Best Sports Moments of 2019

On the last day of the year, we’ve looked back and made a list of the best sports moments of 2019. From Liverpool’s victory to Tiger Woods’ fantastic come back, we had many heartwarming and moving moments during the year. 

In 2019 there wasn’t any Olympic Games or a big football tournament. But every sports fan could find some exciting game or championship to be excited about. From the Men’s Handball World Championship to the World Aquatics Championship, or the Men’s Basketball World Championship to the Women’s Handball Championship at the end of the year, almost every month brought some big sports events. And of course, we could watch football all year from Champions League games to the Euro 2020 qualifiers with lots of options to bet on.

Biggest victories in the best sports moments of 2019

Michael van Gerwen started the year with winning his third world title in the PDC World Championship. Denmark won the Men’s Handball World Championship in January for the first time, defeating big rival Norway in the final. Now Norwegians will have the chance to take revenge in the soon coming European Championship. Even though Denmark has the smallest odds at Unibet to win again. Tom Brady made history with winning the Super Bowl with his team, New England’s Patriots at the age of 41. See our prediction for 2020 here.

One of the best sports moments of 2019 was the glorious return of Tiger Woods.  He has won the 2019 Masters, which was his first major title after 11 years. Online sportsbooks in the US are already offering odds for next year’s big golf tournaments. Now Tiger Woods is one of the favorites again. Another magical victory happened in the NHL.  Here the team with the worst record in the league, St Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup.  NBA had a surprise winner as well in the team of Toronto Raptors.  They are the first team from Canada to win the title. This season they are doing ok, but bookmakers are giving them a small chance to repeat their success with the odds of 41.00.

Spanish women’s basketball team managed to defend their title in the European Championship.  For a bigger surprise, their men’s basketball team has won the World Championship in China. They beat Argentina in the final, while the American team was out in the last 16, after losing against France. But the American women’s football team became world champion for a record meaning fourth time. They will be remembered of their confident play and their demonstrations for equal pay. There was one last major team sports event at the end of the year, the Women’s Handball World Championship in Japan. Here the Netherlands won their first title after defeating the Spanish team.  

New stars emerging 

In the summer, everyone was concentrating on the water, and a very far location, Gwangju. As in 2019, South Korea hosted the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championship. With new stars emerging, we could follow the rise of Hungarian swimmer Kristof Milak, who broke Michael Phelps’ record in the 200m butterfly. American youngster Regan Smith did the same with Missy Franklin’s record in the 200m backstroke. 

2019 in the football world

Liverpool has won the Champions League final for the first time since 2005, after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the all English final. As we mentioned the American women’s football team won the World Cup in France, overcoming the Netherlands in the final. The captain of the team, Megan Rapinoe also got the women’s Ballon d’Or at the end of the year. 

In Europe, the focus was on the qualification for next year’s European Championship. There wasn’t much surprise here, as all the big teams successfully qualified for the tournament. Portugal made history and has become the first champion of UEFA’s new football tournament, the Nations League ahead of The Netherlands and England. 

In the major European football leagues, the top teams became champions. Such as Manchester City in England, FC Barcelona in Spain, Juventus in Italy, Bayern Munich in Germany and PSG in France. And there weren’t much-unpredicted decisions in the most important football awards. Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or for a record sixth-time ahead of old rival Christiano Ronaldo. Messi got the Best FIFA Football Player Award as well, only the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award went to Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.

The dominance of former world champions

Lewis Hamilton was ruling Formula 1 again in 2019 and won his sixth world champion title with Mercedes. Online gambling sites in the US are predicting his victory for next year too. We could only hope that young and talented drivers like Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc can come closer to him in 2020 so we can watch some exciting races. Simone Biles made history with winning her fifth all-around world title in gymnastics, she has an amazing 19 world championship titles overall. 

In tennis, in the men’s tournament, the legends of the sport have all continued in great form, with two grand slam wins for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as well. Roger Federer was left without a major victory this time, but at the age of 38, he is still competing at the top level. In the women’s race, the opposite happened, with all winners being under 30. Of course, Serena Williams is still a great player, reaching two grand slam finals in the year. And she will have a chance to start in 2020 with a historic win in Australia as we already discussed. 

Finally in alpine skiing, two legends of the sport, Marcel Hirscher, and Mikaela Shiffrin has become the overall world cup winners. With Hirscher’s retirement, the road is open for new contestants, check the odds for all winter sports at Unibet.