The stories that defined sport in 2024

Hamilton switches to Ferrari

Nobody predicted Lewis Hamilton would join Ferrari. The story was so big that it booted out all the football news on Deadline Day back on February 1. The football equivalent would be Lionel Messi joining Manchester United or Liverpool after he left Barcelona.

Hamilton, who endured a largely disappointing final campaign at Mercedes, signed a multi-year contract and will be Charles Leclerc’s team-mate, with Carlos Sainz forced out to join Williams.

The 39-year-old is set to drive an older Ferrari F1 car at their test track in Fiorano, before pre-season testing on February 26-28 in Bahrain and the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 14-16.

Mercedes announced later in the year that Italian teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace Hamilton at Mercedes.

England's Southgate era ends

England marked Gareth Southgate’s final tournament as Three Lions boss with another trip to the European Championship final but failed to take the all-important last step, in a repeat of their disappointment from Euro 2020.

England fell to Italy on penalties four years ago and came close to taking it to another shoot-out this time round, until Mikel Oyarzabal netted in extra-time to secure the trophy for Spain.

It was a goal that cancelled out Cole Palmer’s dramatic late equaliser off the bench and sealed Southgate’s future in the process, with the 54-year-old stepping down from the role two days after the final.

Despite the defeat, the tournament was filled with memories that will last a lifetime for supporters across the country.

Ollie Watkins’ last-gasp winner against Netherlands, Jude Bellingham’s stunning overhead kick to level the game in injury-time against Slovakia and Bukayo Saka’s late heroics against Switzerland.

England walked a fine-line between disappointment and glory – but ultimately fell on the wrong side of the final once again. 

Lee Carsley’s interim period in charge of the national team kick-started a recovery of excitement surrounding the Three Lions, but all attention will now turn to 2025, when a new era will begin.

Champions League-winner Thomas Tuchel has been appointed to the role and becomes just the third foreign manager to take on the job – as hope floods the hearts of fans once more ahead of the next major tournament in 2026.

“I’m very excited to start this journey in January with the staff at St George’s Park and of course a special group of players to make our dream come true in America,” Tuchel said in his first interview after being confirmed as Southgate’s successor.

A feeling which will likely be mirrored by the country ahead of his first game in charge in the new year.

Olympics success for Team GB

Team GB perhaps did not have the same number of big moments at Paris 2024 that we were used to, but they still finished the Olympics with 65 medals, including 14 gold, which is their third-highest total – behind London 1908 and Rio 2016.

Keeley Hodgkinson’s gold in the women’s 800m attracted the most attention, while track cyclist Emma Finucane became the first British female to win a hat-trick of medals at a single Games in 60 years after gold in the team sprint, bronze in the individual sprint and bronze in the keirin.

Trampolinist Bryony Page went one better than Tokyo by becoming Olympic champion, as did Alex Yee in the men’s triathlon.

Tom Pidcock provided incredible drama in the men’s mountain biking and teenager Toby Roberts won Team GB’s first-ever climbing gold. There were also golds in equestrian, shooting, rowing and sailing.

In the Paralympics, Team GB claimed 124 medals, with 49 of them being gold. This included a Super Sunday, where a new record of 12 golds were won.

Cyclist Sarah Storey, swimmer Alice Tai and track and field star Hannah Cockroft were among the multiple Paralympic champions this year.

Scheffler gets arrested!

It speaks volumes that Xander Schauffele created major history with his PGA Championship victory and it still was not even the biggest story of the week at Valhalla.

Schauffele equalled the lowest round ever in a men’s major with an opening-round 62 on his way to a wire-to-wire victory, where he broke the 72-hole scoring record after holding off Bryson DeChambeau in a thrilling final-round tussle.

The headlines were instead centred around the player tied-eighth, with Scottie Scheffler in major contention once again despite being arrested outside of the golf course just hours before his second round.

A “big misunderstanding” saw Scheffler detained for attempting to drive into the golf club in heavy traffic, caused by an earlier – unrelated - fatal accident, with the world No 1 left facing charges of second-degree assault of a police officer and three third-degree offences.

Pictures of Scheffler in his orange prison jumpsuit quickly appeared on social media, with The Masters champion released by police and escorted back to arrive at the course less than an hour before his tee time.

Scheffler talked about beginning the warm-up of his second-round 66 from a jail cell and described the week as a "hectic" experience, although the charges were dropped later that month and he would go on to claim five more worldwide victories in an impressive 2024.

Littler becomes 'face of darts'

Darts became one of the most popular sports in the UK in 2024, mainly thanks to the phenomenal rise of Luke Littler.

Littler took the darts world by storm at the World Championships 12 months ago as a 16-year-old and went on to become Luke Humphries’ biggest threat across the year.

New fans became attracted to the sport, with record television numbers and sold-out crowds at most darts tournaments.

Littler has largely taken the sudden pressure in his stride, keeping the persona of a regular teenager from the north of England, while knocking in nine-darters and picking up titles in Bahrain, Poland, the Premier League, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship.

