2026 SPORT | The Gurgler’s Essential 2026 Sporting Calendar

A new year is here, one full of huge amount of sport waiting to be seen and enjoyed, sport doesn’t watch itself you know. But with so much to watch, how does one prioritise it all? Well allow us to offer up The Gurgler’s Essential 2026 Sporting Calendar.

The Gurgler’s Essential 2026 Sporting Calendar isn’t an exhaustive list, who has time to watch everything and good luck to those that do, but it is our selection of the major events and potential talking points around your workplace and/or dining table.

The Gurgler’s Essential 2026 Sporting Calendar Top Five

If we are forced to choose our top five sporting events to follow for 2025 we will. So here are the five events we won’t miss in 2025, and suggest you don’t either.

MARCH – NRL RESUMES

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and that’s certainly the case with no NRL hogging our TV screens on a Thursday through to Sunday.

APRIL – US MASTERS GOLF

If you’re only going to watch one golf tournament a year, may as well make it the most famous with the best players with a few golden oldies thrown, you know Bernard Langer will be there somehow, and loads of scenery. Even if the ghosts of Greg Norman’s Major still lurks.

JUNE – FOOTBALL WORLD CUP

More teams, more games means more World Cup. That suits us fine. It doesn’t matter if Australia do well or not, it’s a sporting treat that usually means minimal sleep and maximum joy. The US-North American timeslot could make watching games slightly less tiring.

SEPTEMBER – EUROPEAN CRICKET CHAMPIONSHIPS

Every year we go on and on about the European Cricket Championships, and there’s a reason why. Because it’s excellent. A T10 competition on a small ground in Spain featuring European countries you had no idea liked cricket. What more do you need. Or want. But it didn’t happen in 2025, and it may not return in 2026, or ever. But if it does, it’s above-the-top-shelf sporting entertainment.

OCTOBER – RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP

International Rugby League has never been in better shape, well Pacific region is, so this year’s Rugby League World Cup should be the most competitive ever, with Australia not guaranteed anything, and the other nations catching up by attracting big NRL names, without weakening New Zealand too much. PNG playing in PNG also doesn’t really get much better.

The Gurgler’s Essential 2026 Sporting Calendar Month by Month

JANUARY / FEBRUARY

The Big Bash fills in the void nicely in January after the Ashes has come and gone. Meanwhile one of the great sporting competitions, well it used to be, the FA Cup has the best two rounds of the competition where the lower division toilers meet the Premier League fat cats. It’s usually good fun until Round 5 and all the big teams are left and they still play their reserve sides.

One of the world’s biggest events bursts into action in February when the Superbowl is on, and like a lot of people we will watch and wonder why we don’t watch more. Then an hour later wonder when it will finish. Betting eases the pain of not beign able to follow it, and so it shall be again. Other less popular football, but no less exciting for us is the UK Super League kicking off for 2026. The best of that league from last season – Hull KR – will play the Brisbane Broncos in the Club World Challenge which should be plenty interesting, as will be which Reece Walsh shows up for the new season.

Oh, and Cricket’s T20 World Cup is on as well, with the usual favourites, and some interesting newcomers – like Italy who foolishly couldn’t keep Joe Burns in their side for the tournament, hurting their chances of winning a game. We’re also interested in what Oman, Nepal and Australia can do.

MARCH

Some heavyweight Australian football and motor sports kicks in for March. NRL do it in style in Las Vegas, while the AFL start their season at the MCG. Formula 1 starts their season, and hopefully with a home town podium for once, at a minimum it will probably rain, see lots of crashes and they have new cars and engines and a new Team in Cadillac. Staying at Albert Park, don’t forget about Formula 2 as well. Always worth a watch, sometimes more than F1.

An even more dangerous motor sport category – Moto GP – also starts their season in March too and is a great alternative to F1 in case. Plenty of speed but inside is the World Indoor Athletics.

The Cricket World Cup Final is on in March as a slower alternative.

APRIL

AFL’s version Magic Round is available for those who like lots of Adelaide and AFL. Even slower is the World Snooker Championships which, like AFL for a non-bandwagon AFL fan sounds like good fun, until about half an hour in.

Golf’s best major is on, and is a great excuse for morning sloth-ing on the lounge. Hopefully with an Australian in the hunt, hopefully named Greg Norman. With or without the Great-est White Shark, it is a magnificent sporting contest.

MAY

Some premium football happens in May as the English and European seasons end, hopefully with a title fight, a huge upset, first time winners and promotion for Ipswich Town in no particular order.

More violent and requiring less teeth is some Ice Hockey which is confusing but fun. Similar to the Cheese Rolling available.

Some premium motorsports with the Canadian Grand Prix, which is usually lots of fun, and the Indy 500 which is usually less fun but more prestigious.

Magic Round is on in the NRL and is the best weekend of rugby league around, either there or sloth-ing at home. And State of Origin starts which is a double-edged sword – a great contest but ruins the NRL for two months.

JUNE

June will be mainly about a million Football World Cup games, just the way we like it.

But if fast kicking, and low scoring is not your thing, there’s the second State of Origin clash to get involved with.

Plus two premium motor racing events. The Monaco Grand Prix for all the fame and amazement of how they can go so fast around those streets, the race is usually as dull as can be. Over to Indycars, the Road America track is one of the best in the world, and worth watching.

There’s US Open Golf and/or Wimbledon tennis is you want something with less speed and more tantrum.

JULY

Rugby League gets interesting in July as the State of Origin finishes which means the NRL returns to normal and the NRLW kicks off. The UK Super League have their Magic Round as a bonus for league fans.

The Football World Cup culminates in the big final, but the 3rd v 4th place playoff is usually a better game.

The Belgian Grand Prix should be watched and enjoyed before we never see it again because it is in the middle east or is a crappy street track. Talking of crappy street tracks, the Tour de France is a great late night filler.

AUGUST

August looks thin on paper, but is getting into the sharp end of the AFL and NRL seasons. Plus new football seasons kick off, so close to the World Cup finishing.

SEPTEMBER

Hopefully September will be about the triumphant return of European Cricket, which we missed badly in 2025.

If that disappointment does happen, there’s at least the AFL Grand Final, which for a lot of fans will be the second or third game they’ve watched in the season.

The only new track of the F1 season arrives in September in Madrid. It doesn’t look great on paper, but change = holiday and all that. Azerbaijan GP is a notable inclusion in our list, but we prefer the F2 cars there, as they usually get up to a lot of trouble.

OCTOBER

Rugby League have their big night of nights, and give themselves a few weeks off before the World Cup starts. With players opting to play for nations on family heritage, it makes this edition the closest yet on paper. Australia are no longer guaranteed of winning the World Cup, when they might have been in previous years.

The greatest day of sport sloth-ing – the Bathurst 1000 – roars into October, justifying a long sit and nap. With beer.

Slightly less dangerous is the Australian Moto GP from Phillip Island.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER

The Rugby League World Cup comes to an end, as do the Moto GP and F1 seasons, with hopefully the title still on the line. The Brazilian Grand Prix is an early suggestion for catching up, as it either usually rains or has great action. Or both. The end of the sporting season is wrapped up with some World Championship darts.