Five sports wishes for a happy 2025
Here’s hoping for exciting title races in Europe’s main football leagues, and the success of the fresh faces on the F1 circuit
THE sporting gods more than delivered over the past 12 months, with fans getting much more than they could have dreamed of. We saw Singapore kitefoiler Max Maeder taking the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, Spain outlasting 23 other nations to win Euro 2024, Rafael Nadal retiring from tennis, and Max Verstappen claiming his fourth consecutive Formula 1 (F1) championship.
With just hours to go until we welcome 2025, here – in no particular order – are five wishes I hope to see come true. Happy new year, everyone!
More top-class action at the Sports Hub
I love visiting the different venues at the Singapore Sports Hub, because there is always something to see and do, whether it is a mass running event, a weekend carnival of some sort, or a concert.
Two years ago, I wished for the return of a top-tier tennis competition, and I was over the moon when it was announced a few months ago that the new Kallang Tennis Hub will host the inaugural WTA 250 Singapore Tennis Open at the end of January. It is the first time we are getting an international tennis event since the WTA Finals wrapped up its five-year run here in 2018.
Football fans did not get any matches involving a European club at the National Stadium in 2024, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that some of the top teams will include the Lion City on their tours in 2025. The talk is that Manchester United may visit Kuala Lumpur to play an exhibition match in late-May or early-June, and would it be asking too much if they could hop over to Singapore too?
Wider range of live events on Netflix
When boxing legend Mike Tyson made his return to the ring in November against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, the only way fans could watch the bout was on streaming giant Netflix. Yes, there were some technical issues that dogged the broadcast, but the event still drew an estimated 65 million viewers.
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The subscription-based platform is making a big push into live sports. On Christmas Day, it streamed two American football games. And from Jan 6, it will start showing the WWE’s flagship weekly Monday Night Raw wrestling show.
It may still be early days, but there is so much potential for Netflix to muscle in on the space once exclusively owned by traditional broadcasters. Golf, tennis, football, F1, cricket – the sky’s the limit for Netflix as it seeks to grow its global subscriber base of more than 280 million.
A closer fight in Europe’s top leagues
It is nearly the halfway mark for Europe’s top four football leagues, and I am hoping we can see different winners come the end of the season.
Liverpool have opened a seven-point gap at the top of the English Premier League with a game in hand on their rivals, and it seems almost certain the Reds will end Manchester City’s streak of four titles. It would make for some riveting viewing if Chelsea, Arsenal or even surprise package Nottingham Forest can push Liverpool all the way to the finish line.
Over in Italy, Atalanta are sitting pretty at the top of Serie A, although Napoli and Inter are not far behind. In Germany, Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich are in first place as they seek to reclaim the crown they lost to Bayer Leverkusen last season. In Spain, Atletico Madrid are leading the way as they hunt for a first league title since 2021.
A reunion in golf
How wonderful it would be if the two professional golf tours could somehow resolve their differences and come together in 2025. Things have not been the same since the introduction of the controversial LIV Tour in 2022, and an ugly dispute over money means that golf fans lose out on the opportunity to watch all the best players compete against one another on a regular basis, except during the season’s four Majors.
In August, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that both sides will continue to operate independently in 2025, which seemed to suggest that any agreement is far from being reached.
Rise of the F1 rookies
I admit to only being a casual follower of F1, but I am excited for the new season because of five rookies on the grid in 2025 – Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman. All eyes will be on them as they seek to stamp their mark on the sport in a big way and spring a surprise or two.
The next season is also a special one for Ferrari as it welcomes former Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, and it will be interesting to see how the British racer, who turns 40 on Jan 7, adapts to his new surroundings.
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