Basketball
Fans of the orange ball have long awaited this day. On October 28, the regular championship in the world's strongest basketball league - the NBA - begins. On that day, Miami will meet Philadelphia, Phoenix - San Antonio, Dallas - the Lakers. Overall, Ukrainian fans will have someone to root for. Stanislav Medvedenko has been playing for the Los Angeles Lakers for more than one season, and in the Seattle SuperSonics, Ukrainian basketball is represented by Vitaliy Potapenko - the most experienced domestic player in overseas basketball.
Starting October 5, NBA teams will begin friendly matches. For instance, the Lakers will meet Golden State (October 7 and 8), Phoenix (14 and 17), Cleveland (16), Clippers (23), and Sacramento (24). Seattle will play Houston (8 and 10), Utah (11), Portland (14 and 18), Golden State (15 and 22), Sacramento (19).
And the teams of the Ukrainian legionaries will play only three official matches combined in October. On October 28, the Lakers will visit Dallas, and on the 29th, Seattle will play away and at home against the Clippers (October 30 and 31).
Greco-Roman wrestling
The world's best wrestlers in this discipline (formerly known as classic wrestling) will sum up the season in the French city of Créteil from October 2 to 5. On the eve of the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens in August 2004, the world championship among the "classicists" is almost decisive for the wrestlers.
Tennis
Several tournaments promise to be the most interesting in October. In Russia, the Kremlin Cup (September 29 to October 5) and the St. Petersburg Open (October 20 to 27) will take place. But the main attention from the men will be focused on two Masters series tournaments - in Madrid (October 13-19) and Paris (October 27 - November 2). Both have prize funds of over two million. In addition, men's tournaments will be held in Vienna and Lyon (from October 6), and Basel and Stockholm (from October 20).
For women, the brightest event of October will be the tournament in Zurich (from the 13th), with a prize fund of $1.3 million. In addition, tournaments will be held in Filderstadt, Germany (from October 6), Linz (from October 20), and Philadelphia (from October 27).
Fencing
From October 3 to 11, the World Fencing Championship will be held in Havana, the capital of Cuba, where the best masters of the blade will finally determine the compositions of delegations for the Olympic Games in Athens.
Formula 1
The final stage of the Formula 1 World Championship will take place in Japan. On October 10, test runs will begin at the Suzuka circuit, qualifying will be held on the 11th, and on the 12th it will be decided who will become the 2003 world champion - German Michael Schumacher, Finn Kimi Räikkönen, or Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya. On October 18, a delegation from Renault is expected in Moscow for an introductory visit.
Football
There are plenty of football events this month, as usual. From the games of national teams, which have the final matches of the group stage of the qualifying tournament for Euro 2004, to the national championships of the leading European countries, which naturally attract increased attention.
The most intriguing should be the games of the European club tournaments, which are gradually gaining momentum. Let's start with them.
Champions League. Kyiv Dynamo got off to a good start in this edition (a 2:0 victory over Moscow's Lokomotiv) and rightly hopes to continue in the tournament. The Dynamo players will play their next match on September 30 in Milan, and in October they will only have a game against Arsenal from London. This match will take place on October 21 in Kyiv.
On October 1, eight matches of the second round in several groups will take place. These are the matches Panathinaikos - Rangers, Stuttgart - Manchester United, Porto - Real, Marseille - Partizan, Lazio - Sparta, Chelsea - Besiktas, Celta - Milan, and Ajax - Brugge.
The third round games are scheduled for October 21-22. On the 21st, in addition to the matches in our group "B" (Lokomotiv - Inter and Dynamo - Arsenal), the following matches will take place: Anderlecht - Celtic, Lyon - Bayern, Deportivo - Monaco, AEK - PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray - Olympiacos, and Juventus - Real Sociedad.
On the 22nd, the meetings will be Stuttgart - Panathinaikos, Rangers - Manchester United, Marseille - Porto, Real - Partizan, Chelsea - Lazio, Sparta - Besiktas, Ajax - Celta, and Milan - Brugge.
