Thirteen not-to-be-missed sporting events in 2025

Now that the post-COVID backlog of international sporting traffic has been cleared - a process that saw the 2020 Tokyo Olympics actually held a year later etc - normal programming has resumed.

Which is to say 2025 features no Olympics or Winter Olympics, no Commonwealth Games and no Football World Cup. This year is pretty much devoid of major sporting events.

Well, not quite. There are still some tasty sporty sizzlers over the next 12 months, you just have to know where to find them.

Here are some dates to circle this year:

FEBRUARY

Super Bowl LIX

10 February

Caesars Superdome, New Orleans

If there's one sport Americans can justifiably claim to be world champions, it's American football - the game they invented (they just call it football and they call football 'soccer', but let's not go down that rabbit hole) and remain the only nation that takes it seriously.

This will be the 59th edition of the big game that provides the climax to a season that started in September.

Kansas City Chiefs are two-time defending champions - yes, they're the team with Taylor Swift's boyfriend. They've contested four of the past five Super Bowls, won three of them and have the equal best record (15-2) through the current regular season, so they're favoured again.

Their only real defeat came against Buffalo Bills (13-4) - the other came in the final round, when they rested their star players - but because they play in the same American Football Conference, those two teams can't meet in the Super Bowl. Their opponents are more likely to come from Detroit Lions (also 15-2), Minnesota Vikings (14-3) or Philadelphia Eagles (14-3).

If you don't understand the game, you can always tune in for the halftime show, which will feature rapper Kendrick Lamar, who also performed in 2022.

Joseph Parker v Daniel Dubois

IBF world heavyweight boxing championship

23 February

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

There are so many boxing crowns and most of the important ones are currently held by Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, but he vacated the International Boxing Federation title, when he chose to take a rematch against rival Tyson Fury, rather than defend the belt against mandatory challenger Dubois.

The Brit now holds the title and has defended it once against countryman Anthony Joshua.

Kiwi Parker is a former WBO world champion, who lost his belt to Joshua in 2018 and has desperately searched for a way back since. He now has a professional record of 35-3, including a knockout loss to Brit Joe Joyce, but earned his opportunity with wins over former world champion Deontay Wilder and highly rated Chinese Zhilei Zhang.

Now he has dispensed of Fury, Usyk is now eyeing the winner of this fight to reunite all the belts, presumably later in the year.

MAY

Indianapolis 500

IndyCar Championship

26 May

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Long one of the premier motorsport events in the world, this 500 mile (800km) circuit race has taken on greater significance among Kiwis, since Scott Dixon became one of the best drivers on the US IndyCars circuit. Although he has won six championships, Dixon has prevailed just once at Indianapolis, but has four other podium finishes, including third in 2024.

He has been joined by countrymen Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Armstrong, so there's now an even stronger New Zealand presence on the grid these days.

The event is steeped in tradition, especially the wholesome victory celebration that sees the champion drink a bottle of milk, rather than the traditional champagne, and kiss the 'Yard of Bricks', the last remnants of the track's original surface.

Official attendance is never revealed, but the stadium seats more than 250,000, with infield patrons boosting that number as high as 350,000.

Queensland v New South Wales

State of Origin

28 May

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Aussies parochially regard this annual three-game interstate series as the real pinnacle of rugby league, over and above the international game, which they also dominate.

Its 'state v state, mate v mate' catchcry captures the rivalry between the geographical neighbours, which pits NRL clubmates against each other, based on where they were born or grew up.

Before Origin officially began in 1982, New South Wales absolutely dominated the rivalry. Of 66 series played previously, the Blues won 50 of them, including 20 straight between 1962-81.

That changed, when the Maroons were allowed to draw from players who had left the state to further their careers in Sydney. NSW enjoyed a period of success between 1990-2005, but Queensland won the next eight series and things have evened out since.

Under former NZ Kiwis coach Michael Maguire, New South Wales won last year, despite embarrassingly dropping the opener in Sydney, rallying for wins in Melbourne and Brisbane. Maguire has moved back into clubland, ironically taking up office at Brisbane Broncos.

