Best Sporting Events of 2025

We’re coming to the end of the sporting year so let’s take a look at some of the outstanding performances of the last twelve months which have made 2025 another memorable year in the world of sport around the globe.

Golf history was made in the Masters at Augusta in April when Rory McIlroy joined the elite group of players to have won the “Grand Slam”, which is a victory in all four majors, the Masters, the US Open, the US PGA and the British Open over the course of a career. He joins legends of the game such as Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in this exclusive club and it puts him in competition with Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros for the title of the greatest golfer Europe has produced.

Of course where McIlroy is involved nothing is ever straightforward and having given up a seven shot lead to runner-up Justin Rose, he was forced into a playoff with the Englishman which he won on the first extra hole. That kind of performance is typical of McIlroy and the kind of swashbuckling golf that he plays has endeared him to millions of golf fans around the world. He finished the year with four victories and has become only the second player in history, behind a certain Tiger Woods, to earn over $100 million in a single season.

McIlroy also played a major part in the other big golfing story of the year, Europe retaining the Ryder Cup on American soil. The event was marred by some appalling behaviour from spectators and we can only hope that the outpouring of criticism from the press and some of the greats of the past will encourage the crowds to behave

in a way befitting the game when the competition returns to Ireland in 2027. In the end team Europe only scrambled home after the singles matches having taken what most people thought was an unassailable 11.5 – 4.5 lead into the final day.

This lends weight to the theory that the Americans are uncomfortable in the team events over the first two days but excel in the individual matches on the last day and the team USA comeback in the singles matches was indeed remarkable. The Ryder Cup is one of the very few times that golf is played as a team game throughout the year and the format lends itself to being a great spectacle. Let’s hope the fans can enjoy it in the future without recreating some of the scenes we witnessed at Bethpage Black this year.

In Formula 1 Max Verstappen managed to hold on to the drivers title for the fourth successive year but in the constructor’s championship the incredible resurgence of Mclaren continued with their first win since 1998.

The success has continued in the new season with McLaren holding an unassailable lead in this year’s table and both of the team’s drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battling it out with Verstappen for this season’s title. To see Verstappen still in with a chance of retaining his title, however slim that may be, in a car that is clearly inferior to both of the McLarens is a testament to his outstanding ability and dogged determination to wring every point that he can from the car. With the sacking of Christian Horner after twenty years in charge and a new deal with Ford in place, alongside a new team, if Red Bull get back on track for 2026 Verstappen is going to take an awful lot of beating.

In tennis in the men’s game, something quite remarkable is happening. After the twenty year domination by Nadal, Djokovic and Federer we now have two players that are leagues ahead of the rest in the shape of the Spaniard Carlos Alvaraz and Jannik Sinner from Italy. Their supremacy is such that the only Grand Slam final not contested by the two of them playing each other was the Australian Open in January where Sinner defended his title with a comfortable three set victory.

Since then they have met each other in the French, Wimbledon and US Open finals with the Spaniard coming out on top 2-1. The recent Champion of Champions tournament, which matches the top eight players in the world against each other, saw them both reach the final without dropping a set and the world rankings, where Alavaraz is shading Sinner for the top spot by a few hundred points, sees the third best player trailing some 5000 points behind!

The gulf between these two and the rest is huge at the moment and unless some great new young talent comes through, with Alvaraz at only 22 and Sinner at 24 we can expect these two to dominate the game for many years to come.

Among other notable achievements in 2025 was the claiming of the undisputed best heavyweight on the planet title by Oleksandr Usyk, He has now earned himself a place in the boxing hall of fame by beating everyone that has stood in front of him, a thing that all the great heavyweights of the past have done and he’s has done it by being the best in all departments, A truly remarkable fighter.

In football, Harry Kane continued his remarkable goal scoring record for both club and country and after his continuing heroics for Bayern Munich, he must now go down as one of the greatest players ever to come from England. His figures for the German club are quite extraordinary and he continues to find the net for England too.

Let’s hope he can carry that form forward to the World Cup next year. Also scoring goals for fun is Erling Haaland, who’s record since the start of the new Premier League season is quite ridiculous and he too has carried that form forward to the international scene for Norway, who have become lively outsiders for the World Cup after trouncing Italy in a recent qualifier 4-1 away from home, with Haaland claiming two of the goals

There have been plenty of other highlights in 2025, but alas we haven’t space to share them here. Sports such as Cycling, Athletics and Darts have produced moments of high drama and I think we can expect more of the same in 2026, with the centrepiece being the FIFA World Cup, which is being shared this time between the USA, Canada and Mexico. With the expansion from 32 to 48 teams and the competition running for five weeks in the Summer, It’s going to take some stamina to follow your country if they go all the way with the time difference being what it is. It’ll be worth it though!