THE SPORTS CALENDAR

Azerbaijan is already recognized as a sports state and will host a number of prestigious competitions this year.

Although in general, compared to last year, there will be less sporting events around the world due to a pause after the Summer Olympic Games.

While some federations changed the rules of the competition, and most of the titled athletes have rest, 2017 will bring joy to many sports fans in Azerbaijan.

The first event will be the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games scheduled for May 12-22. It is expected that the Games will bring together about 2,000 athletes from 57 countries. The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at the Baku Olympic Stadium. During this ten-days competition, will be announced the names of the owners of the medals in weightlifting, equestrian, basketball 3x3, gymnastics, boxing, judo, football, wrestling, handball, gymnastics, karate, table tennis, water polo, diving, taekwondo, tennis, martial arts, swimming, volleyball, track and field athletics. The Republican stadium named after Tofig Bahramov, Dalga Arena stadium, Crystal Hall, the Heydar Aliyev sports arena, Baku Palace of Sports, Water Sports Palace, the National Gymnastic Arena will be prepared for the competitions.

Football

The main attention in the national sport in 2017 will focus on the performance of the national team. In May, the team will compete in the Islamic Solidarity Games. At the same time, in the qualifying stage of the World Cup, the national team will hold 4 games in Baku against the national teams of Germany (March 26), the Northern Ireland (June 10), San Marino (September 4) and the Czech Republic (September 5).

Gymnastics

The Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation is planning a series of important events in 2017. On January 17-21 and later on January 26-30, Baku will host intercontinental and international referee courses, respectively. It is expected that 48 countries will take part at the intercontinental courses. On March 6-9, the international referees’ course for men's artistic gymnastics will be held.

On 18-19 February, Azerbaijan will host the World Cup in gymnastics on a trampoline. On March 16-19, in Baku will be held competitions for the World Cup in gymnastics for both men and women, and on April 28-30 - in rhythmic gymnastics.

On April 19-23, men's and women's teams in gymnastics will take part in the European Championship in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and on October 2-8 - in the World Cup (Montreal, Canada). Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnastics team will represent the country at the European Championships on May 18-22 in Budapest, Hungary, and on August 30 - September 3 at the World Cup in Pesaro, Italy. The national acrobatic gymnasts will struggle during 8-16 October at the European games among the different age groups in Rzesrov, Poland. On September 22-24, the aerobic gymnastics team will perform at the European Championships in Ancona, Italy. On November 9-12, our team on trampoline and tumbling jumps will represent our country at the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Judo

The Azerbaijani judo team will participate in the European and world championships, which will be held respectively in Poland and Hungary. And before that, on March 10-12, Baku will host the final tournament of the cycle of the competition "Grand Helmet". In the Grand Prix will be the strongest athletes from more than 50 countries.

Formula-1

In accordance with the calendar of the International Federation of Automobile Sports, Baku will host the Formula-1 race for the second year in a row. From now on, this authoritative event will not be called the European Grand Prix but the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan. In addition, the Baku stage of this grand event will take place not on June 19 as last year but on June 25. Since the German Grand Prix is excluded from the lists, the Formula-1 in 2017 will consist of 20 stages. The season kicks off on March 26 in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix. The champion will be known exactly 8 months later - on 26 November in Abu Dhabi.

The Grand Prix of Azerbaijan will be broadcast live in almost 100 countries around the world.

Chess

Azerbaijan, which adopted in 2016 the 42-th World Chess Olympiad, will hold a series of chess competitions this year as well. In May, this will be the traditional Vugar Hashimov Memorial in Shamkir. Authoritative tournament dedicated to the memory of the late grandmaster, held in 2014 and takes pride of place in the FIDE calendar. In 2017, also held the traditional international chess festival «Baku Open» and «Nakhchivan Open».

Volleyball

In September, Azerbaijan together with neighboring Georgia will hold the European championship in volleyball for women, in which 16 countries will be represented. Along with the Baku championship game will be held in Goychai and the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Semifinals and finals will be held in Baku. The Baku meeting of the European Championship will be held at the National gymnastics arena.

Grappling

Baku will host the World Grappling Cup. This sport is not very familiar to Azerbaijani audience. The venue, which will be attended by representatives of 24 countries, is currently the subject of discussion. Grappling is a kind of fight with suffocating and painful methods, banning strikes.

MMA

The Azerbaijani Federation of MMA (mixed martial arts) will hold in Baku the next stage of the competition, M-1 Challenge. The evening of fights, which will be attended by athletes from 14 countries, will be broadcast in more than 150 countries. The international federation has highly appreciated the organization of event in Baku (M-1 Challenge) in 2016, «The 67^th battle in the Land of Fire".

Thus, Azerbaijan will host a number of prestigious events in 2017.