5 Grimsby 0

Premiership Rugby Cup final – Exeter Chiefs bt London Irish

Saudi Arabia GP – Perez, Verstappen, Russell

Indian Wells Masters. Men’s – Alcaraz. Women’s – Rybakina

Alpine Ski World Cup –

Men’s overall – Marco Odermatt (Switzerland)

Men’s downhill – Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Norway)

Women’s overall – Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

Women’s downhill – Sofia Goggia (Italy)

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

Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup – Eva Pinkelnig (Austria)

Mar 21

World Baseball Classic final – Japan bt USA

Roy Hodgson appointed as manager of Crystal Palace

Mar 22

World Figure Skating Championships start in Japan

Mar 23

Harry Kane scores against Italy to become England's all-time top goalscorer with his 54th goal, breaking Wayne Rooney's record. Luke Shaw sent off. Match played in Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, Naples

Cristiano Ronaldo makes a world-record 197th men's international appearance in Portugal's match against Liechtenstein

Mar 24

Thomas Tuchel replaces Julian Nagelsmann as manager of Bayern Munich

Women’s singles – Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)

Mar 25

Men’s singles – Shoma Uno (Japan)

Ilia Malinin (USA) lands a quadruple axel for the first time on the world stage

Ice Dance – Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA). 4^th Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (UK)

Dubai World Cup – Ushba Tesoro

Mar 26

WPL final – Mumbai Indians bt Delhi Capitals

Scottish Challenge Cup final – Hamilton Academical bt Raith Rovers

Cambridge win men’s and women’s boat races

South Africa chase down 259, the highest pursuit in T20 history, to beat West Indies in T20 international

Ivan Toney makes England debut, against Ukraine

World Match Play Championship final – Sam Burns bt Cameron Young. Third-place play-off – McIlroy bt Scheffler

BBL Trophy final – Caledonia Gladiators bt Cheshire Phoenix

WBBL Trophy final – London Lions bt Leicester Riders

Mar 27

Antonio Conte leaves Spurs by mutual consent

Mar 28

Euro 2024 qualifying Group A – Scotland 2 (McTominay (2)) Spain 0

April

Apr 1

Ken Buchanan dies

Lincoln Handicap – Migration

Apr 2

Australian GP – Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso. The race finished under a safety car after three red flags

Papa Johns EFL Trophy final – Bolton bt Plymouth

Brendan Rodgers sacked as manager of Leicester

Graham Potter sacked as manager of Chelsea

Tour Championship snooker final – Shaun Murphy bt Kyren Wilson

Apr 3

WWE and the Endeavor Group, the owners of mixed martial arts franchise UFC, are to form a new £17.3 billion sports entertainment brand

Apr 4

Amir Khan banned for two years after an anti-doping test revealed the presence of a banned substance following his fight against Kell Brook in 2022

Reading given six-point deduction for breaching EFL business plan

Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic is given an eight-match ban after pushing referee Chris Kavanagh in their FA Cup loss at Manchester United

Switzerland will host the 2025 Uefa Women's European Championship

Apr 5

Masters par 3 contest – Tom Hoge. Seamus Power hits back-to-back hole-in-ones

Frank Lampard to manage Chelsea until the end of the season

Apr 6

Women's Finalissima (Wembley) – England bt Brazil

Apr 8

Son Heung-min becomes the first Asian player to score 100 goals in the Premier League

Apr 9

The Masters – Jon Rahm. 2^nd Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka

Apr 10

Irish Grand National – I Am Maximus

Dean Smith appointed as manager of Leicester City until the end of the season

Apr 11

Australia end England’s 30 match unbeaten run in women’s football. England's first ever loss under Sarina Wiegman

European Gymnastics Championships start in Antalya, Turkey

Apr 12

Proposed stadiums for joint Ireland and United Kingdom bid for the UEFA Euro 2028 includes Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and Casement Park in Belfast

