In 2008, Poznań is going to host a few dozen international sports events. Many of them will be European or even World  Championships and Cups.

Poznań has been one of the organizers of the World Cup in Canoeing for many years.  This year the city will probably host just a qualification regatta to the Olympic Games, due to the summer Olympics in Beijing.
World Cup in Rowing regatta is planned for the turn of May and June, and at the end of September, Malta Lake regatta course will be the venue of the World Championships in Dragonboats. This spectacular sports discipline comes form Asia. A dozen or so paddlers will be racing in their boats, embellished with dragon heads, and drumming will  help them to keep the beat of their rowing strokes.

Photograph 1 - Dragonboats
Triathlon events are also going to be held in the surroundings of Malta regatta course. Poznań will be the venue of the European Cup in this discipline as well.
In June, volleyball players will come to Poznań again to participate in the games of the World League. This time Poland will be playing against Egypt. This match will be held in the Arena sports hall, just as it was in the previous years. In the qualifying round to the World League, Polish volleyball players will pit themselves not only against Egypt, but also against China and Japan. The World League finals will this year be held in mid-July in Brazil.

Photograph 2 –the World League in Poznań.
Unfortunately, the cyclists who take part in Tour de Pologne are not going to compete in Poznań this year. Tour de Pologne is the biggest cycling race in Poland, whose  one stage finishing line has been in Poznań for the last two years. However, during the event the organizers would like to promote the whole Poland and, therefore, have decided to change the route every few years. Thus, the main group of cyclist will probably be competing in Poznań in the year 2009 or 2010.

Photograph 3 – Tour de Pologne
Despite earlier announcement, an interesting football match between Poland and Argentina is not going to take place in Poznań. The match was originally scheduled for April. The Polish team has qualified for the first time to the European Championships finals and the match with Argentina was supposed to be one of the preparation  stages to this event. Unfortunately, the Argentinians cancelled their spring tour of Europe and the match will not be played.  However, it has been confirmed that a Polish football team is going to come to Poznań in autumn. This is when the qualifying round to the World Football Championships in 2010 is going to begin. Other teams playing in the same group as Poland are: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino and the Northern Ireland. There is a considerable chance of organizing in Poznań a match against the Czech Republic, one of the best European teams.

Photograph 4 – City Stadium in Poznań
In spring, Poznań will host another international equestrian event – CSIO Jumping Competition. This is the biggest horseback riding event in Poland, which for a few last years has been held in Poznań. At the end of the year, Poznań will also host the CSI-W International Indoor Equestrian Competition.
And the 9th marathon will be held on the street of Poznań already in autumn. More and more runners participate in this event each year. In the 8th marathon, there were 2 thousand runners, which made it the biggest competition of this kind in Poland.

Photograph 5 – Poznań marathon.