2022 will feature several huge sports events, including the highly anticipated 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar which has moved from its usual June date to November due to the adverse weather conditions in the country. The year will also put Beijing back in the spotlight as the city hosts the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, 14 years after it hosted the Summer Olympics and becomes the first city to host both events.

The Rugby League World Cup in England starts in October and there are also men's and women's Cricket World Cups. But with the Covid-19 pandemic still causing major problems around the world, it remains to be seen whether all the events will take place as planned and whether venues will be packed to capacity.

1. 4-20 February - Winter Olympics, Beijing

Photo: DW

The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Beijing 2022, are an upcoming international winter multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing and towns in the neighboring Hebei province in the People's Republic of China.

Beijing was elected as host city in July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be the first Winter Olympics in China, the last of three consecutive Olympics to be held in East Asia (after the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan), and the second overall Olympics to be held in China, after the 2008 Summer Olympics also in Beijing. For the first time, the Winter Olympics will be hosted by a city that previously hosted the Summer Olympics; four existing indoor venues that were originally constructed for the 2008 Games, as well as the Beijing National Stadium (venues of the opening and closing ceremonies), will be used. Concerns and controversies at the 2022 Winter Olympics have included diplomatic boycotts due to the Uyghur genocide and the general human rights situation in China.

2. 5 Feb-19 March - Rugby Union - Six Nations

Photo: BBC

The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions are Wales, who won the 2021 tournament.

The tournament is organised by the unions of the six participating nations under the banner of Six Nations Rugby, which is responsible for the promotion and operation of the men's, women's and under-20s tournaments, and the Autumn International Series, as well as the negotiation and management of their centralised commercial rights.

The Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship (1883–1909 and 1932–39), played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which was the first international rugby union tournament. With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship (1910–31 and 1947–99), which in turn became the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.

England and Wales have won the championship the most times, both with 39 titles, but England have won the most outright titles with 29. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title.

The tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom – England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. However, England was excluded from the 1888 and 1889 tournaments due to their refusal to join the International Rugby Football Board. The tournament then became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 with the addition of France. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to become the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.

Following the relative success of the Tier 2 nations in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there were calls by Octavian Morariu, the president of Rugby Europe, to let Georgia and Romania join the Six Nations due to their consistent success in the European Nations Cup and ability to compete in the Rugby World Cup.

3. 4-13 March - Winter Paralympics, Beijing

Photo: Global Times

The Winter Paralympic Games (German: Paralympische Winterspiele) is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games. The Winter Paralympics are also hosted by the city that hosted the Winter Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Winter Paralympics. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games started in 1904.

The Winter Paralympics began in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Those Games were the first Paralympics (Summer or Winter) that featured athletes other than wheelchair athletes. The Games have expanded and grown to be (along with the Summer Games) part of the largest international sporting event after the Olympic Games. Given their expansion, the need for a very specific classification system has arisen. This system has also given rise to controversy and opened the door for cheating. Winter Paralympians have also been convicted of steroid use and other forms of cheating unique to Paralympic athletes, which has tainted the integrity of the Games.

The origins of the Winter Paralympics are much similar to the Summer Paralympics. Injured soldiers returning from World War II sought sports as an avenue to healing.

Organized by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, sports competitions between British convalescent hospitals began in 1948 and continued until 1960 when a parallel Olympics was held in Rome after the 1960 Summer Olympics. Over 400 wheelchair athletes competed at the 1960 Paralympic Games, which became known as the first Paralympics.

4. 4 March-3 April - Cricket - Women's ODI World Cup, New Zealand

Photo: ESPNcricinfo

The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup will be the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup and is scheduled to be held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 December 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the tournament will take place from 4 March to 3 April 2022.

New Zealand qualified automatically as hosts, with all other qualification places determined by the ICC ODI Rankings. Originally, it was announced that three more teams would qualify from the 2017–20 ICC Women's Championship, but in 2018 this was changed to four teams plus the hosts. It was intended that the remaining three places would be determined through the 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which was postponed from 2020. However, the tournament was cancelled midway through and the remaining places allocated based on ODI rankings.

5. 9 April - Horse racing - Grand National, Aintree

Photo: WireAP

The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap steeplechase over an official distance of about 4 miles and 2½ furlongs (4 miles 514 yards (6.907 km)), with horses jumping 30 fences over two laps. It is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million in 2017. An event that is prominent in British culture, the race is popular amongst many people who do not normally watch or bet on horse racing at other times of the year.

The course over which the race is run features much larger fences than those found on conventional National Hunt tracks. Many of these fences, particularly Becher's Brook, The Chair and the Canal Turn, have become famous in their own right and, combined with the distance of the event, create what has been called "the ultimate test of horse and rider".

The Grand National has been broadcast live on free-to-air terrestrial television in the United Kingdom since 1960. From then until 2012 it was broadcast by the BBC. Channel 4 broadcast the event between 2013 and 2016: UK broadcasting rights were transferred to ITV from 2017. An estimated 500 to 600 million people watch the Grand National in over 140 countries. The race has also been broadcast on radio since 1927; BBC Radio held exclusive rights until 2013. Talksport acquired radio commentary rights in 2014: Both the BBC and Talksport currently broadcast the race in full.

7. 3 July - Formula 1 - British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Photo: F1

The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship every year since 1950. In 1952, following the transfer of the lease of the Silverstone Circuit to the British Racing Drivers' Club, the RAC delegated the organisation of the race to the BRDC for the first time, and this arrangement has continued for all British Grands Prix held at Silverstone since then (organisation of British Grands Prix held at Aintree having meanwhile been similarly delegated to the British Automobile Racing Club).

The British Grand Prix is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England. The 2019 event was the 70th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950, and the 53rd time that a World Championship round had been held at Silverstone.

The British race is the oldest in the Formula One World Championship calendar as the 1950 race at Silverstone was round one of the first championship season in 1950. It and the Italian Grand Prix are the only two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix that have been staged during every season that the championship has been held. The British Grand Prix was a round of the World Manufacturers' Championship in both 1926 and 1927, but was never held during the existence of the European Championship. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. All British Grands Prix dating back to 1926 have been held in England, where the British motor racing industry is primarily located.

8. 28 July-8 August - Commonwealth Games, Birmingham

Photo: The Culture Trip

The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, is an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England. This is due to be the third time England has hosted the Games, after London in 1934 and Manchester in 2002.

The Games are expected to take place between 28 July and 8 August 2022. The city was announced as the host by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at a press conference at the Arena Academy in Birmingham on 21 December 2017.

The Birmingham Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (BOCCG) is responsible for the planning and operational delivery of the Games. This includes sport, venue and competition management, ticket sales, all ceremonies and the Queen’s Baton Relay. The headquarters of the organising committee is located in One Brindleyplace building and has taken up the office until December 2022.

In March 2018, the BOCCG paid £25 million ($35 million) fee to the CGF for the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The fee included the £20 million ($28 million) for the Games hosting charges and £5 million ($7 million) for the development work in the Commonwealth.

In July 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed John Crabtree OBE as Chair of the BOCCG. In January 2019, Ian Reid was announced as Chief Executive Officer of the BOCCG. On 6 June 2019, the British Government introduced the Commonwealth Games bill which ensured the prohibition of unauthorised sales of Games tickets, effective flow of transport around Games venues, complete protection of commercial rights, and compliance with financial propriety rules by the Government’s funding of the BOCCG. The bill received Royal Assent and was passed into law as the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 on 25 June 2020.

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