In the sports calendar, therefore, traditionally popular football, basketball, tennis and Formula 1. Also some other tournaments, carefully scattered across the globe away from Greece, from Europe, from the Mediterranean basin.
Among the most important competitions of September, it is worth highlighting the start of football qualification for the 2006 World Cup in the European zone (worldwide the qualifying tournament has already begun). Several matches already took place on August 18, but the mass start is still scheduled for September 4. On September 3, 4, and 8, a number of national team matches will take place. Note that in this cycle, Kazakhstan will compete in the European zone for the first time, and the Kazakhs will play their debut official match at home against the Ukrainian team.
The most interesting things will begin in the European cups. On August 26-27 in Nice, the draw for the Champions League group stage will take place, as well as the draw for the first round pairings of the UEFA Cup. The distribution into groups in the UEFA Cup (an innovation of the current season) falls on October 6. In September, two rounds of the Champions League group tournaments will be held (September 14-15 and September 28-29), as well as the first and return matches of the first round of the UEFA Cup (on the 16th and 30th of September).
ENGLAND
The English football championship will take three steps toward its finish in September. There are no Ukrainians in the Premier League (Sergei Rebrov plays for West Ham from the first division), so we will follow the elite clubs of Foggy Albion.
In the fifth round (September 11), the most interesting seems to be the match in Birmingham between Aston Villa and Chelsea, which has again made serious purchases on the transfer market. In the sixth (September 19), the London derby Chelsea versus Tottenham looks promising, as does the match Manchester United versus Liverpool, moved to September 20. And in the seventh (September 25-26), no bright duels capable of attracting attention are expected.
BELGIUM
On September 27, a women's tennis tournament will take place in Hasselt, for the first time included in the international WTA calendar. Its official name is Gaz de Franse Stars, and the prize fund is $170,000.
BRAZIL
In the city of Belem, the World Diving Championships will begin on September 5. It seems the divers did not get enough jumping in Athens at the Olympic Games... The championship will end on September 14.
GERMANY
In September, the German football championship will hold three rounds – September 11-12, 18-19, and 25-26. Let us recall that in the current season, only one footballer represents Ukraine in the Bundesliga – the national team striker Andriy Voronin, who moved this summer from Cologne to neighboring Leverkusen and plays for local Bayer. In September, he and his team face three difficult matches.
First, an away trip to Mainz (Voronin's former team, where he played for three seasons). Then a home match against Nuremberg, followed by an away game against Stuttgart, which is coached by Matthias Sammer and features Belarusian Alexander Hleb. In addition to the latter match (Stuttgart – Bayer), in September it is worth highlighting the matches between Stuttgart and Hamburg (September 11), as well as the match Borussia Dortmund – Bayern (September 18-19).
INDONESIA
On the island of Bali, women tennis players will compete for $225,000 in prize money starting September 13. The tournament will last until September 19 (last year it was won by Russian Elena Dementieva).
SPAIN
The main sporting event of September in Spain is the traditionally popular cycling race 'Vuelta', which occupies a place in the world hierarchy next to the 'Tour de France' and 'Giro d'Italia'. The first stage will take place on September 4, and the last on the 26th.
ITALY
On Friday, September 10, Formula 1 team drivers will begin free practice; they will have qualifying on September 11 and will hold the next race counting toward the world championship on the 12th.
At the end of September, on the 27th, the World Road Cycling Championships will start in Verona. It will finish in the same Verona on October 3. And in Palermo, a men's tennis tournament will begin on the 27th. The prize fund is $375,000.
CHINA
The China Open tennis tournament will be held in Beijing, with both men and women participating. The prize fund for the stronger sex is $500,000, and for the fair sex – $585,000. The tournament will start on September 20 and end on the 26th. Interestingly, for some time only female tennis players gathered in Beijing, and men had not visited the Chinese capital since 1997. Seven years later, it was decided to bring the men's part of the championship back. The last champions of China were Russian Elena Dementieva (2003) and American Jim Courier (1997).
In the last weekend of September, Formula 1 will arrive in the Far East. In the capacity of world champion – old and simultaneously new – Michael Schumacher and his entourage will appear. Free practice is scheduled for September 24, qualifying for the 25th, and the race itself for the 26th. And the next day, a women's tennis tournament with a prize fund of $170,000 will begin in Guangzhou, which is a new element in the international calendar.
At the same time in Shanghai, a men's tennis tournament with a prize fund of $380,000 – the 'Heineken Open' – will start, the winner of which last year was Australian Mark Philippoussis.
KOREA
On September 27, the Korea Open among female tennis players will begin in Seoul, the last winner of which was Belgian Kim Clijsters. The prize fund is $140,000.
RUSSIA
In Moscow, from September 8 to 11, the second Moscow International Open Festival of Health and Fitness will take place at the LFK CSKA.
ROMANIA
The Romanian Open men's tennis tournament – the tournament will start on September 13 and end on the 19th in Bucharest.
USA
Even on the penultimate day of August – the 30th – a grand tennis tournament called the United States Open Championship, or, as it is more often called, the US Open (will end on September 12), will begin. Suffice it to say that in the men's singles the prize fund will be $7.5 million to understand how serious the level of this tournament is. The winner will receive a million, and the rest of the money will be divided among the participants in proportion to their achievements in it. For example, the tennis player who exits the game already at the start will receive $12.5 thousand. And this is several times more than the amount due to the winner of, say, the Kyiv Open tournament. So draw your own conclusions.
Interestingly, over the past five years a tradition has emerged in men's singles: the winner is always one of the Americans. True, in 2000 it was broken by Russian Marat Safin, but in 1999 at the home championship the best was Andre Agassi, in 2001 – Lleyton Hewitt, in 2002 – Pete Sampras, and last year – Andy Roddick. To be continued?
In the women's event, the last final was contested by two Belgian tennis players – Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters. The victory went to the former. It is hard to predict how it will be on the Flushing Meadows courts this time. By the way, Ukrainian representatives will again be in the women's singles draw. Immediately after the end of the US Open (from September 13 to 19), the men have another tennis tournament on American soil – in Delray Beach. The prize fund is 20 times smaller – $380 thousand.
THAILAND
In Bangkok, starting from September 27, male tennis players will compete for $550 thousand.