Apr 13

Aintree Hurdle – Constitution Hill

Aintree Bowl – Shishkin

Apr 14

Melling Chase – Pic d’Orhy

Topham Chase – Bill Baxter

Harry Brook his maiden Indian Premier League century for Sunrisers Hyderabad

Women’s all-around – Jessica Gadirova

Apr 15

Grand National – Corach Rambler (Derek Fox), trained by Lucinda Russell. 2^nd Vanillier 3^rd Gaillard 4^th Noble Yeats. Race delayed by animal rights activists. Hill Sixteen died during the race

Billie Jean Cup qualifier (Coventry) – France bt Great Britain

Heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce suffers first pro loss, to China’s Zhilei Zhang

Men’s floor – Luke Whitehouse

Apr 16

Chris Ashton becomes the first player to score 100 Premiership tries

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of Sachin, makes his Indian Premier League debut for Mumbai Indians

Women’s floor – Jessica Gadirova

Jake Jarman won two gymnastics silver medals and a bronze medal

Apr 17

Play is disrupted at the World Snooker Championship after a protester climbed on to a table and covered it in an orange powder

Leeds 1 Liverpool 6

Quarterback Jalen Hurts agrees a new deal with the Philadelphia Eagles that makes him the highest-paid player in NFL history

Wisden leading cricketer in the world – Ben Stokes

Cricketers of the Year – Tom Blundell, Ben Foakes, Harmanpreet Kaur, Daryl Mitchell, Matthew Potts

Apr 18

Champions League quarter-finals – Real Madrid bt Chelsea, AC Milan bt Napoli

Apr 19

World Snooker Championship first round – Kyren Wilson 147 against Ryan Day

World Snooker Championship first round – Anthony McGill bt Judd Trump

Champions League quarter-finals – Man City bt Bayern Munich, AC Milan bt Benfica

Apr 20

World Snooker Championship first round – Si Jiahui bt Shaun Murphy

Europa League quarter-final – Sevilla bt Man Utd

Gloucestershire's Tom Price makes a hundred and takes a hat-trick on the same day

Apr 22

Scottish Grand National – Kitty’s Light

FA Cup semi-final – Mahrez hat-trick for Man City against Sheffield Utd

Wrexham bt Boreham Wood to win promotion from National League

Apr 23

London Marathon –

Men’s – Kelvin Kiptum (Kenya), in 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds, the second-fastest time ever

Women’s – Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), in her first-ever marathon

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

Women’s wheelchair – Madison de Rozario (Australia)

FA Cup semi-final – Man Utd bt Brighton

Newcastle Utd 6 Spurs 1. Newcastle scored five goals in the first 21 minutes

Chevron Championship – Lilia Vu (USA)

Apr 24

Spurs interim manager Cristian Stellini is sacked after four matches in charge and replaced by Ryan Mason

Champion jump jockey – Richard Hughes

Champion jump trainer – Paul Nicholls

Championship Player of the Year – Chuba Akpom (Middlesbrough)

League One Player of the Year – Aaron Collins (Bristol Rovers)

League Two Player of the Year – Sam Hoskins (Northampton)

Apr 26

Quarter-final – Luca Brecel bt O’Sullivan

Man City 4 Arsenal 1

Apr 27

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

NFL draft first pick – Bryce Young (Carolina Panthers)

Apr 28

Jim Fox dies

Apr 29

Women’s Six Nations – England 38 France 33. England win Grand Slam

Brighton 6 Wolves 0

Semi-final – Luca Brecel 17 Si Jiahui 15. Brecel won 11 frames in a row

Semi-final – Mark Selby 17 Mark Allen 15

Champions Cup semi-final – Leinster bt Toulouse

Sergio Perez wins first race in new ‘sprint’ format at Azerbaijan GP

Apr 30

Azerbaijan GP – Perez, Verstappen, Leclerc

Champions Cup semi-final – La Rochelle bt Exeter

Tour de Romandie – Adam Yates