Darts is in a wonderful place and for all sessions at the ongoing World Championship to be sold out during the pre-sale phase underlines that.

Tan Hag departs after United saga

Manchester United's 2024 has been a mixture of success, failures and questionable decision-making from their leadership group.

Erik ten Hag guided the club to an FA Cup triumph, but speculation continued to surround his future in the weeks following their triumph over Manchester City. An eighth-placed finish fell well below the expectations of both fans and board members.

After a fair amount of uncertainty and speculation, United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is thought to have spoken to Tuchel in this period. United triggered a one-year extension to keep Ten Hag at the club until 2026.

Reportedly agreed on the holiday island of Ibiza, it never felt this was the long-term solution; more a consequence of a lack of creditable candidates befitting of the "best in class", as Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has spoken of in the past.

Fast forward to late October, after a lacklustre performance in the 2-1 defeat at West Ham, and with United languishing in 14th in the table, Ten Hag was gone.

The joined-up thinking of the structure put in place by Ineos saw them fire the Dutchman within five months of their public backing.

With Dan Ashworth following Ten Hag out the door, having left his position as sporting director after just 160 days, the saga rumbles on.

Ruben Amorim knows players must now be sold in order for him to build again, seemingly from the bottom.

End of a tennis era

We said goodbye to Andy Murray and adios to Rafael Nadal, leaving Novak Djokovic as the only player standing from the original ‘Big Four’ who dominated men’s tennis over the last two decades.

Murray lost in the first round of the Australian Open, then ruptured ligaments in his left ankle in March but opted against surgery.

The three-time Grand Slam champion returned in time for the French Open, which also ended for him in the first round, before more injury trouble forced him to withdraw from the singles at Wimbledon.

He played at Wimbledon for the last time in the men’s doubles with brother Jamie, losing in the first round, before officially announcing his retirement which ended after a spectacular quarter-final run in the men’s doubles at the Olympics with Dan Evans.

Injury also hindered Nadal’s final professional season as he pulled out of the Australian Open and lost in the first round at Roland Garros, where he has won a record 14 times, to Alexander Zverev.

After skipping Wimbledon, Nadal met his great rival Djokovic in the second round of the men’s singles at the Olympics, losing to the Serb and, like Murray, made the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles with Carlos Alcaraz.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion announced he would retire after the Davis Cup Finals, where Spain exited at the first stage.

2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem retired after his home event at the Vienna Open in October, while two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza and three-time major winner Angelique Kerber also hung up their racquets.

Hayes signs off with more WSL glory

Emma Hayes ended her 12-year stint as Chelsea boss on a high after guiding the Blues to another WSL title amid heavy pressure from Manchester City.

Goodbyes do not get much better than securing a seventh league title on the last day of the season with an emphatic 6-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Fairytale stuff.

Hayes' full list of honours with the club ended with seven WSL titles, five FA Cups, two Continental Cups, the Spring Series and a Community Shield. 

Not to mention how close she came to securing the final piece to the puzzle, after suffering defeat to Barcelona in the 2020/21 Women’s Champions League final.

Her career has now come full circle after returning to America with the United States National Women’s Team (USWNT), where her time as a coach began back in New York with the Long Island Lady Riders 22-years ago.

Hayes took control of USWNT on the back of their worst World Cup performance of all time – an exit in the last 16 – but has already overseen a major transformation.

With just a few months of preparation before the Paris Olympics began in July, Hayes guided her side to gold in France and has also improved her work-life balance off the pitch alongside her early success in the new role.

Speaking ahead of the friendly against England, which ended in a 0-0 draw in November, Hayes said: "I don't have to sacrifice the things that made me healthy. I didn't feel healthy at the end, I actually felt unwell at the end of my time at Chelsea.

"It wasn't pressure, it was the stress and toll it took on me and doing that during menopause was even harder.

"To get on top of all of those things, I've got my mojo back and my smile and enjoyment back which I didn't realise I had lost."

Klopp leaves Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp announcing he would leave Liverpool was a huge shock back in January. Klopp said he was "running out of energy" having won the Champions League in 2019 before leading Liverpool to their first league title in 30 years in 2019-20.

"I love absolutely everything about this club,” he said in January. “I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.”

Liverpool were firmly in the title race until April when they dropped points to Manchester United before losing to Crystal Palace and Everton, so finished third in the Premier League and were dumped out of the Europa League in the quarter-finals by Atalanta. 

Klopp has since taken a new position as global head of soccer at Red Bull, officially starting his role on New Year's Day, while Liverpool have been flying on the wings of Klopp's legacy. Arne Slot has his side firing on all cylinders to make a mockery of suggestions there might be a post-Klopp hangover as seen after Sir Alex Ferguson's departure from Manchester United.

Were you to strip away Klopp's undoubted charisma and connection to the city, it was his willingness to embrace new ideas that was a big feature of his success at Liverpool.

