Let's start with the big event coming up this summer. The one that's just as big as the Olympics. The 2018 World Cup. Of course, the United States won't be one of the 32 teams in Russia. But that's not gonna take anything away from what we're gonna see. The World Cup is always tremendous, and the 2018 edition promises to be more of the same.
One World Cup that we don't need to stress over is the 2019 Women's World Cup. Qualification only just started, but the chances of the American women meeting the same fate as their male counterparts seems unlikely. Not only is the United States the defending champions, they should be one of the favorites to win it again when 24 teams convene in France next June.
That's just one of three World Cups in store for us next year. As a bit of a prelude to the Tokyo Olympics, the 2019 Rugby World Cup will also take place in Japan. This is a long one too, it goes for six weeks from Sept. 20-Nov. 2. They originally wanted to use Tokyo's Olympic Stadium for the Rugby World Cup, too, but they're taking too long rebuilding it (they haven't even started yet!), so the final will instead be in Yokohama, the same site as the 2002 World Cup Final. Oh, and as for American qualifying, that's already taken care of. The United States finished as the top team in the Americas region for the first time.
Then there's the 2019 Basketball World Cup, the first one not in the same year as the soccer World Cup. FIBA rescheduled it from 2018 until 2019 so that they wouldn't be in the same year anymore. It's in China and not until September, which means they expect the NBA guys to play a ridiculously long 2019-20 season that will begin and end in Asia. Or, more likely, it means we're gonna see two completely different American teams at the World Cup and the Olympics. The good news is that you can qualify directly for the Olympics at the World Cup, so there's no extra tournament to worry about.
Before I get off the World Cup kick, there's one other soccer tournament worth mentioning. UEFA Euro 2020 will be different than previous Euros, too. It's the 60th anniversary, so they're doing a continent-wide tournament with no official host. The semifinals and final will be in London, but the group stage will be held in 12 cities in 12 different countries (including London).
If Olympic-style multi-sport events are more your thing, there's one right around the corner. The 2018 Commonwealth Games are in Australia, so they're early. The United States isn't part of the Commonwealth (although Canada is), and they're in April, so it'll be easy to overlook the Commonwealth Games. But they are a worthwhile thing to check out.
Speaking of events worth checking out, the 2019 Pan Am Games are in Lima, Peru. I had a blast at the last Pan Am Games in Toronto, so I'm really looking forward to this next edition. The Pan Am Games are a much bigger deal in the rest of the Americas than they are here, but they actually serve as the Americas Olympic qualifier in a number of sports, and they start almost a year to the day of the Tokyo Games.
About a month before the Pan Am Games will be the 2019 European Games in Minsk. The inaugural European Games in 2015 were a bit of a work-in-progress. And you could definitely tell. They had trouble getting the different sporting federations to buy in, and some nations certainly seemed a bit disinterested too. They even had trouble finding a host for this edition, which was originally supposed to be in the Netherlands. So, there's nowhere to go but up. Right?
And let's not forget that Olympic sports have their World Championships in odd years, and the intensity is always ratcheted up a notch in the pre-Olympic year. That will especially be the case in the 2019 IAAF World Championships, which are in Doha, so they'll be really late in the season. Not until the end of September. The 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships, meanwhile, will be in their traditional mid-summer timeframe. And we've been talking about the Olympics' little Asian swing, but the swimmers will have the same thing in an even shorter window. This one's in Korea, and the 2021 World Championships are in Fukuoka, Japan, which means three straight trips in three consecutive years for them.
Lastly, we've got the Youth Olympics. Two editions, in fact. The IOC puts the Youth Olympics for the opposite season in the regular Olympic years, so that means we've got the Summer Youth Olympics coming up later this year in Buenos Aires, followed by the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Youth Olympics still haven't really quite caught on in the mainstream, but the IOC loves them. And they are where they try out new sports and events before moving them up to the regular Olympics, so some of the stuff you see in Buenos Aires and Lausanne could very well be previews of events that you'll see in Beijing and Paris.
So, don't worry, kids. There's still plenty to keep us occupied between now and the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Let's not forget, we'll have two full seasons of pro and college sports in the interim, too. In other words, we'll be fine. There definitely won't be a void. And if you are feeling one, you can always check out the Olympic Channel, which will be showing PyeongChang replays all week.
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