Exciting sporting year ahead!

FIFA Club World Cup

The Club World Cup commenced this week (February 1s) and will continue until February 11th. The respective winners of every continental Champions League and the runners-up of the African Champions League will play each other to see who will be crowned ‘Champion of the World’.

The Super Bowl

Another event taking place at the beginning of the year is the Super Bowl. This will be held on February 12th and is the 57th edition of the tournament. Over 100 million people watch the game globally, making it one of the most watched sporting events every year.

World Snooker Championship

The Snooker World Championships – held in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from April 15th to May 1st – is the sport’s most famous event in which the top ranked players compete for the illustrious World Championship trophy. The event seems to bring in more and more fans every year. The prize pool increases each year, and the winner will receive a whopping £500,000.

The Grand National

The Grand National is the most famous National Hunt horse race in the world, held at Aintree Racecourse every year. The event is watched by 500-600 million people in over 140 countries. The race takes place on April 15th.

NBA Finals

The best 16 teams in basketballget seeded and placed into a tournament-based competition. Eventually when two teams remain, a 7-game series is played to decide the NBA champions. The current champions are the Golden State Warriors; they beat the Boston Celtics in a major upset last year. This year the league is very balanced with several teams in contention for the title.

Tour de France

The Tour de France is the world’s most high profile bicycle race. It is held over three weeks every July and sees approximately 20 cycling teams (each comprised of 9 riders) race around 3,600km travelling through France and bordering countries. It is one of cycling’s three grand tours. It will start in Bilbao, Spain on July 1st and end with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris on July 23rd.

All-Ireland finals

Kerry and Limerick will be hoping to retain their respective titles. Last year, football champions Kerry beat Galway by four points to win their first All-Ireland since 2014. In hurling, Limerick beat Kilkenny by two points to win their fourth title in five years. The Treaty County also succeeded in achieving their first ever three-ina-row.

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup, held every four years, will be hosted by hot favourites France this year. Ireland are considered serious contenders for the trophy following their rise to world number one last year. The tournament begins on the September 8th and finishes on the October 28th.

With a mouth-watering sporting 2023 to look forward to, DANIEL TIERNAN selected some anticipated highlights…

Ryder Cup

24 of the best American and European golf professionals go head-to-head in match play competition. The competition is set to take place in Italy for the first time ever. Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Rory McIllroy and Seamus Power could all figure. Luke Donald captains Team Europe while Zach

Johnson captains Team USA.

PDC World Darts Championships

2023 will end with the World Darts Championships. Held in the Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) in London, current champion Michael Smith will hope to make it back-to-back titles.