With the pandemic came so many alterations to the sporting calendar. The football world, undoubtedly, has its share of the adjustment. Nevertheless, fans worldwide are getting set for an exciting football year. So, whether you are only a die-hard fan waiting to throw your support behind your favourite team or a sports betting hoping to get huge returns for wagers, here what’s on the cards for football in 2021.
The FA Cup.
With schedule confirmed and replays scrapped to take out pressure from the football calendar, the FA cup’s final will happen on May 15 2021. The preliminaries and the first few rounds started on September 12, 2020, and ended on November 28 with the second round. January 9, 2021, will welcome the third round while the finals will happen on May 15. As a sports betting fan, see the dates below to ensure you don’t miss out on any opportunities to make huge returns when betting on football games at any time.
- Third round: January 9 2021
- Fourth round: January 23 2021
- Fifth round: February 10 2021
- Quarter-finals: March 20 2021
- Semi-finals: April 17 2021
- Final: May 15 2021
Champions League
As usual, thirty-two teams kicked off the champions league tournament in October, a couple of months after the “keeping safe” lockdown. With the group stage matches gone, 16 teams out of the way, the round of 16 will be kicking off in February 16/17, 2021. The quarter-finals will follow on April 6/14, 2021, while the semi-finals and finals will go down on April 17/May 5 and May 29 respectively.
This champions league tournament has been tough; however, the 2019/2020 season defending champion, Bayern Munich, runner up, Paris Saint Germain, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, PSG, Atalanta, etc., are still very much in the tournament. If you are a sports betting fan, don’t wait till the finals in May. Now is the time to start making your predictions, when the odds are still high.
Europa League
Europa League is another one of UEFA’s annual club competitions. Like the Champions League, the Europa League follows a similar mode of operation, including qualifying format. The group stage matches of the league kicked off this year’s October and the last group stage matches ended in December 2020.
Following next, is the round of 32, which will kick-off between February 18 and 25, 2021. The remaining stages of the tournament are as follows, with Gdansk, Poland hosting the final of the tournament
- Round of 16: March 11 & 18, 2021
- Quarter-finals: April 8 & 15, 2021
- Semi-finals: April 29 & May 6, 2021
- Final: May 26
EURO 2020 FINALS
As the summer Olympics, EURO 2020 is another sporting event that couldn’t hold that all in 2020. Though the tournament will now hold in 2021, it will still retain its name as EURO 2020. Twelve European cities will be hosting the football world between June 11 and July 11, 2021. Below is the breakdown of the entire tournament matches.
- Group stage: June 11- 23
- Round of 16: June 26-29
- Quarter-finals: July 2/3
- Semi-finals: July 6/7
- Final: July 11, 2021.
Carabao Cup Cup
The Cup is EFLs show-piece cup that features Premier League and EFL clubs in a direct knockout mode over seven rounds, including the final. The first five rounds happened between September 5 and December 23. The semi-final matches and final will go down on January 5/6 and February 28 respectively.