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It’s the pinnacle of European club football and the competition every fan wants to win and this year with no less than six English teams in the competition and this means even more attention than before. Liverpool are of course the record English side in the competition and were finalists in 2018 and 2022 and won the competition in 2019 and they will be looking do to well this year.

This year, however, it will be last years champions PSG along with record champions Real Madrid who will be the clubs to beat. Man City will be up there again having now won their first Champions League in 2023 it could now open the floodgates and it is likely more wins will follow. Arsenal, Chelsea and even Newcastle cannot be discounted and if they make the knockout rounds anything is possible.  Spurs seem a little more of an uncertainty but you never know with them.

Form 2024-25 the competition expanded to 36 teams with a new league phase replacing the group stage.  This now means 8 league matches between September and January (no winter break anymore) with four home and four away ties all against different teams.  The top 8 go straight to the last 16, those who finish 9-14 in the league contest a two legged play off in February with the 8 winners progressing to the last 16.

From that point it is a straight knockout as we are familiar with.  The top 8 league teams are seeded at the last 16 stage but country protection is removed now.  The knockout draw in February now also plots out the route to the final, as with the likes of the World Cup, which helps ensure the 8 seeded teams are more likely to make it to the later stages – as if the big teams needed anymore help.

Watch: TNT Sport

The darts Premier League takes place from February to May every Thursday evening, it moves around each week meaning that 17 different venues across the UK and Europe will be used this year.

The format changed in 2022 and now takes place over 17 evenings with 8 players competing in a series of 16 mini-tournaments before a final play-off. For the first 16 nights players play quarters, semis and a final with the winner getting 5 league points and a £10k bonus, runner-up 3 points and losing semi-finalists 2 points.

The top 4 players in the league progress to the final play-offs and the final due to be staged in late May. The world’s eight best PDC players compete in the Premier League. Michael Van Gerwen won the 2022 and 2023 versions and is record holder with 7 titles, ahead of Phil Taylor with 6 titles. MVG also won four titles in a row between 2016-2019.  Luke Littler won on his debut in 2024, only the third player to do so and the youngest winner in history.  He also managed a 9-dart leg in the final.  He seems to be the one to watch for the future.

The only player it seems that may stop Littler being completely dominant is Luke Humphries who beat Littler in the final in 2025 – despite Littler setting a new record of 45 points in the league phase to get there.

The event was only conceived in 2005 and yet has already become one of the most high profile events on the darts calendar, second only perhaps to the World Championship.

You can find some excellent linked free bets and price boosts, especially from the previous event sponsor Unibet. For nights 1 to 16 each match is best of 11 legs, the semi-finals best of 19 legs and the final best of 21 legs.

Watch: Sky Sports

The French Open is the most unique of all the slams because it is contested on clay. Clay is the slowest surface and this means it is harder to smash your way through an opponent with big serves and returns. For players to win on clay they must play a slower tactical game and this is one of the major reasons the big names of the grass and hard courts don’t always perform well. Novak Djokovic, for example, has 3 French titles from 24 grand slams and Roger Federer 1 from 20 grand slams.

The king of clay is Rafa Nadal, the record winner has almost the opposite statistic with 14 wins at Roland Garros out of 22 total slams. He is now retired and went out in the first round in his final year, 2024, but that was to eventual finalist Zerev. He lost to another Spaniard in the final, Carlos Alcaraz, who repeated the feat in 2025 by beating Jannik Sinner.  Is Alcaraz set to be the next Nadal? Don’t bet against it.

The women’s game by contrast is much more open on paper. Since 2004 only 6 different players have won the men’s title but by contrast 15 different players have won the women’s singles. Only Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Iga Świątek and Justin Henin have won it more than once in the last 18 years. Having said that Iga Świątek has won four since 2020 and matched the record for consecutive wins with three in succession between 2022 and 2024.  Effectively it is Iga and if not then a very open field after that.

Watch: ITV & Eurosport

When the Derby and Oaks roll around each year we know that the summer is here and the flat racing season is in full swing. The fact that there is little else on in early June means that for the feature races like the Derby and Oaks classics punters can get some fantastic added value if you wait until a day before to place your bets.

Racing takes place over the Friday (Ladies Day), which features the Oaks, and Saturday (Derby Day), which of course features the Derby. These are just the two biggest races however out of 14 in total that include the group 1 Coronation Cup along with a further 2 group races, 2 listed races and some seriously competitive handicaps.

Epsom is synonymous with high level racing having seen horses running there since the mid-1600s. It is close enough to London to draw big crowds, and a lot of royalty, but far enough away to be set among the rolling green hills of the south downs.

Both the Oaks and the Derby are held over just over one and a half miles and are two of the five British classics. The winner can expect to take home in the region of £910,000 from a purse worth over £1.6M, for winning either race.

Watch: ITV

The 23rd World Cup takes place in the US, Canada, and Mexico, the first time the tournament has taken place across three different countries in the same competition. It is also the first time the competition has been extended to forty eight teams, so there is a stronger chance that home nations will take part. Matches are due to begin on the 11th of June.

Teams play three times in the group stage, once against each opponent in a round-robin. The top 2 then qualify for the new round of 32, along with the 8 best 3rd placed teams. This is a knockout round, leading to another knock out round of the final 16 teams, at which point the competition looks the same as it has done for decades, with a quarter, semi, and then final game to determine the winner.

With England reaching the semi-finals in 2018 and the final of Euro 2020 there was a high expectation last time around, but hopes are slightly more muted since they were knocked out in the quarter finals in 2022. There is no bigger event for bookies in a four-year cycle than the World Cup. It is so competitive that bookies push out their best promotions and odds, often loss-leading to get your custom. There is rarely a better time to sign up to bookies either as they run their most lucrative sign up deals at this time.