98 Fun Facts About Christmas Sports

Through 2025, which was the only current NBA franchise never to have played on Christmas Day?

Charlotte Hornets teams had never been picked since the franchise began in 1988, because the league gives the holiday to title contenders and its biggest stars rather than to fixed hosts.

Which team had played the most NBA Christmas Day games, 58, through 2025?

New York Knicks beat the Providence Steamrollers 89–75 on Christmas Day 1947, the first of their 58 holiday games through 2025, yet no team had lost more of them: 32.

Who scored 60 points on Christmas Day 1984, still the most in an NBA Christmas game through 2025?

Bernard King had 40 by half-time and finished with 60, yet his team still lost, 120–114 to the New Jersey Nets.

On Christmas Day 2004, Kobe Bryant's Lakers hosted which recently traded former teammate?

Shaquille O'Neal's Miami Heat won 104–102 in overtime, and the feud drew such an audience that ABC asked for the same matchup on the next two Christmases.

How many Christmas Day wins had the Knicks, the NBA leader, recorded through 2025?

The Knicks played the very first Christmas game in 1947; through 2025 their holiday record stood at 26-32.

Which coach won his 1,000th NBA game on Christmas Day 2008?

Phil Jackson got there faster than any coach before him, and in style: his Lakers beat Boston 92–83 to end the Celtics' 19-game winning streak.

Which two stars did the NBA showcase in the Lakers' 2009 and 2010 Christmas home games?

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James met both times, and the visitors spoiled the party: LeBron's Cavaliers won 102–87 in 2009 and his Heat won 96–80 in 2010.

What kept the NFL off Christmas Day for 17 seasons after 1971?

Fan complaints about games on a family holiday grew louder when a double-overtime playoff ran into Christmas dinner; one state legislator even proposed banning play on December 25.

The longest game in NFL history, on Christmas Day 1971, pitted the Dolphins against which team?

Kansas City Chiefs lost 27–24 in double overtime after Jan Stenerud missed a 31-yard field goal in the last minute of regulation; it was their final game at Municipal Stadium.

Which Dolphins kicker ended the NFL's longest game with a field goal on Christmas Day 1971?

Garo Yepremian had come up short from 52 yards in the first overtime, then won it 27–24 with a 37-yarder midway through the second.

How long, in game time, was the longest NFL game ever?

A regulation game is 60 minutes.

The other NFL game on Christmas Day 1971 saw the Dallas Cowboys beat which team 20-12?

The Vikings outgained Dallas 311-183 but still lost.

The Boxing Day Test is played annually where?

A Victoria v New South Wales Sheffield Shield match had been played there over Christmas since 1865.

In which year did the Australian Cricket Board formalise the Boxing Day Test tradition?

It coincided with the Nine Network buying the TV rights.

The MCG's largest-ever Boxing Day crowd came in which year, for the fourth Ashes Test?

Big Bash competition has made attendance vary in other years.

Sydney to Hobart yachts finish their race by sailing up which Tasmanian river?

The Derwent is where records are won and lost: in 1996 Morning Glory tacked up the river against the clock to beat a 21-year-old race record by 29 minutes.

The second NHL Winter Classic, in 2009, was played at which famous ballpark?

Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, suits the NHL because ballparks sit empty in winter while NFL stadiums are still in use; the event returned there for 2025.

The Sydney to Hobart began when a visiting officer from which navy suggested racing a planned cruise?

The Royal Navy's Captain John Illingworth made the suggestion and profited from it, winning the nine-boat first race in 1945 himself.

Which software billionaire's yacht Sayonara was first to finish the deadly 1998 Sydney to Hobart?

Larry Ellison's maxi reached Hobart first while the storm behind it sank five boats and killed six sailors; only 44 of the 115 starters finished, and crew rules were tightened afterwards.

Which Australian took six wickets for seven runs on debut in the 2021 Boxing Day Test?

Scott Boland, a 32-year-old debutant on his home ground, needed only four overs for his six wickets, and the Test was over before lunch on the third day.

Which yacht set a Sydney to Hobart race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes in 2017?

LDV Comanche was second across the line, but her protest over a near-collision at the start cost the leader a one-hour penalty, handing her both the win and the record.

During the 1914 Christmas Truce, British and German soldiers reportedly played which sport together?

