With Hidilyn Diaz winning the first ever Olympic gold medal for the Philippines and other Filipino Olympians securing medals for the country, more and more Filipinos got into the spirit of sports other than basketball. About time, right?
Now that the 2021 Summer Olympics is almost over, we want to help you maintain the spirit of sportsmanship by showing you eight major sports events you shouldn’t miss. Some of these events are out of the ordinary in terms of Filipino sports culture, but all of them will give you the thrill of watching a heated competition.
Some of the Major Sports Events in the World to Look Forward to
- NFL Preseason (August 12 to 29, 2021)
American Football is a Sport Beloved by Many
With the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the US being so close to ending, the NFL is now far from jeopardy compared to where it was this time last year. American football fans from all over the world can finally cheer their hearts out as the NFL preseason returns this year.
This time, though, the preseason will only have three games because the league switched to a season with seventeen games. Luckily, those three games are still enough preparation with live game reps than the teams had last year, so you can expect them to play smooth again this time.
On top of that, since the NFL is also getting back to normal off-field, they’re planning on letting fans watch live in the stadiums this season. Hopefully, as the US government continues to win against the pandemic, there will be no more postponements this season.
In case you’ve never watched the NFL preseason before, this is a yearly period where NFL teams play exhibition games before the actual season begins. This year, the preseason begins on August 12, Thursday, starting off with the Washington Football Team vs the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers vs the Philadelphia Eagles.
You can watch the live preseason games through the NFL app. It’s available in the Apple Store and Google Play Store, you can also check out their website to learn more about Game Pass.
- English Premier League 2021-22 season (August 14, 2021 to May 22, 2022)
This will be the 30th season of the Premier League and the third season that will use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. However, if you’re an avid English football fan, you’d be happy to know that this year, the Premier League is changing some of the penalty rules.
Football is an International Sport Played by A Lot
If you remember, since the introduction of the VAR system in 2019, the attackers have mostly carried the burden when it comes to penalty decisions, and a defender’s contact looked so much worse, which caused a lot of penalty kicks in the last seasons.
This season, there will be new rules set so that the people manning the VAR system will use a wider broadcast line to give some benefit of the doubt to the attacker. Officials will now look for three criteria when it comes to making decisions against collisions. You can learn more about the new criteria in The Guardian.
The season begins on August 14, with Manchester United vs Leeds United being one of the top highlights on day one. However, you can’t miss the August 15 matchday, since Manchester City, the defending champions, will go head to head against Tottenham Hotspur.
You can watch the matches live on the Premier Football channel, where you can watch exclusive games of the Premier League. It was launched in the Philippines last September 2020, so contact your cable provider for more information. You can also check out the website of Premier Football to learn more.
- British Grand Prix MotoGP (August 27 to 29, 2021)
The British Grand Prix MotoGP goes alongside a fundraising event, The Day of Champions, run by the official charity of MotoGP, Two Wheels for Life, which was, unfortunately, canceled last year because of the pandemic. Luckily, the event will make a comeback this season, with some slight restrictions because of the pandemic.
On top of the event’s reopening, the Grand Prix will also be reopening for full-capacity live viewing, allowing up to 140,000 people to watch on the grandstands and on the banks. Of course, they will hold the event in an open-air venue, the Northamptonshire plateau. Other restrictions also include being able to prove that it’s been fourteen days since getting fully vaccinated.