As winter starts in South Africa, sports fans are going to be warmed up by some brilliant sports events. Check out the sports highlight set to take place this South African winter:
UEFA Euro 2024: 14 June to 14 July
With an intense domestic European club season winding down, attention will soon turn to Euro 2024, which will be hosted by Germany. The hosts will be one of the favourites for the tournament along with several other countries, including defending champions Italy, England, Spain, France, Netherlands and Portugal.
The tournament will see 24 teams competing and a draw that includes 6 Groups and a Round of 16. There is sure to be much excitement in a tournament that has always produced intense action and drama. Some notable moments from this iconic tournament include unheralded Denmark winning it in 1992, Greece beating even greater odds to win it in 2004, and France beating Italy in the 2000 final after trailing by a goal in stoppage time.
There are sure to be more drama-filled moments in 2024!
2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup: 1 to 29 June
The Proteas will have yet another chance to win a ICC tournament when the South African tram competes in the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup from 1 to 29 June. The US will host an ICC event for the first time in conjunction with a traditional cricket nation, the West Indies.
This year’s tournament will be the largest ICC competition yet, with 20 teams competing, divided into 4 groups. After the group stage, the top 2 teams in each group will advance to the Super 8 stage, where there will be 2 groups of 4 teams each. The top 2 teams from each Super 8 group will then qualify for the semifinals.
There will be a host of teams this year not renowned as traditional cricket-playing nations, including Papua New Guinea, Uganda, the USA, Canada and Nepal. And with T20 cricket results often determined by luck or 1 impactful player, one can expect some upsets to occur such as when South Africa lost to the Netherlands in the 2022 tournament and Australia lost to Zimbabwe I the inaugural 2007 tournament.
2024 Summer Olympics: 26 July to 11 August
After the 2020 Olympics were delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many will hope that the 2024 Sumer Olympics reignites passion and fervour among sports enthusiasts around the world. The 33rd Summer Olympics will be hosted by the city of Paris, France, and will become the second city after London to host the Olympics on 3 occasions.
This will be the first Olympics to feature an identical number of male and female athletes, featuring 32 sports encompassing 329 events. It will also be the first Summer Olympics since 1960 to have fewer events than the previous edition.
Excitingly, there will be 4 new sports introduced at the Olympics: breaking, skateboarding, surfing, and sport climbing. The US and China will be favoured to top the medals table, much like they did in the 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
2024 French Open: 26 May to 9 June
The world’s best tennis players will grace the clay courts of Roland Garros in the second tennis Grand Slam of the year. After missing out on last year’s tournament, 14-time champion Rafael Nadal will play this year (for the last time) but will be in the unusual position of not being the favourite, as he has been out of action for over a year and was recently knocked out of the 3rd round of the Italian Open.
However, despite being 37 years old, it would be foolish to discount the King of Clay, and he will once again be a threat, along with others such as defending champion Novak Djokovic, Aussie Open champion Jannik Sinner, and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Springbok Mid-Year Tests: June/July
Fresh off the high of if its 2nd consecutive Rugby World Cup win, the Springboks will be itching to play again, and the mid-year tests, will be the first chance for the World Champions to get on the pitch again. The Bokke will play 4 mid-year tests before the Rugby Championship:
- 22 June: South Africa v Wales (Twickenham, London)
- 6 July: South Africa v Ireland (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
- 13 July: South Africa v Ireland (Kings Park, Durban)
- 20 July: South Africa v Portugal (Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein
The Boks will start off the season in a match against Wales in London, before hosting reigning 6 Nations champions Ireland in a 2-test series in Pretoria and Durban. The men in Green and Gold will then play their first-ever test against Portugal in Bloemfontein, which is a reward for Portugal’s strong showing at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It’s a testing start to the season for Rassie Erasmus, who has returned to the position of Springbok head coach.
Get Your Game On at Gbets
With so much amazing sport to look forward to, you can also be a winner by betting on these sporting events at www.gbets.co.za. Happy betting and good luck!