Football features in many accounts, but historians think most games were kickabouts between the trenches, some with a ration tin for a ball, rather than organised matches.

What was the score in Robert Graves's 1962 fictional Christmas Truce football match?

Many accounts of the truce mention football, but details vary and some are embellished.

The Spengler Cup, the world's oldest invitational hockey tournament, is played each year in which town?

Davos has hosted it since 1923, when local doctor Carl Spengler founded the cup to bring teams from nations divided by the First World War back onto the same ice.

Which club had won the most Spengler Cups, 17, by the end of 2025?

Swiss teams as a group had won 23 by then.

Which university's team of Canadian students won the first Spengler Cup in 1923?

Oxford's side was built on Canadian Rhodes Scholars, which made it strong enough to win the cup again in 1925 and 1931.

Which horse won the King George VI Chase a record five times?

Kauto Star won four in a row from 2006, lost his crown to Long Run, then won it back in 2011 to pass Desert Orchid's four victories.

The King George VI Chase is run at which racecourse?

Kempton Park has sometimes had to give the race up: Sandown staged the snowed-off 1995 running in January 1996 and stepped in again in 2005 while Kempton was being redeveloped.

On which date does the IIHF World Junior Championship traditionally begin?

It runs to about January 5.

Which country led the World Juniors all-time gold count, with 20, at the end of 2025?

Canada had 20 golds but might have had more: in 1987 its team was thrown out, along with its opponents, after a 20-minute brawl that officials tried to stop by turning off the lights.

Which country won the first four official World Junior hockey championships, 1977 to 1980?

The Soviet Union's run survived even a 16-year-old Wayne Gretzky, who topped the scoring in 1978 but left with bronze; Sweden finally ended the streak in 1981.

The Hawaii Bowl is typically played on or near which day?

Christmas Eve became its slot after two editions on Christmas Day itself: owner ESPN had acquired the NBA's Christmas games and moved the bowl out of their way.

The Four Hills ski-jumping tournament is shared each New Year between Germany and which country?

Austria stages the last two jumps, at Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, after two in Germany; in 2006 Janne Ahonen and Jakub Janda finished all four exactly level on points and shared the title.

Who was the first ski jumper to win all four Four Hills events in one edition, in 2001-02?

Sven Hannawald's sweep came in the tournament's 50th edition and went unmatched for 16 years; by 2004 he was being treated for burnout, and he retired the next year.

The PDC World Darts Championship has been held at which London venue since 2008?

Alexandra Palace took over from the Circus Tavern, an Essex cabaret club that had staged every championship since 1994, and demand keeps growing: a bigger hall will lift capacity to 5,000 from 2027.

Who won 14 PDC World Darts Championships?

Phil Taylor lost the very first final, in 1994, to Dennis Priestley, then beat him in four later finals on the way to 14 titles, the last in 2013.

The NHL Winter Classic is played outdoors on or around which day?

New Year's Day is the traditional slot, and playing outdoors brings quirks: when sun glare or wind favours one end, the teams swap ends midway through the third period.

Which two teams played the first Winter Classic in 2008?

Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins played through falling snow before 71,217 fans at the Bills' NFL stadium, and Sidney Crosby won it for the visitors in a shootout.

Which team won the 1965 NFL Championship Game at Lambeau Field the weekend after Christmas?

It was played on January 2, 1966, in the mud and snow.

Which now-defunct college bowl game was traditionally played on Christmas Day?

The Aloha Bowl kicked off on Christmas morning in Honolulu for most of its 1982–2000 run, then lost its sponsor in a corporate merger and its certification during a planned move to San Francisco.

Which player had played a record 20 NBA Christmas Day games through 2025?

LeBron James is a holiday regular because the league builds the day around its biggest stars rather than fixed hosts, and in 2021 he also passed Kobe Bryant as the leading Christmas scorer.

How many Christmas Day games had the Knicks played through 2025, the most of any NBA team?

Their 26-32 holiday record through 2025 includes the most wins of any team; the 2025 game beat Cleveland 126-124.

The modern Boxing Day Test tradition began with the Third Test of which Ashes series, squeezed into a six-Test schedule?

No Melbourne Test had been played on Boxing Day between 1953 and 1967; the Australian board formalised the fixture in 1980.

