The year 2024 has been identified as a sporting year. We take a look at some of the key sporting events in this physical year.
1. Summer Olympics
The City of Paris in France will between July 26-August 11, 2024 host the Summer Olympics also known as Paris Games. The multi-sport showpiece will have in attendance slightly over 10,000 participants in 329 events covering 48 disciplines. The Games will be the first to feature an identical number of athletes between men and women. Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, Paris will become the second city, after London (who were the hosts in 1908 and 1948 and 2012), to host the Summer Olympics three times.
2. AFCON
The 2023 CAF-Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) kicked off on Saturday and is expected to end on February 11 in Cote D’Ivoire, being held across five cities and six venues. The 34th edition of the biennial Africa football tournament will be hosted in the West African country for the second time since 1984.The showpiece will feature 24 nations battling for the gong. Defending Champions Senegal lead a galaxy of former winners including Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia. About 14 big money companies led by the title sponsors Total Energies will back the tournament that is a huge hit in the Continent. Star attacking names like Nigeria’s Victor Osihmen of Napoli SC, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah of Liverpool FC and Morocco’s Hakim Ziyech of Galatasaray will be expected to showcase their brilliance to millions of fans in Africa and beyond.
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3. Euros
The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylized as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, will be the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organized by UEFA for the men’s national teams of its member associations. Germany will host the tournament, which is scheduled to take place from 14 June to 14 July 2024 and the winner will later compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions against the 2024 Copa América winner.
Germany had a wide choice of stadiums that satisfied UEFA›s minimum capacity requirement of 30,000 seats for European Championship matches. Italy are defending Champions of this tournament after beating England via penalties in the 2020 finals with 24 countries set to fight for the title this year. Star players like Kylian Mbappe of France and Jude Bellingham of England are being earmarked for success in this tourney
4. COPA America
The 2024 Copa América will be the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men›s soccer championship organized by South America›s football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament will be held in the United States and co-organized by CONCACAF. The United States will host the tournament for the second time, having hosted the Copa América Centenario in 2016. The tournament will be held from June 20 to July 14, 2024, and the winner will later compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions against the UEFA Euro 2024 winner. Argentina are the defending champions. The final will be played on July 14, 2024, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
5. AFC Asia Cup
After the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar is set to host yet another major international tournament in the form of the AFC Asian Cup 2024. The quadrennial intercontinental tournament will see some of the biggest names in Asian football go head-to-head against each other. At least 24 countries drawn from South, Central and East Asia alongside Oceania and Middle East will take part in the tournament that will run from January 12-February 10. Nine venues selected by FIFA from five Cities will be used for this Championship which is also expected to draw a lot of crowds.
6. ICC T20 World Cup
The 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, a biennial Twenty20 International (T20I) tournament contested by men’s national teams and organized by International Cricket Council (ICC). It is scheduled to be hosted by the West Indies and the United States from 4 June to 30 June 2024. It will be the first ICC World Cup tournament to feature matches played in the United States. England are the defending champions, having defeated Pakistan in the final of the edition. The tournament will be contested by 20 teams, an expansion from 16 teams at the 2022 tournament.
7. WRC Safari Rally
Nicknamed the toughest rally in the world, Naivasha will be hosting this year’s third leg of the World Rally Championships (WRC Safari Rally) in March, back to its traditional East weekend dates. This year, Kenya targets 100 million global viewership for the five-day event expected to bring together all the top drivers in the world and the biggest car manufacturers.
8. FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup
The 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be the 8th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the biennial international women’s youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It will be hosted by the Dominican Republic. It will be the first time the Dominican Republic has ever hosted a FIFA tournament. A total of 16 teams qualify for the final tournament from six confederations and the showpiece will run between October 16-November 3. Spain are the two-time defending champions.
9. Paralympics Games
As was the case in Tokyo three years earlier, there will be 22 sports at the Paris Paralympics, with 4,400 athletes set to be involved across 11 days of competition. Wheelchair rugby gets things going on day one, with Great Britain looking to defend the gold medal they won with a 54-49 victory over the United States at the Yoyogi National Stadium in late August 2021, one of 124 medals, 41 of which were gold, ParalympicsGB secured in Japan. The closing weekend, meanwhile, includes wheelchair fencing under the dome of the Grand Palais.
10. ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
The 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth edition of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup tournament. It is scheduled to be hosted in Bangladesh between September and October 2024. Australia are the defending champions. The Capital Dhaka will host 23 matches involving 10 participating teams.