This year's series kicks off where last year's left off, before heading to Perth (18 June) and Sydney (9 July).

JUNE

UEFA Champions League final

1 June

Allianz Arena, Munich

With no World Cup scheduled this year, all eyes switch to the club game, where the annual European championship takes centrestage.

Teams qualify by winning their respective national competitions, but the top five leagues - England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France - have four each and 10 others have more than one.

This year, England is represented by Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa.

Spain's Real Madrid are defending champions, beating Germans Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in last year's final, and both sit within the 24 teams likely to progress to knockout rounds, although outside the top eight seeded sides.

With two more league games to come, unbeaten Liverpool currently head the table from Barcelona and Arsenal.

Of the last 20 winners, two-time champions Chelsea are the only ones missing from this year's field.

South Africa v Australia

ICC World Test Championship

12-16 June

Lord's, London

No Ashes series or World Cup this year, so the biggest cricket fixture will be the culmination of a two-year test cycle that sees every test-playing nation play six of their eight rivals, with the top two based on winning percentage progressing to the final.

New Zealand won the inaugural trophy, shaped like a mace, in 2021and were still in contention this year, until they lost their home series to England last month.

South Africa qualified with their recent home win over Sri Lanka, but their decision to send a second-string team to New Zealand last year, with their best players instead contesting a franchise T20 league, did not go down well with the game's purists.

Defending champions Australia have clinched the second spot with their dramatic win over India, even though they still have another series to play in Sri Lanka.

The two adversaries have not played each during this cycle, but the Aussies won their last meeting three years ago.

JULY

Wimbledon

1-14 July

London

Everyone has their own preference among the tennis Grand Slams, but the grass version - known as 'The Championships', and staged at the grandly titled All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club - is the oldest and purest.

It's famous for doing things its own way. Unlike other tournaments, players are required to wear all whites, while men and women are pompously referred to as 'gentlemen' and 'ladies'.

For most of its history, seedings were assessed by a club committee, based not just on world rankings, but also previous performance on grass, but that system was brought back in line with other tournaments in 2021.

Strawberries and cream are the popular delicacy served on the grounds. In 2019, 191,930 servings were consumed on site.

From 2003-22, the men's draw was dominated by legends Roger Federer (8), Rafa Nadal (2), Andy Murray (2) and Novak Djokovic (7), but young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz has inherited the throne over the past two years. Czech/American Martina Navratilova captured nine women's titles between 1978-90.

Kiwi Anthony Wilding won five singles titles and four doubles titles between 1907-14, before he was killed in action during World War I. New Zealand has two genuine title contenders in doubles exponents Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus, who have both reached respective finals in recent years.

Tour de France

6-28 July

You want a month of sporting soap opera - drugs, death, scandal and impossible physical suffering - all on wheels, this annual cycling classic provides it all.

Beginning at Lille and travelling 21 stages to Paris, riders will cover 3320km, including seven days designated as mountain stages. Most stages are 150-200km long.

Over the years, the tour has been tainted by doping scandals. Seven-time winner Lance Armstrong was stripped of his victories, after his long term drug-taking was exposed in 2012, while the 1998 event was raided by French police, who arrested members of the Festina team, and riders staged a sit-down strike in protest.

Four riders have died during the race, with the most famous - Brit Tom Simpson in 1967 - immortalised by a memorial near the summit of the legendary Mount Ventoux climb.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar is defending champion and has won three of the last five years. The other two have gone to Dane Jonas Vingegaard and this pair can be expected to duel it out again.

While the famed 'maillot jaune' (yellow jersey) is the prize for overall victory, the race also features classifications for points (green), mountain (polka dot) and U23 young rider (white) classifications.

No Kiwi has ever won an individual stage of the Tour de France, although Jack Bauer broke away and led within sight of the finish of the 222km 15th stage in 2014, before he was famously mowed down by the peloton. Five years later, George Bennett was a member of the Jumbo Visma squad that won the team time trial stage.

AUGUST

Women's Rugby World Cup

23 August- 28 September

England

Turns out there is a Rugby World Cup this year, with the Black Ferns shaping to defend the crown they won on home turf in 2022.

