May Sport Update
Wow! The month of May really delivers on the sporting front and heralds the start of an unparalleled summer of major events in 2024. We’ve got the European football championships in June, which is being played in Germany, and the summer olympics in July, being staged in Paris, to look forward to and there will be previews of both events in the magazine in the next couple of months. Right now though we’ll concentrate on what’s happening in May, because there’s plenty of it!
The climax of the football season is here and all the questions of who wins what and who goes up or down will be answered. The Premier League looks unlikely to be settled at both ends of the table and the final matchday on the 15th should be a nail biting experience for all the clubs involved.
Speaking of English football, let’s give a round of applause to the EFL championship, which has been an exhilarating competition throughout and has involved most of the teams in the league at either end of the table at one time or the other. The final day for the competition comes on the 4th of the month and you can guarantee that there will be both joy and heartbreak for an awful lot of fans as the roller-coaster story unfolds.
The Champions League semi-finals over two legs take place on the 1st and the 8th of the month and Harry Kane’s search for a major trophy to top off his brilliant career continues with Bayern Munich, who take on 13 time winners Real Madrid. Big spenders PSG have their best chance so far in the competition when they play Dortmund in the other tie.
If all that wasn’t enough we have the prospect of the Manchester derby being transferred to Wembley and going under the name of the FA Cup final. City just got past Chelsea in the semi-finals and United, well, they broke into Coventry’s house and burgled their place in the final after a dubious offside decision denied the Sky Blues a late goal and the greatest comeback since Lazarus after being 3-0 down. One thing is for sure, the final will make for a spectacular occasion with the two Manchester clubs involved.
We’re top heavy on football in May but there’s plenty going on in other sports, including the second golf major of the season, the USPGA championship, which is being played at the tough Valhalla course in Maine. At time of writing Scottie Scheffler is on a run of 4 wins and a second from 5 starts, including the Masters. This is unbelievable golf and the best that’s been seen since Tiger in his prime. That he can keep these standards up throughout the year seems scarcely credible but he shows no sign of stopping so far.
The F1 season really ramps up this month too, with three of the biggest races of the year taking place. We’re in Miami on Sunday the 5th, in Italy at the Imola circuit on the 19th and the Iconic Monaco circuit on the 26th.The championship standings are looking familiar, with Max Verstappen and Red Bull heading the tables, but you do get the feeling that the other teams are creeping slightly closer as the time goes on.
Finally for any tennis fans the French Open is with us on the clay courts of Paris this month. The action starts on the 20th and goes right through to the finals in June, closely followed by the Olympics! What a summer of sport France has in store this year. That’s about it for May. We have some great action in store, I think you’ll agree.