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When are the Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Fifa World Cup?

British skier Dave Ryding, tennis star Emma Raducanu, runner Dina Asher-Smith and footballer Harry Kane all hope to be celebrating success in 2022Image source, Getty Images

What a sporting year 2021 was, with many major events that had originally been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic finally taking place.

And 2022 looks as if it's going to be even busier!

The Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Women's Euros and the men's Fifa World Cup are just some of the sporting events due to take place this year, alongside the usual annual events such as the Six Nations, Wimbledon and the FA Cup finals.

Let's take a closer look at some of the biggest sporting events to look out for this year.

Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games

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Bing Dwen Dwen (L) and Shuey Rhon Rhon (R) are the official mascots for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games

China's capital city, Beijing, will host the 2022 Winter Olympics from 4-20 February as well as the Winter Paralympic Games, which will take place a month later between 4-13 March.

Beijing will become the first city in the world to have hosted both the Winter and Summer Games - having held the latter back in 2008.

Great Britain will be hoping to improve on their total of five Olympic and seven Paralympic medals from the last Winter Games which took place in 2018.

Uefa Women's European Championship

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England are the fifth-highest ranked side going into the tournament

After England lost to Italy in the final of the men's Euros last year, can the Lionesses go one better and become European champions for the first time?

The tournament takes place in England from 6-31 July and just like last year's men's tournament, will see Wembley Stadium in London hosting the final.

England and Northern Ireland, the only representatives in the tournament from the home nations, are both in Group A and will face each other in their group stage match at Southampton's St Mary's stadium on 15 July.

Commonwealth Games

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Perry the patchwork bull, the official mascot for this year's Games, was created by 10-year-old Emma who won a nationwide competition to design the mascot

The Women's Euros are not the only major tournament taking place in the UK this year.

The city of Birmingham in the West Midlands will host the Commonwealth Games between 28 July-8 August.

For the first time in Commonwealth Games history, the schedule features more medal events for women than men across 19 different sports.

Rugby League World Cup

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Australia beat England in the men's final of the last Rugby League World Cup in 2017

Originally scheduled to take place in England last summer, the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and will now take place between 15 October-19 November.

The tournament will feature 61 games, with separate tournaments for men, women and wheelchair players.

FIFA World Cup

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Qatar will host the Fifa World Cup for the first time

The tournament is being played in the winter for the first time in its history, because Qatar, which is a small country next to Saudi Arabia, has extremely hot summers and warm winters.

The first match will be played on the 21 November, with the final in the capital Doha a week before Christmas on 18 December.

England have already qualified and could be joined by Wales or Scotland, who have reached the World Cup play-off semi-finals, due to take place at the end of March.

Other big events

Summer means it's time for Wimbledon (27 June - 10 July) and US Open champion Emma Raducanu will be hoping to win a major title on home soil.

Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be Great Britain's big medal hopes at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA (15-24 July).

And England are favourites to win the Women's Rugby Union World Cup when the tournament is held in New Zealand from 8 October - 12 November.

Which event are you most looking forward to watching? Who's your favourite sports star? Let us know know in the comments below..