2005 in sports

See also: 2004 in sports, 2005 in baseball, other events of 2005, 2006 in sports, list of 'years in sports'.

Auto racing

• Paris Dakar Rally winners
  • Motorcycle: Cyril Despres, France, KTM 660 Rally, Team Gauloises KTM, Time 47:27:31, Penalty 9:00
  • Car: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret, France, Mitsubishi Pajero Evo, Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports, Time 52:31:39, Penalty n/a
  • Truck: Firdaus Kabirov, Aydar Belyaev, Andrei Mokeev, Russia, Kamaz 4911, Team Kamaz-Master, Time 71:13:55, Penalty n/a
• World Rally Championship
  • Monte Carlo Rally – Won by Sebastien Loeb in a Citroën Xsara.
  • Uddeholm Swedish Rally – Won by Petter Solberg in a Subaru Impreza WRC
  • Corona Rally Mexico – Won by Petter Solberg in a Subaru Impreza WRC
• Grand-Am
  • 24 Hours of Daytona
    • The overall and Daytona Prototype class victories were won by Max Angelelli, Wayne Taylor, and Emmanuel Collard in the #10 Suntrust Racing Pontiac Riley.
    • The GT class victory was won by Wolf Henzler, Dominik Farnbacher, Shawn Price, and Pierre Ehret in the #71 Farnbacher Racing USA Porsche GT3.
• NASCAR
  • Daytona 500 – Won by Jeff Gordon in the #24 DuPont Chevrolet.
• International Race of Champions
  • Race 1 – Daytona International Speedway – won by Mark Martin.
  • Race 2 – Texas Motor Speedway – won by Sebastien Bourdais.
• Formula One
  • Australian Grand Prix – won by Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault).
  • Malaysian Grand Prix – won by Fernando Alonso (Renault)
• American Le Mans Series
  • 12 Hours of Sebring
    • The overall and LMP1 class victories were won by JJ Lehto, Marco Werner, and Tom Kristensen in the #1 Champion Racing Audi R8.
    • The LMP2 class was won by Ian James, Chris McMurry, and Jeff Bucknum in the #10 Miracle Motorsports Courage C65.
    • The GT1 class was won by David Brabham, Peter Kox, and Darren Turner in the #57 Aston Martin Racing DBR9.
    • The GT2 class was won by Lucas Luhr, Patrick Long, and Jorg Bergmeister in the #31 Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
• Champ Car World Series
  • Long Beach Grand Prix – won by Sebastien Bourdais in the Newman/Haas Racing #1 Lola/Cosworth.

Basketball

• April 13 – April 24 – Defending champions Guangdong Southern Tigers defeat the Jiangsu Dragons 3 games to 2 in the best-of-five Chinese Basketball Association finals.

Cricket

See also 2005 in cricket.

• January 10 – The ICC World XI (344 for 8) beat the ACC Asian XI (232) by 112 runs to win the first one-day international for the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal. It is the first time an ODI has been played that has not been between two cricketing nations.
• January 10 – Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 226 runs to record their first ever test match victory.

Football (American)

January

February

Football (Rugby Union)

• Rugby World Cup Sevens 2005 (Hong Kong Sevens)- Fiji defeat New Zealand 29–19 in the final.
• Six Nations Championship – Wales win the Grand Slam.

Football (Soccer)

• German referee Robert Hoyzer admits to having accepted large sums of money from a gambling syndicate to fix matches. The resulting scandal, which has yet to play out completely, becomes a major embarrassment to Germany as it prepares to host the 2006 World Cup.

International Tournaments

• February 3–12: CEMAC Cup 2005 – Winner: Cameroon (Participating Countries: Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic)
• February 8–9: Cyprus International Tournament 2005 – Winner: Finland (Participating Countries: Finland, Cyprus, Latvia, Austria)
• February 9: Carlsberg Cup 2005 – Winner: Brazil (Participating Countries: Brazil and Hong Kong)
• February 19- 6: CONCACAF Gold Cup 2005 Central Preliminary Competition – Winner: Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama (Participating Countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Belize and Panama)
• February 20–24: CONCACAF Gold Cup 2005 Caribbean Preliminary Competition – Winner: Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (Participating Countries: Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago)
• February 26 – August 14: Cosafa Castle Cup 2005 (Participating Countries: Group A: South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar and Seychelles Group B: Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe Group C: Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia)
• March 5–13: East Asian Football Championships 2005 Preliminary Competition – Winner: North Korea (Participating Countries: North Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Mongolia and Guam)
• June 15–29: FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 (Participating Countries: Group A: Germany, Australia, Argentina and Tunisia Group B: Brazil, Greece, Japan and Mexico)
• July 6–24 : CONCACAF Gold Cup 2005 (Participating Countries: Group A: Honduras, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia Group B: Costa Rica, USA, Canada, Cuba Group C: South Africa, Guatemala, Mexico and Mexico)
• July 31 – August 7: East Asian Football Championships 2005 Finals (Participating Countries: Japan, South Korea, China and North Korea)

Qualifying for World Cup 2006 (finals to be held in Germany):

• October 2004 – October 2005: FIFA World Cup 2006 Preliminary Competition African Zone (Participating Countries: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo DR, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe)
• November 2003 – August 2005: FIFA World Cup 2006 Preliminary Competition Asian Zone (Participating Countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen)
• February 2004 – October 2005: FIFA World Cup 2006 Preliminary Competition CONCACAF Zone (Participating Countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, US Virgin Islands and USA)
• August 2004 – October 2005: FIFA World Cup 2006 Preliminary Competition European Zone (Participating Countries: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales)
• May 2004 – September 2005: FIFA World Cup 2006 Preliminary Competition Oceanian Zone – Winner: Australia or Solomon Islands (Participating Countries: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu)
• September 2003 – October 2005: FIFA World Cup 2006 Preliminary Competition South American Zone (Participating Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela)

GAA

• April 16 – The annual congress of the Gaelic Athletic Association votes to open up Croke Park and allow soccer and rugby to be played there under certain circumstances. It is expected that this will pave the way for the Republic of Ireland national football team and the Irish national rugby union team to use Croke Park during the redevelopment of their home ground, Lansdowne Road.

