Sports fans across the world will be expecting fresh excitement in 2021 after the coronavirus pandemic put in absolute disarray the 2020 sporting calendar that necessitated either the cancellation or postponement of events.
In Nigeria, the 2019/20 Nigeria Professional Football League season was cancelled at Match Day 25 while the National Sports Festival and National Youth Games were postponed, alongside other sporting events.
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Across the world, events like the Olympic Games, World Athletics Indoor Championship, and Euro 2020 were postponed until this year as well.
An interesting thing is that the postponed Olympic Games will take place this year, it will still remain Tokyo 2020. The same goes for other events.
Trust Sports takes a cursory look at the sporting events that will take place in 2021 in Nigeria and across the world.
National Sports Festival
This is a biennial multi-sports event organized for athletes in Nigeria and it is termed ‘Nigeria Olympics Games.’ The 20th edition, tagged Edo 2020, was initially slated for March, but had to be postponed to December due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and will now be taking place from February 14 to 28 in Benin City.
National Youth Games
This is a yearly competition meant to facilitate the discovery of budding talents in the country for further development and a platform for the selection of athletes to represent the country at international youth games. The NYG was scheduled to hold from 7th to 17th September 2020 in Ilorin but a new date has not been fixed as at the time of writing this piece.
The Olympics Games
The games usually held every four years but the Olympics 2020 will take place from July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo.
The Games were originally slated to take place from July 24 to August 9, with about 70 individual athletes across the world having only qualified while some will still vie for a place through the qualifying events including Nigerians.
Unfortunately, the male and female football teams won’t participate in this tournament.
UEFA Euro 2020
The 16th edition of the quadrennial international men’s football championship of Europe organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is to hold in 12 cities in 12 UEFA countries
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 12 June to 12 July 2020 but UEFA is proposing it begins from 11 June to 11 July 2021.
African Youth Championship
This is the main international youth football competition for CAF nations and is competed for by players under 20 years. It is held every two years with the top four teams qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Though Nigeria failed to qualify for the championship, the 16th edition will be held in Mauritania from February 14 to March 4, 2021.
Australian Open
It is traditionally the first of the four Grand Slams held every year. It will be held in Melbourne from February 8 to 21.
Wimbledon
The oldest tennis tournament in the world is considered one of the most prestigious Grand Slams and fans from all over the world tune in to catch the best players battling it out on the Wimbledon grass courts and the 134th edition will be staged from June 28 to July 11, 2021.
French Open
The open, also called Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. The 125th edition will begin with the first round from May 23. The tournament will enter the quarter-finals on June 1 with the final matches being played on June 5 and June 6.
AfroBasket
The AfroBasket is the men’s basketball continental championship of Africa, played biennially under the auspices of FIBA, basketball’s international governing body, and the FIBA African zone thereof. The 30th edition is to be hosted by Rwanda.
It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 2021, but it was moved back a week due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Meanwhile, the women’s edition will be held from 17 to 26 September 2021 in a country yet to be announced.
UEFA Champions League finals
The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League is the 66th season of Europe’s premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs’ Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final will be played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey on 29 May 2021.
CAF Champions League finals
The 2020–21 CAF Champions League is the 57th edition of Africa’s premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football, and the 25th edition under the current CAF Champions League title. The competition has started and it is scheduled to end in May 2021.
Volleyball African Club Championship
This competition (male and female) which is organised by the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) is expected to be held in March/April and will be completed by May 2, 2021.
The CAVB also plans to hold the African Nations Championships for U18 girls, U19 boys, U21 boys between January 29 and February 6, 2021.
World Athletics Indoor Championship
This is a biennial indoor track and field competition originally set to take place from March 13 to 15, 2020 in Nanjing, China. The Championship was postponed to March 19 to 21, 2021, because of the coronavirus pandemic. But World Athletics announced that the event will be postponed even further, to 2023.
Despite the fact that the pandemic is still raging, it is hoped every measure will be put in place to avoid the cancellation or postponement of these games once again.
