This is going to be an especially exciting spring and summer of sports in Europe, jam-packed with events and athletes of the highest caliber. With France putting on the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and
Paralympics, Germany hosting the Men’s UEFA Euro Cup Football in 10 cities, the United Kingdom and France holding their yearly Tennis Grand Slams, and Le Tour, Il Giro, and La Vuelta taking place in France, Italy, and Spain as well as stages in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal, if you like sports, this will be a season to remember!
Depending on your tastes and financial situation, you can watch or stream these events for schillings or euro cents at home, a few more pounds or euros in pubs or sports bars or a potential splurge in person.
Below are the highlights of these eight events as well as a few key details and a couple of recommendations on how and where to watch.
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
26 July to 11 August
Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games from Friday, 26 July 2024 to Sunday, 11 August 2024. However, football and rugby will begin on 24 July and handball on 25 July.
More than 200 Olympic Teams, in addition to the Refugee Olympic Team, will compete in 32 sports and 329 events. As the official website says, “The Olympic Games are the world’s only truly global, multi-sport, celebratory athletics competition.”
Some events are more popular than others, but you can see all the ticket options here.
Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics
28 August to 8 September
The Paralympic Games are set to take place over 12 days from 28 August to 8 September 2024 with more than 4,000 of the world’s most outstanding Paralympic athletes participating.
“The Paralympic Games are more than just a sporting event – they offer a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on sport and disability, inspire individuals, bring about social change, and promote inclusive professional and sports opportunities for people with disabilities,” according to the official website. “The Paralympic Games will see all of France embark on an adventure unlike anything it has experienced before.”
Men’s UEFA Euro Cup 2024
14 June to 14 July
The month-long football playoffs take place from 14 June to 14 July. Twenty-four teams, including Germany, will be competing for the championship.
Germany will host the Men’s Euro Cup tournament in the following 10 cities:
Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.
You can watch at home, in person or at a local pub, and you will find big screens outside many establishments to make you feel part of this quadrennial cup.
You can try to get tickets here on the official resale platform.
French Open
26 May to 9 June
The French Open is 26 May to 9 June at Roland Garros in Paris, France, with qualifying events starting on 20 May. It is one of the four tennis majors, includes both singles and doubles matches and is
played on orange clay.
So far, all the major players including top ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Iga Swiatek of Poland are scheduled to play
You can try to get tickets here. (Good luck with that.)
Wimbledon
1 July to 14 July
The Wimbledon Championships will take place from 1 July to 14 July in London. It is one of the four tennis majors and is also the oldest tennis tournament in the world. The tournament is played on grass, and the players must all dress in traditional white garb.
Will this be a Djokovic-Alcaraz rematch?
You can try to get tickets here, but unless your last name is Windsor or Beckham, it’s gonna be tough.
Cycling for both men and women
Tour de France
29 June to July 21
The 111th edition of the Men’s Tour of France starts this year in Florence, Italy, and winds around for over 600 kilometers in Italy before heading into Valloire, in south-southeastern France. The Tour finishes,
three weeks later, in Nice on July 21.
No. 1 Jonas Vingegaard is scheduled to compete.
Le Tour de France Femmes 2024
12 to 18 August
The Women’s Tour of France runs for seven days from 12 to 18 August. Interestingly, it starts up north in Rotterdam, Netherlands before heading down into Liege, Belgium, two days later, then finally entering France on Day 3 in Amnéville.
The race concludes in Alpe d’Huez after the mountainous Stage 8.
Top ranked Dutch rider Demi Vollering is scheduled to ride.
Il Giro d’Italia
4 to 26 May
The Men’s Tour of Italy, celebrating its 107th edition, begins in Torino in northwestern Italy on 4 May and ends in Rome on 26 May with a circuit stage around the Colosseum. The route will cover over 3,000
kilometers over the 21 days of racing.
Il Giro d’Italia Women
7 to 14 July
The Women’s Tour of Italy occurs over eight days, from 7 to 14 July. It starts in northern Italy in the city of Brescia and finishes 158.6 kilometers later in central Italy, in the medieval town of L’Aquila, at an elevation of 721 meters.
La Vuelta Femenina
28 April to 5 May
The Women’s Tour of Spain, scheduled for 28 April to 5 May 2024, will have eight stages taking place over eight days. La Vuelta Femenina heads off from Valencia in eastern Spain and finishes in the heart of the country in Madrid.
La Vuelta de Espãna
17 August to 8 September
The Men’s Tour of Spain starts on 17 August and ends on 8 September. La Vuelta begins in neighboring Portugal’s capital of Lisbon and finishes in Spain’s capital, Madrid. The race consists of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,265 kilometers.
Where to watch
My favorite ways to stream sports are through BBC Sport and Eurosport from the comfort of my couch, or by heading down to my neighborhood pub or sports bar. I’m not really into crowds and spending gobs of money. On the other hand, for the Paris 2024 Olympics, I have friends who will be staying on a barge on the Seine, where they will be in the thick of things, and another couple who will be training in from Austria to watch some basketball.
These are main highlights of the eight elite sporting events happening in Europe this year from April to September. Whether you like individual or team sports, with thousands of athletes coming to Europe, there will be something to watch and someone to cheer for.
And be prepared for a few sleepless nights when there is celebrating in the streets!
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Read more about sports here in Dispatches’ archives.
Mary Porcella is a Europhile who has lived in Germany, Norway, Italy, and the U.S. She is a writer, editor, and photographer. She loves seeing new places, returning to old haunts, and meeting up with family and friends. As of today, her travels have taken her to 20 European countries, and she hopes to visit the rest.