Golf

For fuller coverage see 2005 in golf.

Major championships

• 7–10 April: The Masters – Tiger Woods defeated fellow American Chris DiMarco at the first playoff hole to claim his 4th Masters title, and his 9th major. He returned to Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
• June: U.S. Open -
• July: The Open Championship -
• August: PGA Championship

Women's majors

• March: Kraft Nabisco Championship – Annika Sörenstam
• June: LPGA Championship -
• June: U.S. Women's Open -
• July: Women's British Open -

Money list/order of merit winners

• PGA Tour -
• PGA European Tour -
• LPGA Tour -
• Champions Tour -

Other happenings

• 6 March: Tiger Woods wins the Ford Championship at Doral and returns to Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
• 20 March: Vijay Singh's tied second place finish at the Bay Hill Invitational restores him to Number 1 after just two weeks.

Handball

• 2005 World Men's Handball Championship played in Tunisia
  • Gold medal: Spain
  • Silver medal: Croatia
  • Bronze medal: France

Ice hockey

• February 16 – The 2004–05 NHL season was canceled by league commissioner Gary Bettman. This was the first time that a North American professional sports league had to cancel a season due to a labor dispute.

Lacrosse

Snooker

• Welsh Open: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Stephen Hendry 9–8
• Malta Cup: Stephen Hendry beats Graeme Dott 9–7
• Rileys Club Masters: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats John Higgins 10–3
• Irish Masters: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Matthew Stevens 10–8
• China Open: Ding Junhui beats Stephen Hendry 9–5
• World Championship: Shaun Murphy beats Matthew Stevens 18–16

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

Steeplechases

• March 19 – Kicking King wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
• April 9 – The Grand National is won by the pre-race favourite Hedgehunter, ridden by Ruby Walsh.
• May 7 – 50-to-1 longshot Giacomo wins the Kentucky Derby under jockey Mike Smith.

Tennis

• Australian Open
  • Men's Singles – Marat Safin defeats Lleyton Hewitt 1–6 6–3 6–4 6–4.
  • Women's Singles – Serena Williams defeats Lindsay Davenport 2–6 6–3 6–0.

2005 Summer Deaflympics

The 2005 Deaflympics were held from the 5th to 16th of January in Melbourne, Australia. This is only the second time the games have been held in the Southern Hemisphere, and the fourth time outside of Europe since their begining in 1924.

Scheduled Events

• May 18 – the UEFA Cup final is scheduled for Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.
• May 21 – the FA Cup final is scheduled for Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
• May 22 – The Heineken Cup final is scheduled for Murrayfield in Edinburgh.
• May 25 – the UEFA Champions League final is scheduled for Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu in Istanbul.
• May 29 – The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.
• September 10 – The 229th running of the St. Leger Stakes.

Deaths

January-March

• January 4:
  • Paul Darragh, 51, Irish equestrian showjumper
  • Bud Poile, 80, member of Hockey Hall of Fame
• January 10 – Tommy Fine, 90, former MLB player and the only pitcher ever to hurl a no-hitter in the Caribbean World Series
• January 18 – Bob Moch, 90, 1936 Summer Olympics Rowing Gold Medal Winner
• January 22 – César Gutiérrez, 61, one of three players in Major League Baseball history with a 7-for-7 game
• January 25 – Nettie Witziers-Timmer, 81, Dutch athlete
• January 26 – Charles Martin, 46, former NFL football player
• February 2 – Max Schmeling, 99, German boxer, former world heavyweight champion
• February 13:
  • Nelson Briles, 61, former MLB pitcher and broadcaster
  • Maurice Trintignant, 87, French racing driver
• February 14 – Dick Weber, 75, bowling legend
• February 20 – Jimmy Young, 56, American boxer, former heavyweight contender
• February 22 – Reggie Roby, 43, former NFL football player
• February 23 – All Along, 26, French racehorse; 1983 U.S. Horse of the Year
• February 26 – Max Faulkner, 88, British golfer
• March 1 – Brian Luckhurst, 66, English cricketer
• March 2 – Rick Mahler, 51, former MLB pitcher
• March 3 – Rinus Michels, 77, Dutch football manager
• March 6 – Chuck Thompson, 83, former baseball broadcaster
• March 13:
  • Danny Gardella, 85, former MLB outfielder
  • Frank House, 75, former MLB catcher
• March 16 – Dick Radatz, 67, former MLB pitcher
• March 26 – Marius Russo, 90, pitcher who helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1941 and 1943
• March 27 – Bob Casey, 79, the only public address announcer in Minnesota Twins history

April

• April 7:
  • Cliff Allison, 73, former formula one driver
  • Bob Kennedy, 84, former MLB player and manager
• April 13 – Don Blasingame, 73, a MLB All-Star, who also managed two of Japan's professional baseball teams
• April 23 – Earl Wilson, 70, a leading pitcher for the 1968 World Series champion Detroit Tigers and first black pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Major League Baseball