Let us remind you that Ukrainian footballers play not only for Kyiv Dynamo, but also for Belgian clubs Brugge (Sergey Serebrennikov) and Anderlecht (Oleg Yashchuk), Italian clubs Milan (Andriy Shevchenko) and Juventus (Sergey Kovalenko).
UEFA Cup. In this tournament, three Ukrainian clubs will play their return matches in October. Shakhtar Donetsk will face Dinamo Bucharest at home, Dnipropetrovsk's Dnipro will host Germany's Hamburg, and Metalurh Donetsk will travel to Italy to meet Parma. All three matches are scheduled for October 15.
On the same day, another 44 pairs of European teams will play, and on October 16, another four pairs will take the field. More detailed information about the representation of countries in the UEFA Cup is available on the official website www.uefa.com.
On October 11, the European national teams will finally determine their places in their qualifying groups, after which the holders of 10 berths for the 2004 European Championship, which will be held in Portugal, will become known. In addition to the tournament hosts, the Bulgarians, French, Swedes, and Czechs have already secured their places in the final part of the competition. In addition, the teams that will take second place in their groups and will compete for another five berths to Portugal in the playoff matches will be known.
On the second Saturday of October, the following teams will meet:
Group 1. France - Israel, Cyprus - Slovenia.
Group 2. Norway - Luxembourg, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Denmark.
Group 3. Austria - Czech Republic, Holland - Moldova.
Group 4. Sweden - Latvia, Hungary - Poland.
Group 5. Scotland - Lithuania, Germany - Iceland.
Group 6. Greece - Northern Ireland, Armenia - Spain.
Group 7. Turkey - England, Liechtenstein - Slovakia.
Group 8. Croatia - Bulgaria, Belgium - Estonia.
Group 9. Italy - Azerbaijan, Wales - Serbia and Montenegro.
Group 10. Russia - Georgia, Switzerland - Ireland.
A day before the national teams' matches - on October 10 - the youth teams of these same countries will play, competing for berths in the final tournament of the European Youth Championship.
National Championships. It so happens that the championships of five countries - Italy, England, Spain, Germany, and France - arouse the greatest interest among football fans. The Russian championship is also popular in Ukraine, and its decisive matches are approaching. In October, the champion of the country in the Russian championship will most likely be decided. Despite the fact that the final round will take place in November, Moscow CSKA, which includes Bohdan Shershun, a native of Khmelnytskyi and a product of Dnipropetrovsk football, should secure first place in the standings in advance. If, of course, the army men do not squander their advantage in the 27th (October 4-5), 28th (October 15-18), and 29th (October 25) rounds.
In Western European championships, October is far from being the month in which forecasts can be made. But the matches of the English championship (October 4, 5, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 25, and 26) will not lose their charm because of this.
The same can be said for the championships of Italy, Germany, and France, whose matches in October will be played strictly on weekends (except for the second round). In the Spanish championship, another round, scheduled for the middle of the week (October 29), will be added to the weekend games.
Hockey
Fans of the fastest game in the world have two reasons for curiosity at once. First, the North American Hockey League, which is rightly regarded as the strongest on Earth, gets underway. Second, the Russian Hockey Championship, generally considered the second strongest in the world, will be in full swing.
So, in Russia, where almost two dozen products of Ukrainian hockey play, rounds 9 through 21 will take place during October. Sixteen days of the month will be 'hockey' days - the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 27th, 30th, and 31st of October.
In the NHL, the first official matches will take place on October 8. On this day at 20:00 local time, Anaheim will meet Dallas, Minnesota (an NHL newcomer) will meet Chicago, and New Jersey will meet Boston.
Let us recall that several products of Ukrainian hockey are playing in NHL clubs with success: Alexei Zhitnik (Buffalo), Sergei Varlamov (St. Louis), Ruslan Fedotenko (Tampa Bay), and Alexei Ponikarovsky (Toronto). Their clubs will play about a dozen regular-season matches over the course of October, and in total for the season - eight times more, not counting the matches for the Stanley Cup. However, not all clubs will reach the playoff games.