Klopp's DNA remains prominent in the playing staff, his words still cling to the walls of Anfield, but Slot's greater control to capitalise on the arrows of misfortune afflicting their rivals has Liverpool in safe hands heading into 2025.

Boxing enjoys Saudi breakthrough

Some of the biggest fights in recent boxing history have been made over the last 12 months as part of Riyadh Season.

Anthony Joshua’s stunning second-round knockout of Francis Ngannou in March was followed by AJ taking on Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title in September.

That fight took place at Wembley in London but was part of Riyadh Season, with the Saudi Arabian national anthem being played before the fight.

Oleksandr Usyk’s undisputed heavyweight championship fight with Tyson Fury was also held in Saudi Arabia, as was the rematch in December.

Artur Beterbiev faced Dmitry Bivol in their eagerly-anticipated clash at the Kingdom Arena in October, with the 6 Kings Slam tennis event being held at the same venue.

Snooker, golf and Formula 1 have also held events in Saudi Arabia, leading to continued questions about sportswashing, which were raised again when FIFA announced the country would host the 2034 World Cup.

As for boxing, the last 12 months have confirmed a big shift to hold the sport’s biggest fights in the Middle East, rather than the UK or USA.

New Zealand shock the cricketing world

If someone had told you at the start of June that New Zealand would be lifting the Women's T20 World Cup title a few weeks later, you could have been forgiven for bursting into laughter.

The White Ferns had lost 10 T20 internationals in a row and won just three of their previous 19. They were in the perceived 'Group of Death' alongside an Australia side eyeing a third straight victory in this tournament and a powerhouse India.

But in a competition of upsets - England and India failing to get out of their respective pools, Australia humbled by South Africa in the semi-finals - New Zealand emerged as shock winners and gave women's cricket a shock to the system it probably needed.

England bounced back to finish their year on a high by winning in all three formats on their tour of South Africa, claiming a T20 series sweep and winning the ODI series decider before thrashing the hosts in a one-off Test.

Sinfield continues Burrow's legacy

Rugby league legend Rob Burrow passed away at the age of 41 in June, four-and-a-half years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

The service was attended by many of Burrow's ex-team-mates and coaches, including Kevin Sinfield, with whom Burrow raised more than £15m for MND charities since his diagnosis.

Burrow won eight Super League titles, two Challenge Cup trophies and three World Club Challenges at Leeds, while he also represented England and Great Britain internationally.

After being diagnosed with the illness, he dedicated himself to raising awareness and funds for the MND community with the support of close friend and former Leeds team-mate Sinfield.

The legacy continued after Burrow’s death, with Sinfield continuing to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds and a hybrid rugby league and rugby union game was played at Headingley, featuring Danny Cipriani, Billy Twelvetrees and Danny McGuire.

Brook takes England into new era after Root history

Given the sometimes brittle nature of England’s batting, and their Bazball approach, it’s perhaps somewhat surprising that two of them occupy the top two spots in the ICC Test batting rankings – that is until you realise the two in question are the imperious Joe Root and Harry Brook.

Given the sometimes brittle nature of England’s batting, and their Bazball approach, it’s perhaps somewhat surprising that two of them occupy the top two spots in the ICC Test batting rankings – that is until you realise the two in question are the imperious Joe Root and Harry Brook.

As well as scoring countless runs for Ben Stokes’ side, the pair have been embroiled in their own personal tussle for the world No 1 spot over the past couple of months, with Brook just about overhauling his esteemed team-mate during the recent 2-1 series win in New Zealand.

Root notched a sixth Test ton of 2024 during the second Test win in Wellington, a 19th since 2021 and a 36th for his career, seeing him tie Rahul Dravid for fifth all-time among the game's most prolific century makers. In the process, he also became the fourth batter in history to post 100 scores of fifty or more in Tests.

As for Brook's brilliance, he twice topped three figures in New Zealand, a 171 in Christchurch swiftly backed up by 123 in Wellington – his eighth Test ton secured in just his 23rd Test, and one he labelled his “favourite” after rescuing England from 43-4 on the first morning.

And all of this coming off the back of a whopping triple-century notched on the tour of Pakistan in October too. Brook’s 317 is the fifth-highest score by an England batter in Tests and came as part of a remarkable and record-breaking 454-run partnership with Root – who struck 262 himself – as the tourists plundered an astonishing 823-7 declared in Multan.

You could happily watch these two bat for days, and quite often they oblige.

Referee Coote gets sacked

A video, which remains unverified as of December 2024, appearing to show referee David Coote ultimately led to him being sacked by the PGMOL.

Coote allegedly made derogatory comments about Liverpool and their former manager Jurgen Klopp in the video which was widely circulated on social media in November.

Coote, 42, was initially suspended by the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) and the FA launched its own investigation.

The PGMOL investigation also covered a second video which emerged, appearing to show Coote allegedly snorting a white powder, purportedly during Euro 2024 where he was one of the assistant VARs for the tournament.

European football's governing body UEFA also appointed an ethics investigator to look into the matter.