Since 2020, the Boxing Day Test's best player has received a medal named after which Indigenous cricketer?

Johnny Mullagh starred for the Aboriginal team that toured overseas in 1868; later, told during a match to eat his lunch in the kitchen, he refused and sat outside the hotel in protest.

Which yacht had taken Sydney to Hobart line honours a record nine times through 2025?

Wild Oats XI won four in a row from 2005 to 2008, the first yacht ever to do so, and in her debut race took line honours, the handicap prize and the race record together.

Which trophy goes to the overall handicap winner of the Sydney to Hobart race?

The Tattersall Cup goes to the handicap winner, so it can go to a small boat rather than the giant that reaches Hobart first: in the deadly 1998 race a 35-footer, AFR Midnight Rambler, took it.

Which jockey, later a bestselling crime novelist, rode the 1949 Welsh Grand National winner?

Dick Francis won on Fighting Line, but he is better remembered for losing: in the 1956 Grand National his mount Devon Loch, owned by the Queen Mother, fell on the run-in with the race won.

Boxing Day is one of the main dates in which sporting calendar in the UK, with meets often held in town centres?

Hunting packs still meet on Boxing Day, but since 2005 the law across Britain has barred them from chasing foxes with hounds, so hunts say they follow scent trails laid in advance.

Fans of which NFL team famously pelted Santa Claus with snowballs at Franklin Field in December 1968?

Philadelphia Eagles fans, soured by a losing season, booed a stand-in Santa at halftime, and he reckoned more than 100 snowballs hit him.

The Christmas morning swimming race in London's Serpentine lake awards a cup named after which J. M. Barrie character?

Peter Pan gave his name to the cup when his creator, J. M. Barrie, presented it to the winner of a 100-yard race held every Christmas morning since 1864.

In which motorsport is the column of starting lights between the two lanes known as a Christmas tree?

Drag racing counts both drivers down with a Christmas tree of amber, green and red bulbs, and leaving before the green earns a red-light foul.

Which boxer became the first Black world heavyweight champion by beating Tommy Burns in Sydney on Boxing Day 1908?

Jack Johnson had trailed the champion around the world for two years, taunting him in the press, before Burns finally agreed to the fight.

Which Houston-born singer headlined the halftime show when her home-town Texans played on Christmas Day 2024?

Beyoncé performed at the Texans' stadium in her home city, in what was billed as the first halftime show staged for an NFL Christmas Day game.

Which baseball great, MLB's career stolen-base leader, was born on Christmas Day 1958 in the back seat of a car?

Rickey Henderson arrived in the back of an Oldsmobile on the way to a Chicago hospital, then grew up to steal a modern-record 130 bases in 1982.

Which Pittsburgh Pirates great died in a plane crash on the last day of 1972 while flying earthquake aid to Nicaragua?

Roberto Clemente had chartered the overloaded DC-7 himself, and it went down in the sea moments after takeoff from Puerto Rico.

In ten-pin bowling, three strikes in a row are known by the name of which festive roast bird?

Turkey is the bowler's word for three straight strikes, and the flock grows from there: nine in a row is a golden turkey.

Which streaming service signed a three-year deal to show NFL games on Christmas Day, starting with two in 2024?

Netflix won the Christmas games only months after the league had said it would skip a Wednesday Christmas, a stance it reversed in March 2024.

Which Australian leg-spinner became the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets, on Boxing Day 2006 in Melbourne?

Shane Warne reached the mark in front of his home crowd by bowling England's Andrew Strauss, in the second-last Test of his career.

Which New Orleans Saints running back tied an NFL record for rushing touchdowns in one game on Christmas Day 2020?

Alvin Kamara matched a mark that had stood alone since 1929, when Ernie Nevers scored every one of the Chicago Cardinals' 40 points in a game.

Which manager, hired several separate times by the New York Yankees, died in a road accident on Christmas Day 1989?

Billy Martin was still a special consultant to owner George Steinbrenner when the low-speed crash killed him in upstate New York.

Which Hall of Fame fullback of the unbeaten 1972 Miami Dolphins was born on Christmas Day 1946?

Larry Csonka helped the Dolphins go 17-0, then ran for a then-record 145 yards a year later to be named Super Bowl MVP.