New Zealand have traditionally dominated the women's tournament, winning six of the nine contested since 1991. NZ Rugby pulled out all stops to capture the title last time, sacking its coach six months out, putting 'rugby professor' Wayne Smith in charge and recruiting several of its champion sevens outfit.

In the final, they upset an England team that had gone three years unbeaten over a record 30 games. The Roses have since won 20 straight games, including three against the Kiwis, so they will be especially tough to beat on home soil.

The Ferns have struggled lately, losing six of their last 11 - also falling to France, Canada and Ireland - and may need another Smith-like intervention to retain their crown.

SEPTEMBER

All Blacks v South Africa

Rugby Championship

6 September

Eden Park, Auckland

Ttwo rugby archrivals don't need a World Cup to get the juices flowing, but this year, they must content themselves with their annual southern hemisphere derby.

The Springboks have won the last four meetings - two at Johannesburg and Cape Town last year, the 2023 World Cup final and the one-sided Twickenham tune-up.

New Zealand last prevailed three years ago in a fixture staged at Auckland's One Media Stadium (aka Mt Smart), but here's the catch - they have now gone 50 tests unbeaten at their Eden Park fortress, stretching back to 1994.

Given South Africa's recent dominance, that record is very much under threat, but if Scott Robertson's men prevail, they get to defend it again against Australia three weeks later.

If you only watch one rugby game in 2025, this is it.

USA v Europe

Ryder Cup

26-29 September

Bethpage Black Course, Farmingdale, New York

Once upon a time, this golf team event was a one-sided affair dominated by the Americans, who lost to Great Britain only three times over the first 25 editions of the contest. The format was expanded to all of Europe in 1979 and they have won 12 of the last 20, with one tie.

While Americans tend to dominate world rankings, the Europeans have shown the benefits of working as a team over a format that sees 16 of the 28 matches played as foursomes or fourball, and only 12 as singles.

Of course, in response, the US fanbase has become uber-patriotic around this event, chanting U-S-A whenever their guys seem to be getting the upper hand. That will be especially the case at this home contest.

In 2023, hosts Europe prevailed against a US team that did not include players who had left the PGA Tour to join the breakaway LIV Golf League, funded by Saudi Arabia investors. PGA of American has since added LIV Golf to its approved tours, so those players are again eligible.

OCTOBER

Bathurst 1000

12 October

Mount Panorama Circuit

Petrolheads have plenty of iconic events to choose from, whether it's Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, Le Mans 24 Hour or the Dakar Rally, but 'The Great Race' is the showpiece of the Aussie Supercars championship.

Run over 1000km, this is the race every driver wants to win, but there's so much that can go wrong, it's extremely difficult to take out. As the name suggests, Mount Panorama is not a flat venue, with its winding, undulating road ending the hopes of many over the years.

The race record is a tick under six hours, with top Supercars drivers recruiting co-drivers to split shifts behind the wheel. In 2023, the all-Kiwi combination of Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway claimed the Peter Brock Trophy.

Van Gisbergen won three times, before switching to the US NASCAR circuit, and saw a fourth slip through his fingers, when he stalled his car during a pitstop while leading in 2014 and could not restart it.

Fellow Kiwis Scott McLaughlin, Steven Richards, Greg Murphy and Jim Richards also carving their names into Bathurst folklore. Jim Richards won seven times between 1978-2002.

NOVEMBER

Melbourne Cup

4 November

Flemington Raceway

Held on the first Tuesday of November and known in Australia as 'the race that stops the nation', this 3200m journey is just as influential on this side of the Tasman, with NZ-bred horses winning 40 times since 1882.

The most recent local success was Verry Elleegant, ridden by Kiwi James McDonald, in 2021.

Horses aged three and older qualify for the 24-strong field through a series of races in the build-up, with the race marking the climax of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

The event is just as famous as a social occasion, with Fashion in the Field competitions, and celebrities and wannabe celebrities vying for the spotlight. It's also marred by everyday punters getting drunk and behaving badly.

The racing has become a target for animal welfare protests. Six horses have died during the event in the past decade and some big-name sponsors have distanced themselves from the race as a result.