Every New Year is more excitement in the Sports World. 2015 was filled with lots of fun moments. From FC Barcelona sweeping home five trophies including the Champions League to Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams dominating the Men and Women’s Tennis circuit from start to finish and Lewis Hamilton winning back to back F1 World Championship titles.

It’s worth taking a look at some events that will dominate the headlines. These are: the Uefa European Championship (Euro 2016) and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Let’s explore why these shows will steal the spotlight.

2015/2016 Uefa Champions League Final

This year’s final takes place at the iconic San Siro. The favourites will be defending champions FC Barcelona. With the mercurial trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar leading the Blaugrana attack, the task of stopping them won’t be easy. Attention will be on Bayern Munich as they haven’t been to the final since 2013 when they last won it and with Pep Guardiola leaving the Allianz Arena at the end of the season, it will be on interest to see how the 44 year old can mastermind the only trophy he has failed to give the Bavarians.

Others in contention would be Real Madrid and last season’s runners up Juventus. Then there’s the oil rich Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain whose calibre of players should be a match for the other heavyweights.

English teams have failed to impress since Chelsea lifted the final in 2012 and the Premier League as the best league in the world comes into question. Whatever the outcome is, all eyes in the football world would be in Milan on May 28.

Euro 2016

The European Championship will be hosted by France from June 10-July 10. It will involve 24 teams cut across six groups for the very first time. France being the host will be favourites to win the tournament they last won in the year 2000. England have still not won a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup. They reached the Euro finals in 1996 as hosts but lost to the Germany. Could this be their year? If the three Lions can’t make that impression, then it’s going to be a case of chasing shadows and living to see another day. Another team that could be chasing shadows are Portugal. Since reaching the final of Euro 2004, they have failed to assert their presence despite having a wealth of attackers led by arguably the best player on the planet, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Other favourites include defending champions Spain, Euro 2012 runners up Italy and World champions, Germany. Belgium come here as the top ranked team in the world so how far they can go will be of interest considering the wealth of players they have.

Some rarely seen faces in Albania, Wales, Northern Ireland and Iceland would want to put in a good show to prove their qualification to the finals was no fluke. The likes of Sweden, Turkey, Croatia, Russia, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Austria and Czech Republic possess armoury in their ranks that makes them a thorn for the heavy weights.

2016 Summer Olympic Games

The world’s biggest sporting event will take centre stage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second largest city from August 5-21. It’s the first time the global showpiece comes to South America and it will feature rugby and golf for the very first time.

Among the games gaining attention will be athletics, football, swimming, tennis and basketball. Usain Bolt has announced that the Rio games will be his last so all eyes will be on him to see if he wins the 100metres and 200 metres and breaks the world record he set in both categories. In football, Brazil will be the focus of attention. The Olympic gold medal is the only thing missing in the Samba nation’s illustrious trophy collection. This could be the only chance to win on home soil, otherwise it could take many generations for the feat to be achieved

In tennis, the top guns in the men’s and woman’s circle like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams will be looking to add the gold medal to their cabinet. In swimming, there’s no Michael Phelps this time but South Africa’s Chad le Clos will be of interest to viewers. In Basketball, the United States star studded line-up will be looking to dominate the game from beginning to the end.

Have a wonderful sporting 2016.