Which Oakland Raiders quarterback nicknamed Snake, a Super Bowl XI winner, was born on Christmas Day 1945?

Ken Stabler picked up the nickname in high school, when his coach watched him weave a long, winding touchdown run.

Which Brazilian winger, born on Christmas Day 1944, scored in every match of the 1970 World Cup?

Jairzinho earned the nickname World Cup Hurricane for the feat, having taken over the right wing from his footballing idol for club and country.

Which England captain, born on Christmas Day 1984, was the first opening batsman to pass 12,000 Test runs?

Alastair Cook had been only the second opener to reach even 10,000, following India's Sunil Gavaskar, and he was knighted after his final Test.

Which club, recognised by FIFA as the world's oldest, played Hallam on Boxing Day 1860 in football's oldest fixture?

Sheffield FC, founded in October 1857, still meet their near neighbours in a local derby known as the Rules derby.

Which London club beat Ipswich Town 10–1 on Boxing Day 1963, when ten top-flight games produced 66 goals?

Fulham's Graham Leggat scored three of the ten in about three minutes, a top-flight hat-trick record that stood until Sadio Mané beat it in 2015.

Which women's football team from Preston drew 53,000 fans to Goodison Park on Boxing Day 1920?

Dick, Kerr Ladies set a crowd record for women's club football that lasted 98 years, yet within a year the FA had barred women from its clubs' grounds.

Which front-running grey steeplechaser of the late 1980s won Boxing Day's King George VI Chase four times?

Desert Orchid was adored by racegoers for his attacking style and iron will, and for a versatility that is rare in a top chaser.

The trophy for the PDC World Darts Championship, held each Christmas season, is named after which late commentator?

Sid Waddell, nicknamed the Voice of Darts, also wrote the children's football drama Jossy's Giants; the trophy took his name after his death in 2012.

Which English teenager became PDC world darts champion at just 17 by beating Michael van Gerwen in the final?

Luke Littler had reached the previous final as a 16-year-old debutant and 66/1 outsider, lost it, and came straight back to win.

Which player became the first woman to beat a man at darts' PDC World Championship, defeating Ted Evetts?

Fallon Sherrock followed the upset by becoming the first woman to reach the final of a televised PDC event, at the Nordic Darts Masters.

Which Dutch darts star threw the first nine-dart finish in PDC World Championship history, against Jelle Klaasen?

Raymond van Barneveld closed the perfect leg on treble 20, treble 19 and double 12, and it earned him a £20,000 bonus.

Which California city is home to college football's Holiday Bowl, a late-December fixture first played in 1978?

San Diego kept the game at its main football stadium until 2019, later moving it into the Padres' ballpark, Petco Park, and then to the stadium built on the old site.

Which Christmas plant gave its name to a college football bowl game originally played each December from 2005 to 2016?

Poinsettia Bowl organisers also ran the older Holiday Bowl, and a Mountain West Conference team played in every one of those twelve games.

Which California city's Tournament of Roses added a football game in 1902 that grew into the Rose Bowl?

Pasadena added the game to help pay for its flower parade, but it was so one-sided that organisers ran chariot and ostrich races for the next thirteen years.

Which Alabama city hosted the Blue–Gray Football Classic, a college all-star game often played on Christmas Day?

Montgomery staged all but the last edition at the Cramton Bowl, and from 1979 the game sat on Christmas Day to catch a big television audience.

Which ice sport draws bumper Swedish crowds for traditional Saint Stephen's Day games on the day after Christmas?

Bandy fans in Sweden call the fixtures annandagsbandy, after annandagen, the second day of Christmas, and they always outdraw ordinary games.

Which college football venue, nicknamed the Big House, hosted the 2014 NHL Winter Classic before over 105,000 fans?

Michigan Stadium sold an NHL-record 105,491 tickets for the Red Wings against the Maple Leafs, an outdoor game first scheduled for a year earlier.

Which NHL team drew 3–3 with the Soviet Red Army club on New Year's Eve 1975 despite outshooting them 38–13?

Montreal Canadiens shooters were held off by Vladislav Tretiak in the Soviet net, and the Canadiens went on to lift the Stanley Cup that spring.

The Saint Silvester Road Race, Latin America's top athletics event, is run each New Year's Eve in which city?

