This article is about watching sports. For participating in sports, see Sports.
Watching sports is a popular pastime around the world, whether at a major international event such as the Olympic Games or, for example, a minor league football game. In the 21st century, sports is a multi-billion-dollar industry and part of this revolves about travel. Many combine their love of sport and travel to watch events overseas or in another part of the country.
Understand
Sport stadiums can be designated for one sport, or host several different events. Major stadiums can change their name with a sponsor deal; in some cases they even change name during a specific event. Be sure to find out which stadium you are going to.
Articles about watching sports
<div style="">
- [American football](American_football)
- [Association football](Association_football)
- [Association football in Europe](Association_football_in_Europe)
- [Australian rules football](Australian_rules_football)
- [Baseball in the United States](Baseball_in_the_United_States)
- [Basketball in North America](Basketball_in_North_America)
- [Boxing](Boxing)
- [Cricket](Cricket)
- [Field hockey](Field_hockey)
- [Formula One](Formula_One)
- [Golf](Golf)
- [Handball in Europe](Handball_in_Europe)
- [Horse racing](Horse_racing)
- [Ice hockey in Europe](Ice_hockey_in_Europe)
- [Ice hockey in North America](Ice_hockey_in_North_America)
- [Martial arts](Martial_arts)
- [Motorcycle speedway](Motorcycle_speedway)
- [Olympic Games](Olympic_Games)
- [Rugby football](Rugby_football)
</div>
Events with multiple sports
African Games
The African Games are held among the countries of Africa.
Asian Games
The Asian Games among the countries of Asia; the second largest multi-sports games after the Summer Olympics. Features some sports that are popular in Asia but not contested at the Olympics such as wushu (Chinese martial arts), kabbadi and dragon boat racing, as well as some globally-popular non-Olympic sports such as tenpin bowling and squash. The Winter Asian Games, operated by the same body but featuring only winter sports. Normally held in the year before the Winter Olympics.
Bolivarian Games
Central America Games
The Central American Games, only involving the seven nations of Central America.
Central America and Caribbean Games
The Central America and Caribbean Games — the second oldest international multi-sport games.
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games among the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations; the fourth-largest multi-sports games. Unlike other multi-sport events, para-sports events are held as part of the main games with the able-bodied sports events. Features some non-Olympic sports that are popular in the Commonwealth such as lawn bowls, squash and netball. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland send separate teams to the Commonwealth Games, in contrast to the Olympics where they send a unified Great Britain team.
Deaflympics
The Deaflympics is an IOC-sanctioned event for athletes with hearing impairments. Although the sports are largely the same as the Olympics, modifications are made to not rely on sounds such as starter's guns, spoken commands or referee whistles.
European Games
The European Games among Europe countries. The newest continental-level multi-sport event, with its first edition in 2015. Also in the year before the Summer Olympics.
Gay Games
The Gay Games attract mostly for LGBT athletes, though are open to all.
Jeux de la Francophonie
Jeux de la Francophonie among the countries of La Francophonie. The Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick send separate teams from the Canadian team, and the Belgian team is restricted to sending Francophone athletes. Held in the year after the Summer Olympics.
Maccabiah Games
The Maccabiah Games for Jewish athletes from 85 nations, and Israelis regardless of ethnicity or religion, are the third-largest multi-sports event by number of competitors after the Summer Olympics and Asian Games. Always held in Israel.
Olympic Games
See Olympic Games.
- 2024: Summer Olympics, 2-18 Aug, Paris, France
- 2026: Winter Olympics, dates TBA, Milan and Cortina, Italy
- 2028: Summer Olympics, 21 Jul - 6 Aug, Los Angeles, USA
- 2032: Summer Olympics, 23 Jul - 8 Aug, Brisbane, Australia
Pacific Games
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games among the countries of the Americas.
Southeast Asian Games
The Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), held every two years in odd-numbered years, among the countries of Southeast Asia. Features some sports that are only popular in Southeast Asia such as sepak takraw and silat.
