Summer sports guide: What to watch in the off-season of 2025

Does your sports calendar stop when the Premier League, NBA and NFL go quiet? What if we tell you it doesn’t have to?

This summer promises a thrilling line-up of sports that will keep many fans glued to their screens. Yes, we are talking about the historic debut of the FIFA Club World Cup or the elegance of Wimbledon. Don't forget the adrenaline of Formula 1 as well! There is definitely no shortage of must-watch moments.

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup

This year's FIFA Club World Cup is already a hot topic, being the most talked-about tournament of the summer. After a two-year break, the competition is back... and has introduced a new format!

It features 32 teams that will battle for an entire month for a share of the $1 billion prize pool, bragging rights and the brand-new trophy.

Every continent joins the clash

Teams from all six of world soccer’s governing confederations—UEFA, CONMEBOL, AFC, CAF, Concacaf, and OCF—will be represented. The number of slots given to each confederation is based on its historical strength and competitive balance.

Here's a quick review of these confederations and how their teams qualified:

• UEFA and CONMEBOL (18 teams combined): Qualification is based on their performance during premier club competitions over the past four seasons. Each year's winner secures an automatic spot, and the highest-performing teams fall into the remaining places.
• AFC, CAF, Concacaf (4 teams each): These three regions have a straightforward system in place. The winners of the last four editions of each region’s top club competition get a spot.
• OFC (1 team): Oceania has only one place, and it is the highest-ranked team among the last four OFC Champions League winners.
• Host (1 team): The host nation, the United States, has only one team in the competition.

Empty seats and South American heat

The opening matches were flooded with reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers would be present at games, continuing their public raids, which have been met with counterprotests across the country. However, many empty seats have been visible at nearly every game.

On the field, the story of the tournament has been the performance of South American clubs. Teams representing CONMEBOL have not lost—they are the only undefeated confederation remaining after one matchday in every group. The Asian and Oceania teams are having less fun, as the confederation's five teams have yet to win.

FIFA’s summer spectacle faces growing scrutiny

The new structure does not come without some controversy. Fans and club managers are concerned about player fatigue, as many top players have little time to rest before their domestic seasons begin.

FIFPRO, the global union representing professional football players, commented on the matter:

"The decision to schedule the competition between June 14 and July 13 without implementing further player workload safeguards has shown a lack of consideration for the players' mental state, as well as disregarding their family lives."

Kick-offs are scheduled at noon and 3 pm local time on hot summer days, which means players will face challenging weather conditions in certain fixtures.

Heat waves are expected to hit much of the eastern United States over the next few days. There is very little FIFA can do about the weather, but there is a possibility of delays that could disrupt the simultaneous kick-offs in the group finals.

Wimbledon 2025

No summer is complete without the tradition and class of Wimbledon. The 2025 Wimbledon Championships is held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London.

History with a twist

The defending champion of the men’s singles draw is Carlos Alcaraz from Spain, and for the women, Barbora Krejčíková from the Czech Republic. You can expect to see singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. There will also be junior, wheelchair and invitational tournaments.

This year’s tournament features an exciting mix, as line judges will be replaced with automated electronic ones, a first in Wimbledon's history.

Tennis is one of the most popular sports in the UK and the world, and this tournament is a big part of that. However, beyond the matches, Wimbledon remains a cultural event. From strawberries and cream to celebrity sightings, the vibe is unmatched. This is the tournament to follow if you're looking for graceful power and mental grit.

To make it even more interesting, there are also a few wildcards at the event:

Wild cards

Wild cards are players whose world ranking is not high enough to qualify automatically for The Championships but who are accepted into the main Championships draw at the discretion of the Committee. These wild cards have been in the running since 1977. Moreover, since 2003, some singles wild cards have been determined by competition.

Daniel Evans is headlining the gentlemen's singles list. The 35-year-old, currently at 199 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will compete in the main draw for the 10th time. Evans said last year that he did not want to be “coming back to ask” for a Wimbledon wildcard. He insisted that he has the level to break into the world’s top 100, which will give him direct entry into the sport's four Grand Slam tournaments.

There are currently seven British players who ranked high enough to receive direct entry into the singles draws.

