2014 is coming to and end and Chicken Swedes have summarized the great sports events of the year. We have supplied you with news from sports all over the world and we will continue to do so in 2015.
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia
This year the XXII winter olympics were held in Sochi, Russia. 98 events over 15 disciplines in 7 sports were included in the 2014 games. Russia won the medal-race with 13 golds, 11 silver and 9 bronze followed by Norway with 11 golds, 5 silver and 10 bronze. Canada came third with 10 golds, 10 silvers and 5 bronze.
Speaking of Canada, at bonus-finder we have a great deal of focus on hockey and since the NHL-players can participate in the olympics since 1998 it means every 4th year means we get to see the worlds best hockey players fight to win olympic medals but also show which country is the best hockey-nation in the world. This year Canada won the gold beating a broken swedish team in the final game. Sadly the swedes were plagued by injuries and suspensions which made the final sort of an anticlimax.
In the cross-country skiing Norway was often supreme at the individual levels while Sweden won both the men’s and women’s relay.
A historic medal was awarded to Slovenia for two reasons: It was the country’s first olympic gold medal ever and it was a tie shared with Switzerland in alpine skiing. No silver was awarded.
IIHF World Championships
As usual the world championships in ice-hockey are played every spring. The tournament was played in Belarus and was pretty straightforward. Russian dominance and a revenge on Finland who beat them in the olympics: Russia won the gold, Finland silver and Sweden bronze. In 2015 the world championships are played in Czech Republic.
FIFA World Cup
After the winter olympics, FIFA World Cup is the next big event of 2014. We got to see some great football and the germans taught us all we need to know about the game. They beat Argentina in the final while Netherlands got the bronze medal. Home team Brazil failed to live up to the expectations of the fans and finished 4th. Most remarkable was their total collapse in the semi-final against Germany. Other teams that failed this tournament was England, Spain and Portugal. Read our summary from the 2014 World Cup here.
Champions League
English football isn’t what it used to be. This year only three english teams have reached the round of 16. No Liverpool, no Manchester United. Nevertheless we are looking forward to the playoffs starting in the beginning of 2015. Our top-picks for the playoffs are:
- Chelsea
- Real Madrid
- Bayern Münich
- Barcelona
2016 EURO qualifiers
The qualifiers for the 2016 UEFA championships started this fall. In group A Iceland is the biggest surprise with a 2nd place behind Czech Republic. Netherlands is chasing in third place. Group B is also a bit unexpected with Israel in top and Wales in 2nd place. Slovakia and Spain is in the top of group C while Poland and Germany is going strong in group D. England is recovering from the world cup topping group E followed by Slovenia while Romania and Northern Ireland is fighting for top positions in group F. Group G is a hornest’s nest with Austria, Sweden and Russia battling at the top while there are no real surprises in group H: Croatia and Italy have 10 points each. Denmark and Portugal is at the top of the last group, I where we most of all remember Portugal’s loss against Albania who is in 3rd place.
We are looking forward some more exciting action from the world of sports in 2015!