- 2023: 5—16 May, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- 2025: 7-19 December, Bangkok, Thailand
- 2027: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 2029: Singapore
- 2031: Laos
- 2033: Philippines
Special Olympics
The Special Olympics are IOC-sanctioned events for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities.
World Games
Held every four years in the year after the summer Olympic Games. No events overlap with any contested in the Olympics. Many of the sports are not part of the Olympic program at all; the World Games also feature many non-Olympic disciplines and/or events within Olympic sports. The events are organized by the International World Games Association, which is recognized by the IOC.
Events for a single sport
National Football League
- Super Bowl LVIII to take place on 11 February 2024 at Allegiant Stadium (home of the Las Vegas Raiders), just west of the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Originally scheduled for New Orleans but will not be held there due to scheduling conflicts with Mardi Gras, which falls near that time in 2024.
- Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana (home of the New Orleans Saints) on 9 February 2025; Originally host of Super Bowl LVIII
NFL International Series
At least three regular season games, all held in London (England). The NFL has contracts with the following venues for future games:
- At least one game per season through 2024 at Wembley Stadium.
- At least two games per season through 2027 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The NFL played three games in London in October 2022, two at the Spurs stadium and one at Wembley. The next London games are planned for 2023 and will most likely be announced some time in April 2023, before the complete NFL schedule is announced.
=NFL games in Mexico=
The NFL first held a regular season game in Mexico in 2005. Despite good attendance, the league did not return until the 2016 season, the first of what was meant to be a three-year deal to hold one game each season in that country. With both the 2016 and 2017 games selling out, the deal was extended through the 2021 season with an eye to possibly play more than one game per season in future years. All Mexico games thus far have been held in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
The most recent Mexico game was in 2022. With Estabio Azteca being renovated for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, there will be no Mexico games until at least the 2024 season and possibly 2025.
=NFL games in Germany=
In February 2022, the NFL announced a four-year agreement to expand the NFL International Series in Germany. The games will be split between the Allianz Arena in Munich and Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt. The first game was held in the 2022 season. With the Mexico game being put on hold due to stadium renovations, there will be two Germany games in 2023. The Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots have been announced as the designated "home" teams; dates and opponents will be announced later in 2023.
US college football
- College Football Playoff National Championship
- 2024: NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas (home of the Houston Texans) on 8 January
- 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia (home of the Atlanta Falcons); date TBA
- 2026: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (home of the Miami Dolphins); date TBA
Each of these games is the championship for the previous calendar year. The bulk of the American football season takes place in the northern hemisphere fall/autumn.
German Football League
Other events
- 2022 European Championship. Dates and sites TBA; given the last second swap of the 2018 championship from Germany to France over squabbles in the governing bodies of the sport, don't book anything too far in advance.
Australian Football League
- 2023 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – late September
Badminton
Badminton is generally most popular in Asia, with East and Southeast Asian nations generally dominating the international tournaments, the sole exception being Denmark. The BWF World Tour is the premier international badminton tournament circuit, with the following tournaments being the most important ones on the circuit:
- All England Open — the oldest international badminton tournament in the world, and the most prestigious tournament on the circuit. Held in March every year at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England.
- China Open — held in September every year, with the venue often changing between different Chinese cities.
- Denmark Open — held in October every year at the Odense Sports Park in Odense, Denmark.
- Indonesia Open — held in November every year at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The World Championships are held every year except in Olympic years. Badminton has been an Olympic sport since 1992, with the Olympics generally being considered the premier tournament in the sport. There is also the Thomas Cup for men's national teams, and the Uber Cup for women's national teams, which mostly operate as multi-level leagues.
