The European championships have come and gone but football never goes away and August sees the Premier League kicking off for the new season, along with all the other major European leagues plus the EFL in the UK. First off the blocks with an
evening kickoff on Friday the 16th are Manchester United, who host Fulham at Old Trafford. This is followed by a full Saturday programme and on Sunday the 18th we have the first fixture featuring the defending champions, Manchester City, who go to Stamford Bridge and face Chelsea, one of the teams who are hoping to push City hard for the title this season.

Current odds at the bookmakers have City as strong favourites with Arsenal being touted as their only serious rivals. Liverpool are third best but the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and big spending Newcastle will be hoping to defy their big odds and mount a serious challenge to the domination that City have enjoyed over recent years.

The F1 season will be taking its summer break and will not resume until the 25th of the month, when the traveling circus gets to the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands. After that there’s no stopping the show which runs right through until Abu Dhabi in December and takes in some iconic races along the way.

Hopefully you’ll all be watching the Olympics at the start of the month, which runs through until the 11th but also scheduled is the Paralympics, which starts on the 28th, also being staged in Paris. It really is something to behold when you see the competitors, who have overcome such serious challenges, pit their skills against each other at the highest level. Such grit, determination and willingness to overcome whatever life throws at them is inspirational. Not to mention the talent levels on show!

In golf the four majors will be completed but the real heavy hitters move on to the Fedex cup finals in August, with each event having a purse of 20 million dollars alongside a 15 million prize for the overall winner. There is big money to be won in golf if you’re one of the major talents but no one will refuse the chance to win that sort of prize and the fields will be packed with the world’s best, the top ranked 125 all qualify, all wanting a slice of the action.

That’s about it for August. The football season is back with us and I’m sure the bars and sports lounges will be happy about that!