• Jack Draper
• Emma Raducanu
• Katie Boulter
• Sonay Kartal
• Jacob Fearnley
• Cameron Norrie
• Billy Harris

These are the men’s singles wildcards:

• Jay Clarke
• Oliver Crawford
• Dan Evans
• George Loffhagen
• Johannus Monday
• Jack Pinnington Jones
• Henry Searle

All eight wildcards in the women’s draw were announced, with a promising third teenager, the 17-year-old Mimi Xu. The full list of women’s wildcards is as follows:

• Jodie Burrage
• Harriet Dart
• Francesca Jones
• Hannah Klugman
• Petra Kvitova
• Mika Stojsavljevic
• Heather Watson
• Mimi Xu

Pinnington Jones of Texas Christian University was among 22 college players who recently qualified for the third year of the ATP Next Gen Accelerator. The Wimbledon wild card is not part of the programme. However, the Briton, who is a multiple-time qualifier for the Accelerator, will benefit from direct entry into ATP Challenger Tour events thanks to his college performance.

Formula 1

While many sports take a breather in summer, F1 races on. With only a brief pause in August, the 2025 F1 season is heating up. The FIA and Formula 1 have another 24-rounder in store for fans, drivers and teams, as the championship marks its 17th anniversary.

A high-speed calendar

There are six Sprint races held in 2025, with events in Shanghai, Miami, Spa, Austin, Sao Paulo, and Qatar, as well as pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Races toward a sustainable future

The F1 calendar today differs from the first year of the world championship in 1950, as back then, there were only seven races spread out from May to September.

In the words of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem:

"The 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar is approved by the World Motor Sport Council, and it is just a further illustration of our collective mission of meeting sustainability objectives through the regionalisation of events."

Traditionally, Formula 1 races were planned with a weekend-on, weekend-off approach, but the expanding calendar led to double-headers and triple-headers. What are those? A double-header is a sequence of back-to-back Grand Prix on successive weekends, while a triple-header is naturally three race weekends in a row. This allows for more races and more excitement within the 52-week year.

Six Sprints, one global stage

The sprint race weekends are as follows:

• Chinese Grand Prix (21–23 March)
• Miami Grand Prix (2–4 May)
• Belgian Grand Prix (25–27 July)
• United States Grand Prix (17–19 October)
• São Paulo Grand Prix (7–9 November)
• Qatar Grand Prix (28–30 November)

High-action pauses for summer reset

Last season, we saw both an official summer break and a two-week mandatory shutdown, as well as an unofficial autumn break with three consecutive weekends off. The 2025 summer break begins after the Belgian Grand Prix, with the action returning on August 29.

Besides, productions such as Netflix's Drive to Survive and F1: The Academy or the latest Hollywood film feature F1: The Movie help popularise the sport we love so much.

Summer’s sporting sizzle: What else to keep an eye on

Let's explore some of the other exciting summer sports worth keeping an eye on this year:

Tour de France

The 2025 Tour de France is the 112th edition of the event. It will kick off on July 5, with the final stage taking place on July 27. This cycling event blends endurance with strategy, breathtaking mountain stages, and sprint finishes. It is set to include 23 teams, with all 18 UCI WorldTeams invited.

There will also be 5 UCI ProTeams, comprising the two highest-ranked UCI ProTeams in 2024 and 3 teams selected by the Amaury Sport Organisation. If you’re a big cycling fan, then you surely don’t want to miss out on watching the race live!

MLB

The 2025 Major League Baseball season began on March 18 with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs held in Tokyo. The rest of the regular season runs from March 27 to September 28. The 95th All-Star Game is scheduled for July 15 in Cumberland.

The season is in full swing for baseball fans! Besides, there's a definite mid-season highlight and event to tune in for with the upcoming All-Star Game in July.

Cricket

The 2025 International cricket season takes place from April to September. This includes:

• Men’s Test
• Men’s ODI
• Men’s T20I
• Women’s Test
• Women’s ODI
• Women’s T20I

The 18 first-class counties are busy finalising plans to cut the County Championship and Twenty20 Blast to 12 matches in each competition next season, restructuring the domestic games.

Rugby

This year's Rugby Championship will be the fourteenth edition of the annual rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere. A notable fixture is set to be played between Argentina and South Africa in the final round at Twickenham Stadium in London, exactly one week after the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup Final. It is also the last tournament before the beginning of the Nations Championship.

Plenty to watch and bet on

Whether you're into football, motorsports, tennis, golf, or a bit of everything, this summer has it all. While major leagues may be on break, the sporting world is anything but quiet. Use this time to discover new favourites or dive deeper into sports you’ve always loved!