Baseball
see also Baseball in the United States
Basketball
NBA
See: Basketball in North America
US college basketball
The biggest event in US college (university) basketball is the NCAA Division I men's tournament, featuring 68 teams. The Division I women's tournament draws considerably less interest, but is still the biggest event in American women's college sports. The men's tournament begins on the Tuesday preceding the third Thursday in March (in terms of dates, no earlier than March 13 and no later than March 19) in Dayton, Ohio with an eight-team round marketed as the First Four, featuring two games on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. The winners of these four games join the remaining 60 tournament teams for the first round, which starts on the third Thursday in March. The women's tournament expanded from 64 teams to 68 starting in 2022, with its own First Four; it starts the day after the men's tournament.
The four-team final rounds of these tournaments are known as the Final Four. Future Final Four sites are:
;Men
- 2023 – April 1 and 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston
- 2024 – April 6 and 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, northwest of Phoenix
- 2025 – April 5 and 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio
- 2026 – April 4 and 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
;Women
- 2023 – March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas
- 2024 – April 5 and 7 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland
- 2025 – April 4 and 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa
- 2026 – April 3 and 5 at Footprint Center in Phoenix
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is basketball's equivalent to the UEFA Champions League in association football (soccer), featuring top club teams from throughout Europe (note that in sports, "Europe" includes several countries either partly or totally in Asia, most notably Russia, Turkey, and Israel). The season starts in October and ends with the EuroLeague Final Four in May.
- 110th Grey Cup at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario (home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats); expected date November 19, 2023
Golf
Men's
;Major championships
Three of the four men's major championships are held in the US. The only exception is The Open Championship, also known as the "British Open". Each tournament is played from Thursday through Sunday, barring weather-related delays, and has a fixed weekend on the calendar. Although golf has been an Olympic sport from 1900-1904, and since 2016, the Major championships are regarded as more prestigious than the Olympics, and most top players choose to skip the Olympics. A golfer who wins all four majors in the same calendar year is said to have completed the Grand Slam, which has yet to be achieved by anyone (Tiger Woods won all four consecutively, but spanning two calendar years starting from the 2002 PGA Championship to the 2001 Masters Tournament).
- Masters Tournament (always held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia) – ends on the second Sunday in April, with the next edition set for 6–9 April 2023
- PGA Championship – ends on the next-to-last Sunday of May; next edition to be held 18–21 May 2023 at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, just outside Rochester
- Sites have been set through 2029, as well as for 2031 and 2034.
- U.S. Open – ends on the third Sunday in June; next edition to be held 15–18 June 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club on the city's Westside
- Sites have been set through 2030, except for 2028, as well as for most subsequent years through 2051.
- The Open Championship – played during the week containing the third Friday in July; next edition to be held 20–23 July 2023 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England
- Sites have been set through 2025.
;Other significant events
-
Ryder Cup (USA vs. Europe team competition) – Held in odd-numbered years; alternately hosted by the US and Europe
- 2023 – 30 September–2 October at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy (near Rome)
- 2025 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park on Long Island (about 35 miles/56 km east of Midtown Manhattan)
- 2027 – September/October (exact dates TBA) at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland
-
Presidents Cup (competition between a USA team and an "International" team of non-Europeans) – Held in even-numbered years; alternately hosted by the US and a non-European country
Women's
;Major championships
Three of the five women's major championships are held in the US. As with the men's major championships, all are held from Thursday through Sunday (barring weather delays).
- Chevron Championship (held at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, about 30 mi/50 km north of Houston) – ends on the first Sunday in April; next edition 30 March–2 April 2023
- Women's PGA Championship – 22–25 June 2023 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, about 25 mi/40 km west of Midtown Manhattan
- U.S. Women's Open – Next edition to be held 6–9 July 2023 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California
- Future sites have been set through 2031, and for several subsequent years through 2048.
- The Evian Championship (always held at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France) – Typically ends on the last Sunday of July; next edition expected to be held 27–30 July 2023
- Women's British Open – Held two weeks after The Evian Championship; the 2023 edition will be at Walton Heath Golf Club in Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey (about 40 km/25 mi from London); dates have yet to be set.
