Sport in 2023: What to look out for
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As 2022 draws to a close, attention is turning to the new year and we have taken a look at the highlights of the calendar and the betting odds when it comes to sport in 2023.
In football, England will aim to take their domination to a global scale in 2023 as they target the Women’s World Cup.
The Lionesses created history this summer by winning the European Championship and few will bet against them reigning in Australia and New Zealand next July and August.
Under Sarina Wiegman, they proved they are the cream of the crop in Europe and the World Cup is their next challenge, having never gone past the semi-finals before.
With a recent friendly victory over United States, the four-time champions, confidence will be high of achieving the ultimate prize Down Under as Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo try to make even bigger names for themselves.
The England men’s cricket team know what it takes to win in Australia, having been crowned ICC World Twenty20 champions in November and their next white-ball challenge sees them defend their World Cup title.
England’s 2019 crown on home soil was their first-ever 50-over success but it will be a much more difficult task to win in India in October and November.
In the 2023 Cricket World Cup odds, India and England are joint-favourites at 5/2 ahead of Australia at 5/1.
They will also have plenty of expectations with the red ball as they host Australia in a five-Test Ashes series, trying to win the urn back for the first time since 2017.
The Ashes odds suggest a close series, with England slight favourites at 11/10 and the Aussies 5/4.
Meanwhile in sport in 2023, England and the other home nations will be going for glory in the Rugby World Cup, held in France in September and October.
England were beaten finalists in Japan in 2019 and are 11/2 to go one better while Ireland, currently ranked as the world’s best side, are 5/1 in the outright betting and will also fancy their chances of beating off the usual southern-hemisphere competition.
The overall calendar takes a more familiar look following two years of playing catch-up due to the coronavirus pandemic, with many tournaments back in their usual slots.
The Australian Open tennis is the first major event of the year and both the men’s singles and women’s singles look hard to call, while in golf Europe will try to regain the Ryder Cup, which is played in this continent for the time since 2018.
Home advantage may not be enough against a strong United States team though and Europe are the 7/4 underdogs in the 2023 Ryder Cup odds.
There will be plenty of focus around the famous competition owing to the controversial rise of LIV Golf, with Henrik Stenson losing his job as Europe captain as a result of his ties to the Saudi-backed rebel tour.
In racing, all eyes will be on Cheltenham in March once again and Galopin Des Champs is the favourite in the Gold Cup betting while April’s Grand National will, as ever, be one of the betting highlights for sport in 2023.
The year will also be the last for Frankie Dettori as a jockey, who plans to retire after the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita in November.
Coral have plenty of specials on Dettori’s retirement year and the Italian is 11/8 to add to his 21 British Classic triumphs.
In Formula One in 2023, Max Verstappen is 4/5 to complete a hat-trick of world drivers’ titles while boxing fans will be hoping a deal can be agreed for Tyson Fury to face Oleksandr Usyk in a heavyweight showdown.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
