The year 2026 will see major events like the FIFA World Cup, ICC men’s T20 World Cup, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, Asian Games, Winter Olympics, Winter Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League among others. India will also be hosting the Badminton World Championships in New Delhi.
ICC Twenty20 World Cup
The tenth edition of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka will begin on February 7, 2026 and go on till March 8, 2026. Sri Lanka had previously hosted the competition in 2012 and India in 2016. A total of 20 teams will compete in 55 matches across five venues in India, and three in Sri Lanka.
The participants included teams from the two hosts, the top seven teams from the 2024 edition, the three highest-ranked teams in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, and eight other teams determined through regional qualifiers. Italy has qualified for the men’s T20 World Cup for the first time.
India are the defending champions having won the previous edition held in 2024.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
The 10th edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup will be held between June 12 and July 5, 2026 in England. The tournament will be contested by 12 teams for the first time. New Zealand are the defending champions. New Zealand defeated South Africa in the finals. The tournament was held in United Arab Emirates. In 2026, the 12 qualifying teams are divided into two groups of six teams; all the six teams in a group play once against each of the other teams in their group and the top teams in each group advance to the knockout stage.
ICC Under-19 men’s cricket world cup
The 16th edition of the ICC Under-19 men’s Cricket world Cup will be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia between January 15 and February 6, 2026. The top ten teams from the previous tournament qualified automatically, along with host Zimbabwe and the five winners of regional qualification tournaments.
FIFA World Cup
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, will be the 23rd edition, the quadrennial international men’s soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will take place from June 11, 2026 to July 19, 2026. It will be jointly hosted by 16 cities — 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. It is the first time three nations are hosting the tournament together. It is also the first time 48 instead of 32 teams will compete for the coveted trophy.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina will begin their defence of the trophy they won in Qatar in 2022 by facing Algeria, and will also play Austria and debutants Jordan in Group J.
For the first time, the draw was done in such a way as to ensure the four highest-ranked nations were kept apart — Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the semi-finals, if all four top their groups.
2026 FIFA WORLD CUP GROUPS
Group A: Korea, Mexico, South Africa, TBD (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia or Ireland)
Group B: Canada, Qatar, Switzerland, TBD (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
Group D: Australia, Paraguay, USA, TBD ((Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo)
Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curacao
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, TBD (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland or Albania)
Group G: Belgium, Iran, Egypt, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Cabo Verde
Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, TBD (Bolivia, Suriname or Iraq)
Group J: Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, TBD (New Caledonia, Jamaica or Congo DR)
Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana
2026 Asian Games
The 2026 Asian Games, the 20th edition, called as Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, will be held in Aichi Prefecture from September to October 4, 2026. The prefecture capital Nagoya will be the epicentre of the events. Nagoya will be third Japanese city to host the Asian Games, after Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. The event set to return to its traditional four-year cycle, after the 2022 edition was postponed to 2023 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2026 Commonwealth Games
The 23rd edition of the Commonwealth Games is returning to Glasgow 12 years later. Glasgow, the largest city of Scotland hosted the CWG in 2014. This will be the fourth Commonwealth Games to be hosted in Scotland, with Edinburg hosting it twice 1970 and 1986 . The Commonwealth Games, from July 23 to August 2, 2026, will be the first to be held since the death Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III.
Initially it was to be held in Victoria (Australia) but the city withdrew, prompting a new search for a host for the 2026 Games.
2026 Winter Olympics
The 25th edition of the Winter Olympics will be Milano Cortina in Italy. It will be held between February 6 and 22, 2026 at sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy. The Winter Olympics 2026 will feature the debut of ski mountaineering and will be the first Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Kirsty Coventry. The Olympic torch relay began on November 26, 2025 with the flame lighting in Olympia, Greece, and concludes on February 6, 2026 in Milan, Italy, coinciding with the opening ceremony at Stadio San Siro.
2026 Winter Paralympic Games
After the end of 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy will also hold the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in Italy. The Winter Paralympic Games will be held between March 6 and 15, 2026 at sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy. This will be the third Paralympic Games hosted in Italy, following the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome and the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin. The torch relay is scheduled to take place from February 24 February to March 6, 2026, with 501 torchbearers covering 2,000 kilometres
Indian Premier League 2026
The 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to be held from March 26 to May 31, with the window conveyed to franchise executives. The IPL authorities have carefully finalised the tournament window after factoring in the conclusion of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The World Cup final is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on March 8, allowing a preparatory gap of more than a fortnight for leading international and Indian players to transition into franchise commitments.
Tennis Grand Slams
The first grand slam in tennis is the Australian Open and it will be held between January 12 and February 1, 2026. In 2025, Jannik Sinner was crowned the men’s champion and Madison Keys the women’s champion. Men’s doubles was won by Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten while women’s doubles saw Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend won the women’s doubles event.
French Open tennis championship will be held between May 24 and June 7, 2026. Carlos Alcaraz won the Roland Garros in 2025 and in women’s Coco Gauff lifted the championship. In doubles, men’s champions were Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos while women’s final was won by Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.
Wimbledon will be held between June 29 and July 12, 2026. This is the third Grand Slam of the year. Jannik Sinner won the championship in 2025 while Iga Swiatek lifted the title in women’s section. Men’s doubles winners were Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool and women’s were Veronika Kudermetova nd Elise Mertens.
The final Grand Slam of the year will be U.S. Open and it is scheduled to be held between August 30 and September 13, 2026. Carlos Alcaraz lifted the men’s championship in 2025 while Aryna Sabalenka won it in the women’s singles. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos were crowned the men’s doubles champions while Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe were the women’s doubles champions.
Formula One races
Formula One 2026 season will feature a major set of regulation changes with a revised power unit configuration and new active aerodynamics. The Grand Prix starts with the Australian Formula One racing on March 8, 2026 and runs throughout the year and ends with Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 6
The following are the Grand Prix dates
Australian Grand Prix on March 8
Chinese Grand Prix March 15
Japanese Grand Prix March 29
Bahrain Grand Prix April 12
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix April 19
Miami Grand Prix May 3
Canadian Grand Prix May 24
Monaco Grand Prix June 7
Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix June 14
Austrian Grand Prix June 28
British Grand Prix July 5
Belgian Grand Prix July 19
Hungarian Grand Prix July 26
Dutch Grand Prix August 23
Italian Grand Prix September 6
Spanish Grand Prix September 13
Azerbaijan Grand Prix September 26
Singapore Grand Prix October 11
United States Grand Prix October 25
Mexico City Grand Prix November 1
Sao Paulo Grand Prix November 8
Las Vegas Grand Prix November 21
Qatar Grand Prix November 29
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix December 6
Lando Norris claimed his maiden Formula One world drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (December 7, 2025), ending Max Verstappen’s four-year reign.
The Briton finished third in the season-closer behind race winner Verstappen and the other title challenger, McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, to claim the crown by two points.