;Other significant events
- Solheim Cup (USA vs. Europe team competition) – Held in even-numbered years (from 2024) in August or September; alternately hosted by the US and Europe
- 2024 – Dates TBA at Finca Cortesín Golf Club in Casares, Spain (near Málaga)
Ice hockey
See also: Ice hockey in North America
Men's
;IIHF Men's World Championship
Women's
;IIHF Women's World Championship
Starting in 2022, the top level of the Women's World Championships will be held annually, even in Winter Olympic years. From 1997–2021, the top level was an annual affair, but Winter Olympic years were skipped.
- 2023: To be held in Canada; dates and cities TBA
Motor racing
See also: Motor sport
See the dedicated article.
NASCAR
A U.S. stock car racing organization, and the country's most popular form of motorsport. The term "stock car" is a historic reference; when NASCAR first organized races in the years immediately after World War II, the cars were in fact "stock"—exactly as purchased from dealers, with minimal safety-related changes. Over time, the cars changed to the point that they are only vaguely similar in external appearance to current street vehicles, with much more powerful engines and far more safety equipment. NASCAR now operates three national touring series:
- Cup Series, the top series
- Xfinity Series, the second level
- Camping World Truck Series, the third level, which races pickup trucks instead of cars; usually called simply the "Truck Series"
Most races are held on oval tracks. For many years, no more than one or two Cup Series races were held on road courses, but since 2021 that number has gone up to six. Five Xfinity Series races and three Truck Series are also held on road courses. One of the two 2022 weekends at Bristol Motor Speedway in East Tennessee saw the paved oval covered by dirt, with all three series racing on that surface (the fall race weekend uses the normal paved track). Before COVID-19, the Truck Series held one race in Canada, but border restrictions have led to that date being transferred south of the border.
The sport used to be centered in the Southeastern U.S., but beginning in the 1990s it expanded to become a national spectacle. A typical NASCAR event spans a long weekend, with two or even all three series holding races at one site. Unlike most sports, NASCAR's biggest event is the first race of the season:
- Daytona 500, held on the day before the Presidents Day holiday (which falls on the third Monday of February) at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida
IndyCar
A U.S.-based open-wheel racing series. It was established in its current form in 2008, when the IndyCar Series (launched in 1996) merged with the former Champcars series. The merger is a story in itself—as late as the early 1990s, open-wheel racing, governed by a body known as CART (which later became Champcars), was the most popular form of motorsport in the U.S. However, in 1994, the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the series' marquee event, the Indianapolis 500, had a bitter falling-out with CART, leading to the creation of the competing IndyCar series (which took the Indy 500 with it). The feud led many former open-wheel fans to abandon the sport, often for NASCAR. By the time the feud ended, attendance and sponsorship money for the sport were a fraction of what they had been only 15 years earlier, and only in the late 2010s had it begun to recover some of its original prominence.
All of the series' races are held in the U.S. except for one on a street course in Toronto. The tracks are a mixture of ovals, road courses, and street circuits.
The series' marquee event, as mentioned above, is:
- Indianapolis 500, held the day before the U.S. holiday of Memorial Day (which falls on the last Monday of May) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana (a community completely surrounded by the city of Indianapolis)
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway is a sport where lightweight motorcycles race each other on an oval-shaped track. It is most popular in Poland but also has a major presence in Australia, Britain, and Sweden.
Important events
- Speedway Grand Prix, held annually in the Northern Hemisphere's late spring, summer, and early fall.
- Speedway of Nations, held annually in the Northern Hemisphere's summer (usually June or July).
Rugby
see also Rugby football
Rugby union
- 2024 Six Nations Championship, February–March:
- 2023 Rugby Championship, various locations in Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Normally held August–October, with an abbreviated and time-shifted version held in years of the men's Rugby World Cup.
- 2023 Rugby World Cup (men's) in France, 8 September–28 October
- Note that World Rugby, the governing body for union, uses the "Rugby World Cup" name for both its men's and women's championship events.
