Thursday sees this summer’s World Cup kick off in Mexico City with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa.
There is more global action as the World Cup of Darts begins in Frankfurt.
Elsewhere, three British players are set to compete at Queen’s and St Helens host Warrington in the Betfred Super League.
Here is a guide to what is happening in the sporting world on Thursday and where you can catch the action in the UK.
World Cup kicks off
The World Cup gets under way on Thursday as co-hosts Mexico begin the tournament against South Africa at Mexico City Stadium.
Thursday’s opener will be the first of 104 matches taking place across June and July in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Ahead of kick-off, an opening ceremony will take place and coverage starts on ITV from 1815.
Scotland’s World Cup preparations also continue on Thursday, with a media conference set to take place.
Darts on the world stage
Thursday also sees another global competition begin with the World Cup of Darts taking place in Frankfurt.
Eighty players from 40 countries are set to compete in pairs and coverage of Thursday’s group action begins at 1800 on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action.
World champion Luke Littler – who recently won the Premier League in May – is paired with world number two Luke Humphries to represent England, who are seeded top and will begin their campaign in round two.
Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen will partner up for the Netherlands, while Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney will return to represent holders Northern Ireland.
What else is on?
Queen’s continues on Thursday with three British players in action as Harriet Dart, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter all compete in their last-16 games. Serena Williams continues her tennis return alongside Victoria Mboko in their doubles quarter-final clash and coverage starts on BBC Two England at 1300.
In Super League, second-placed Warrington travel to St Helens where only two points separate the two sides in the standings and the game will be shown on Sky Sports Plus at 1930.
There is also PGA Tour action with the RBC Canadian Open live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf at 1200, while game five of the NHL Stanley Cup finals between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes is on Premier Sports 2 at 0100 in the early hours of Friday morning.
On this day
1939: Rachael Heyhoe Flint, the former England captain who helped to popularise women’s cricket, and who also was a former director at Wolves, was born.
2009: Manchester United confirmed they had accepted a world-record, unconditional offer of £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.
2013: Racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil died aged 70.
2023: Novak Djokovic won the French Open men’s singles title – his 23rd grand slam crown – by beating Casper Ruud in straight sets.
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