World Cups and sport tournaments to look forward to in 2019
JOBURG – Start getting excited for the following world cups and major international sports competitions happening next year.
This year promises to be a thrilling one for sports fans, with cricket and rugby world cups happening, not to mention the Africa Cup of Nations and some big events in other sports.
The 2019 Rugby World Cup will be in Japan from 20 September to 2 November.
Twenty countries will be competing, and South Africa have New Zealand, Italy, Namibia and Canada in their pool.
The Springboks will play against Japan in a warm-up just before the tournament.
This warm-up game will be crucial for either side’s confidence, as Japan beat the Springboks 34–32 in the World Cup in England in 2015.
That result shocked the world at the time, as Japan recorded their first Test win against SA.
The Springboks will want to get this monkey off their back next year, while Japan will want to build confidence and momentum as hosts of the World Cup.
The ICC Cricket World Cup will be held from 30 May until 14 July in England and Wales.
Ten teams will compete, and South Africa have to play in the tournament opener against the hosts, England, at Kennington Oval in London.
As of 18 December, the International Cricket Council one-day international team rankings put South Africa fourth in the world.
But as South African cricket fans know, rankings mean little to the Proteas before tournaments.
South Africa has never won a world cup in the senior division. They have only won a U19 world cup (2014) and a Champions Trophy (1998).
The team has gone into the world cup ranked first in the world before, but have always fallen short, leading to fans labelling them ‘chokers’.
In the soccer world, South Africa is bidding to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations from 15 June until 13 July.
Qualifiers continue in March this year and South Africa are second in their pool of four teams.
Bafana Bafana is one point behind Nigeria and two points ahead of Libya in the pool.
Tthis year will also see the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which will be good practice for countries ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020.
The IAAF World Athletics Championships will be in Qatar between 27 September and 6 October.
Golfing fans can get excited for the sport’s biggest event, The Open 2019, from 14 to 21 July at Royal Portrush Golf Club, United Kingdom.
Tennis fans will also be kept happy with the four grand slams and nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments taking place throughout the year.
Also read: South Africa’s top trending searches on Google in 2018