- 2025:
- British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, June–July
- Rugby World Cup (women's) in England, dates TBA
- 2027 Rugby World Cup (men's) in Australia, dates TBA
- 2029:
- British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, June–July
- Rugby World Cup (women's) in Australia, dates TBA
- 2031 Rugby World Cup (men's) in the United States, dates TBA
- 2033:
- British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, June–July
- Rugby World Cup (women's) in the United States, dates TBA
Rugby sevens
- World Rugby Sevens Series: A series of 10 tournaments for national men's sevens teams held at various locations around the world. The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series is a series of eight tournaments. Events in both series will be listed here, with joint events indicated.
- USA Women's Sevens – The opener of the world sevens season; held in early October at Infinity Park in the Denver suburb of Glendale, Colorado.
- Dubai Sevens – Traditionally the men's season opener, and now the first of six combined men's and women's events. Held on the weekend including the first Saturday in December at a stadium known as The Sevens.
- South Africa Sevens – Held on the weekend after the Dubai Sevens at Cape Town Stadium.
- New Zealand Sevens – Held in the last weekend of January at FMG Stadium Waikato (Waikato Stadium) in Hamilton.
- Australian Sevens – A joint event for the last several years, held in the first weekend of February (immediately following the New Zealand event) at Bankwest Stadium (Western Sydney Stadium) in Parramatta.
- USA Sevens – A men-only event held in the weekend ending with the first Sunday of March at Dignity Health Sports Park in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California.
- Canada Sevens – A men-only event held on the weekend after the USA Sevens at BC Place in downtown Vancouver.
- Hong Kong Sevens – The most famous men's event. Normally held in early April at Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po, in the east of Hong Kong Island.
- Singapore Sevens – A men-only event normally held on the weekend after the Hong Kong Sevens at the National Stadium in Kallang, a district just to the northeast of the Downtown Core.
- Canada Women's Sevens – Held in the first weekend of May at Westhills Stadium in the Victoria suburb of Langford, British Columbia.
- London Sevens – A men-only event held in late May at Twickenham Stadium.
- Paris Sevens – The final event for both series, held the weekend after the London Sevens at Stade Jean-Bouin in the city's 16th arrondissement.
- The next Rugby World Cup Sevens, with men's and women's national teams competing in separate tournaments at the same site and time, will be held in 2022 at a site to be determined.
Rugby league
National Rugby League
- NRL Grand Final – The first or second Saturday of October at the Sydney Cricket Ground, just east of the city centre.
- State of Origin series – three matches in all in May–July, with at least one at each of the following venues:
Super League
- Super League Grand Final –
International
Soccer
See also: Association football
Men's
Women's
Tennis
Tennis has events throughout the calendar year. The top-level men's tour is the ATP Tour, with the WTA Tour as the women's counterpart. The men's and women's tours come together for the four Grand Slam events and a few other select tournaments throughout the year. The only players to have ever completed the grand slam are Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 & 1969) in the men's event, and Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court (1965) and Steffi Graf (1988) in the women's event. In addition to these, the Davis Cup (men) and Billie Jean King Cup (women) are the top events for national teams; these operate as multi-level leagues. The top levels (now known as the "Finals" in both events) were traditionally conducted as knockout tournaments, but now use a format similar to that of the FIFA World Cup, with all qualifying nations meeting at a single site for a group stage followed by a knockout stage. A player who wins all four grand slams and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year is said to have completed a golden slam, and the only player to have done so to date was Germany's Steffi Graf in 1988. (The doubles partnership of American identical twins Bob and Mike Bryan, aka the Bryan Brothers, won all of the required events consecutively, but their streak started with the 2012 Olympics, thus spanning two calendar years.)
Grand Slam events
All four of these events are held over two weeks. They are considered to be the pinnacle of the sport of tennis, and are even more prestigious than the Olympics.