São Paulo's race used to start at 11 pm as the old year ran out, until a 1989 overhaul brought it into line with international rules.

The first NBA Christmas Day game staged outside the United States was played in 2019 in which city?

Toronto hosted as the Raptors, then the reigning NBA champions, lost 118–102 to the Boston Celtics at Scotiabank Arena.

Why did the NBA's 2011–12 regular season begin on Christmas Day rather than in the autumn?

A labor lockout pushed the start back from November, so Christmas doubled as opening day and each team's schedule shrank from 82 games to 66.

Which rookie centre helped the New York Knicks rally from 25 points down to beat Boston on Christmas Day 1985?

Patrick Ewing was in his first NBA season, and although injuries cut it short he was still voted Rookie of the Year.

Which gruelling off-road motor race first set off from Paris on the day after Christmas 1978?

Dakar Rally founder Thierry Sabine dreamed up the race after getting lost in the sands of the Ténéré while competing in an earlier event.

Which soccer formation, adopted by AC Milan in the later 2000s, is commonly nicknamed the Christmas tree?

4–3–2–1 earns the name from its tapering shape: four defenders, three midfielders, then two forwards tucked in behind a lone striker.

Sydney's New Year Test turns pink each January to support a breast cancer charity founded by which fast bowler?

Glenn McGrath and his English-born wife Jane set up the foundation after her first diagnosis, and the match has carried its pink theme since 2009.

Which Broncos receiver, born on Christmas Day 1987, caught Tim Tebow's 80-yard overtime touchdown to beat Pittsburgh?

Demaryius Thomas scored on the very first play of overtime in that playoff game, and went on to win Super Bowl 50 with Denver.

Which Scottish midfielder, born on Christmas Day 1964, won a cup treble with Liverpool in 2000–01 at the age of 36?

Gary McAllister settled that season's Merseyside derby with a 44-yard free kick deep in stoppage time, and scored a penalty winner against Barcelona.

Which Chicago White Sox second baseman, born on Christmas Day 1927, was the American League MVP in 1959?

Nellie Fox led the White Sox to their first pennant in 40 years that season, and was famously hard to strike out, fanning just 216 times in his career.

Which Charlton Athletic goalkeeper stayed at his post in thick fog on Christmas Day 1937, unaware play had stopped?

Sam Bartram kept guard at Stamford Bridge until a policeman loomed out of the murk to tell him play against Chelsea had stopped a quarter of an hour earlier.

Which US network aired the first nationally televised NBA Christmas Day game, a Lakers–Rockets matchup in 1967?

ABC broadcast that game half a century before it aired its first Christmas Day tripleheader of NBA games, in 2017.

Japan's New Year university relay race, run every January 2 and 3, goes from Tokyo to which lakeside town and back?

Hakone is the turning point of the ekiden, a ten-leg race first run in 1920 whose opening day ends with a mountain climb to Lake Ashi.

Which Texas border city has hosted the Sun Bowl, a late-December college football game first played in 1935?

El Paso's game ranks with the Sugar and Orange Bowls as the second-oldest bowl in the country, behind only the Rose Bowl.

Which Pittsburgh Steelers receiver stretched the ball over the goal line to beat Baltimore on Christmas Day 2016?

Antonio Brown's winning touchdown was dubbed the Immaculate Extension, because he was stood up at the one-yard line and had to reach the ball across.

Which sportswear company made the special uniforms NBA teams wore for Christmas Day games between 2012 and 2016?

Adidas gave each year's set a theme, from single-colour Big Color kits to the chrome-treated badges of the Big Logo designs.

England opener Marcus Trescothick, born on Christmas Day 1975, played for and later captained which county cricket club?

Somerset gave him his first-class debut in 1993 and made him captain from 2010 to 2016, after a 76-Test England career.

Which guard, born on Christmas Day 1988, won both the NBA Sixth Man award and the Three-Point Contest in 2017?

Eric Gordon edged out Kyrie Irving for the shooting title, then became the first Houston Rockets player to be named Sixth Man of the Year.

Which 19th-century pitcher, born on Christmas Day 1856, became the first 300-game winner in the major leagues?

Pud Galvin reached the milestone in 1888, but had to wait until 1965, long after his death, to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.