Sports enthusiasts are set to enjoy another blockbuster year in 2026, with several high-profile sports events set to take place. These events are sure to pique the interest of fans, pundits and betting enthusiasts alike. Check out some must-see sports events to look out for this year.
Football
2026 FIFA World Cup (11 June to 19 July)
The United States, Canada, and Mexico are set to co-host the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held from 11 June to 19 July, 2026, across 16 host cities. This World Cup will see an expanded tournament featuring a record 48 teams and 104 matches. The tournament will feature 12 groups of 4 teams, with the top 2 teams from each group and the 8 best third-placed teams progressing to a new Round of 32 knockout stage.
Bafana Bafana will appear in its first FIFA World Cup since hosting in 2010, and will feature in the first match against Mexico, in a repeat of the 2010 opening match.
Cricket
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (7 February to 8 March)
The Proteas will hope to go one better in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, after failing at the final hurdle against India in the 2024 edition, The tournament will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 5 Indian cities and 3 Sri Lankan cities from 7 February to 8 March 8, 2026 and will feature 20 teams competing in 55 matches across 8 venues.
The 20 teams will feature in the pool stage in 4 groups of 5 teams, with the top 2 teams from each group advancing to a Super Eight stage, followed by semi-finals and a final. The semifinals will be held in Mumbai and Kolkata, and the final will be hosted by Ahmedabad.
Politics has already disrupted the tournament, with Bangladesh refusing to play in India, while one semifinal and the final may need to be shifted to Sri Lanka (Colombo) if Pakistan qualifies, due to the longstanding tensions between India and Pakistan.
Rugby
New Zealand Tour of South Africa (August to September 2006)
Thirty years since its first series win in South Africa, the All Blacks will undertake a historic, full-scale tour of the country in August and September 2026. Matches between the All Black and South Africa have generally been considered to be "Rugby's Greatest Rivalry", and the tour is being marketed as such, with 4 test matches (with 1 test match hosted in a yet-to-be-determined neutral venue) set to be played. The 3 home tests will hosted at Ellis Park, Cape Town's DHL Stadium, and FNB Stadium, respectively.
The tour will also include 4 matches against South Africa’s URC provincial teams, while there will also be curtain-raisers featuring the Black Ferns against the Springboks Women. The Rugby Championship will fall by the wayside for the first time due to the tour, but it will return again in 2027.
2026 Nations Championship
The traditional July and November Test windows will be replaced this year by the 2026 Nations Championship, a new biennial international rugby competition launching in July 2026. It will feature 12 teams divided into two regional conferences (Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere). The Northern Hemisphere conference includes the Six Nations teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales, while the Southern Hemisphere conference includes the Rugby Championship teams of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as Fiji and Japan.
The tournament will be held over two windows, with each team playing the six teams from the opposing conference once, three matches at home and three away. The Finals Weekend will be held from 27 to 29 November, at Allianz Stadium (Twickenham, London), with each team playing a team from the other conference that ended in the same position on the conference log. The top teams from both conferences will contest the final.
2026 Commonwealth Games (23 July to 2 August)
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 23 July 23 to 2 August 2, 2026, featuring 10 sports and the largest para-sport programme ever, following the original host state of Victoria, Australia, withdrawing due to cost overruns. The original event would have featured 3,000 athletes from 74 nations, while this scaled-back event will aim for a compact, spectator-friendly experience, with a focus on core sports like athletics, swimming, and gymnastics within four concentrated venues.
The 10 core sports will include Athletics, Swimming, Gymnastics, 3x3 Basketball, Bowls, Boxing, Cycling, Judo, Netball, and Weightlifting, while 6 integrated Para Sports will include Wheelchair Basketball, Para Athletics, Para Bowls, Para Cycling, Para Swimming and Para Powerlifting. Click here for the schedule
2026 Winter Olympics (6 to 22 February)
The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially known as Milano Cortina 2026, will be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and other locations across northern Italy from 6 to 22 February 2026. This will be the first Games to be held across two cities and will feature 116 events across 16 winter sports, including the debut of ski mountaineering as an Olympic event. Sports in which athletes will compete for medals include ice sports (ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating), alpine skiing, curling, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and biathlon. Click here for the schedule
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