- Australian Open: Ends on the last Sunday in January at Melbourne Park just outside the city centre. Frequently suffers from hot and humid weather in the southern summer, although this has been alleviated by retractable roofs on the three main courts. The final is held in the Rod Laver Arena, which is named after Rod Laver, the only player to have completed a grand slam twice, and the last man to achieve the feat when he did so in 1969.
- French Open (also known as Roland Garros): Held in late May and early June at Stade Roland Garros in the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arondissement of Paris. Most notable as the only Grand Slam event still held on clay courts.
- Wimbledon: Begins on the first Monday in July and ends on the second Sunday following at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in the Wimbledon neighbourhood of southwest London. Notable for being the only Grand Slam event held on grass courts, requiring all players to dress only in white, and many other traditions. The most prestigious of the Grand Slams.
- US Open: Begins on the last Monday in August and ends on the Sunday after the US holiday of Labor Day, celebrated on the first Monday of September. Held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the northern part of the New York City borough of Queens.
Season-ending championships
Both the ATP and WTA have season-ending events for the very top players, with eight players qualifying for the finals in singles and eight teams in doubles. The competitors are divided into two groups of four, each playing a round-robin within the group. The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, with the winners of each semifinal contesting the final.
- ATP Finals: Mid-November at Pala Alpitour (aka Palasport Olimpico) in Turin, Italy.
- WTA Finals: Late October–early November. Due to COVID-19 issues, plus concerns over the treatment of Chinese player Peng Shuai after she accused a top Communist Party official of sexual assault, the tournament was stripped from Shenzhen, China and moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Future sites have yet to be announced.
For a few years, the WTA Tour had a second season-ending event for players immediately below those who qualify for the WTA Finals known as the WTA Elite Trophy, but no edition has been held since 2019.
Other top-tier events
Both the ATP and WTA have a multi-level hierarchy of events, with the Grand Slam at the top, followed by the season-ending championships and then the events shown here (with other levels below these in both cases). The two tours have differing terminology for this level:
- ATP: Nine events known as the "ATP Tour Masters 1000". All top players are required to enter these events (barring injury or other misfortune), with the exception of the Monte-Carlo Masters.
- WTA: The "WTA 1000" was established in 2021 by the merger of the former "Premier Mandatory" and "Premier 5" events. However, the former split between those two categories is still maintained, with only the four former "Premier Mandatory" events requiring that top players enter.
- Olympics: The tennis event at the Olympics is less prestigious than the Grand Slams, and many top players choose to skip it, while those who compete often do not take it seriously and lose to little-known lower-ranked opponents. That said, players who win all four Grand Slams and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year are said to have completed a golden slam, which is an extremely rare and difficult feat; only one player, Steffi Graf, has managed to do so to date. One doubles team, the Bryan Brothers (American twins Bob and Mike Bryan), won all of the events consecutively, but during a span of two calendar years.
With that in mind, here are the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 events:
- Qatar Ladies Open: Mid-February at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha. Non-mandatory; alternates yearly with Dubai between WTA 1000 and lower-level WTA 500 status.
- Dubai Tennis Championships: Late February at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre. Non-mandatory; alternates yearly with Qatar between WTA 1000 and lower-level WTA 500 status.
- Indian Wells Masters (men) and Indian Wells Open (women): Early March in Indian Wells, California (near Palm Springs). ATP Masters 1000 and mandatory WTA 1000.
- Miami Open: Late March–early April at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (north of the city of Miami). ATP Masters 1000 and mandatory WTA 1000.
- Monte-Carlo Masters: Mid-April at Monte Carlo Country Club in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, next to Monaco. ATP Masters 1000.
- Madrid Open: Mid-May at Caja Mágica in Madrid. ATP Masters 1000 and mandatory WTA 1000.
- Italian Open: Week following the Madrid Open at Foro Italico in Rome. ATP Masters 1000 and non-mandatory WTA 1000.
- Canadian Open: Early August at Stade IGA in Montreal and Aviva Centre in Toronto. In odd-numbered years, the men play in Montreal and the women in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years. ATP Masters 1000 and non-mandatory WTA 1000.
- Cincinnati Masters (men) and Cincinnati Open (women): Week after the Canadian Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, northeast of Cincinnati. ATP Masters 1000 and non-mandatory WTA 1000.
- Wuhan Open: Last week of September at Optics Valley International Tennis Center. Non-mandatory WTA 1000.
- China Open: Start of October, immediately following the Wuhan Open, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing. Mandatory WTA 1000.
- Note that the ATP Tour plays here at the same time, but the men's version of the China Open is a fourth-tier 500 Series event.
- Shanghai Masters: Week after the China Open at Qi Zhong Stadium in the southwest of the city. ATP Masters 1000.
- Paris Masters: Late October–early November at AccorHotels Arena in the 12th arrondissement. ATP Masters 1000.
Handball
See also: Handball in Europe
Olympic or team Handball is a fast paced team sport that is mostly played indoors and enjoys considerable popularity in most of continental Europe. The world cup as well as the European championship are major events, second only to soccer. The best national leagues (found in Germany, France and the Nordic countries) battle out a club champion every year. There is also the EHF Champions League which battles out Europe's top club team every year.
Cycling
Road bicycle racing is broadly divided into two race types:
- Single-day races — Exactly as the name implies, these races are held on a single day at around the same time each year. Some have fixed courses; more have fixed starting and end points with courses varying slightly from year to year. The most prestigious races of this type are often called "classics", but the term is poorly defined.
- Stage races — Held over more than one day, with one race each day known as a "stage" (though some races, notably the Grand Tours, will include one or two rest days). While there is an award ceremony at the end of each stage, the overall winner is determined by "general classification"—the cumulative time for the entire race.
The most famous road racing events for bicycles in the world are the three stage races known as Grand Tours. They are raced in Italy, France, and Spain but commonly also include legs in other countries. These tours, each featuring 21 stages, involve only men's races, and are even more prestigious than the cycling events at the Olympics.
- Giro d'Italia - around Italy, usually takes place in May.
- Tour de France - around France, usually takes place in July. The most prestigious of the three.
- Vuelta a España - around Spain, usually takes place in August.
While countless single-day races are run, both throughout Europe and worldwide, the most famous are the five races known as "Monuments", all of which were first held between 1890 and 1915.
- Milan–San Remo (Italian: Milano–Sanremo) – The first major classic of the year, usually on the third Saturday of March on a course between the two named locations. It's considered "the sprinters' classic" because its mostly flat course favors that type of rider.
- Tour of Flanders (Dutch: Ronde van Vlaanderen) – Held in early April through Belgium's Flanders region between Antwerp and Oudenaarde. The first of the "cobbled classics", with many key sections (including several short but very steep hills) paved in cobblestones.
- Paris–Roubaix – Probably the most famous single-day race, it's known as the "Queen of the Classics" and l'Enfer du Nord ("The Hell of the North [of France]"). Held one week after the Tour of Flanders, it features even longer stretches of cobblestone roads, making it arguably the hardest single-day race on riders.
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège – Held in late April in Belgium, this race is nearly as hard on riders as Paris–Roubaix, but for different reasons, namely a long course with numerous short but steep hills in the Ardennes region, as well as an uphill finish in Liège.
- Giro di Lombardia (officially Il Lombardia) – The year's final Monument, held in October over a course that varies from year to year, with only a few fixed locations, most famously the arduous climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo church in Magreglio near Lake Como. The race ends in either Bergamo or Como. Known as "the climbers' classic" from its many significant climbs.
Cycling is also featured at the Summer Olympics in 4 disciplines; track cycling, road cycling, mountain biking and BMX. With the exception of the men's road cycling discipline, these are generally considered to be the pinnacle of the sport of cycling.