Sports Predictions Competition 2026

[sportsmeister]

Which team will win the Championship play off final?

Options and number of selections

Ipswich – 25
Middlesbrough – 10
Wrexham – 10
Hull – 5*
Millwall – 4*
Bristol City – 3*
Derby – 2*
Birmingham – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

Let's have a look at the latest standings in the Championship promotion race

(Coventry) 71pts
Middlesbrough 63
--------------
Millwall 62
Ipswich 60
Hull 60
Wrexham 57
---------------
(Southampton) 53
Derby 51
(Watford) 51
Bristol City 50
Birmingham 49

Coventry, Ipswich and Middlesbrough are the bookies favourites for promotion with Bristol City ranked as the outsiders

Coventry and Middlesbrough are maintaining their push for automatic promotion whilst Southampton have sneaked into the play off position and Bristol City's form has dropped off a cliff

Most teams now have 7 matches left to play

1. (Coventry) 80pts
2. Middlesbrough 71
--------------
3. Ipswich 69
4. Millwall 69
5. Hull 66
6. (Southampton) 63
---------------
7. Wrexham 63
8. Derby 60
11. Birmingham 53
16. Bristol City 51

Just 2 games to go now although Ipswich have a game in hand; Birmingham and Bristol City can now longer make the play offs but all other selections are still in with a chance

1. (Coventry) 89pts
2. Ipswich 79
--------------
3. Millwall 79
4. (Southampton) 76
5. Middlesbrough 76
6. Wrexham 70
---------------
7. Hull 70
8. Derby 66
10. Birmingham 60
12. Bristol City 59

Ahead of the Championship finale on Saturday lunchtime, Southampton are the only team definitely confirmed in the play offs. Contesting promotion are Ipswich (in pole position), Millwall and Middlesbrough with the 2 missing out on automatic promotion going straight into the play offs. The final play off berth will be claimed by either Wrexham, Hull and Derby.

The play off places were claimed by Millwall, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Hull

After a goalless first leg Hull won 2-0 at Millwall whilst Southampton and Middlesbrough also played out a goalless first leg with their second leg finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes before a late ET winner for Southampton

Hull and Southampton will contest the final

With no selections for Southampton, the 5 selections for Hull are guaranteed to pick up the points on the countback rule

[sportsmeister]

Which team will win the NBA Finals?

Options and number of selections

Oklahoma City Thunder – 43
Boston Celtics – 5*
Denver Nuggets – 5*
Cleveland Cavaliers – 2*
Detroit Pistons – 2*
Los Angeles Lakers – 1**
Atlanta Hawks – 1**
Golden State Warriors – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

Approaching the end of the regular season, the much fancied Oklahoma City Thunder are leading the way with a near 0.800 PCT whilst 10 teams have been officially eliminated

Latest positions are


E11P78.PNG

Notes

z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
pi – Clinched play-in tournament spot (locked into a play-in spot but not able to clinch a playoff spot directly)
ps – Clinched postseason (at least a play-in spot but can still clinch a playoff spot directly)
x – Clinched playoff spot
o – Eliminated from postseason contention
* – Division leader

The good news is that all of our selections have made it to the post season although Golden State Warriors will need to negotiate the play in tournament in order to reach the first round of the play offs - LA Clippers and then Phoenix/Portland will stand in their way.

The play off picture is as follows


E11POR1.PNG

Golden State squeezed through the first round but were easily beaten by Phoenix to be the first team eliminated in this category

Completed first round matchups

New York 4-2 Atlanta
Oklahoma City 4-0 Phoenix
Denver 2-4 Minnesota
San Antonio 4-1 Portland

with the following matchups still very much in the balance

Detroit 2-3 Orlando
Cleveland 3-2 Toronto
Boston 3-3 Philadelphia
LA Lakers 3-2 Houston

Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and LA Lakers were the ones to make it through the undecided series.

Latest scores in the 2nd round are

Detroit 1-0 Cleveland
New York 1-0 Philadelphia
Oklahoma City 1-0 LA Lakers
Minnesota 1-0 San Antonio

New York and Oklahoma City completed 4-0 routs whilst San Antonio beat Minnesota 4-2 and Cleveland beat Detroit in a deciding match

The conference final match ups are

New York vs Cleveland
Oklahoma City vs San Antonio

[sportsmeister]

Which team will win the Championship play off final?

Options and number of selections

Ipswich – 25
Middlesbrough – 10
Wrexham – 10
Hull – 5*
Millwall – 4*
Bristol City – 3*
Derby – 2*
Birmingham – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

Let's have a look at the latest standings in the Championship promotion race

(Coventry) 71pts
Middlesbrough 63
--------------
Millwall 62
Ipswich 60
Hull 60
Wrexham 57
---------------
(Southampton) 53
Derby 51
(Watford) 51
Bristol City 50
Birmingham 49

Coventry, Ipswich and Middlesbrough are the bookies favourites for promotion with Bristol City ranked as the outsiders

Coventry and Middlesbrough are maintaining their push for automatic promotion whilst Southampton have sneaked into the play off position and Bristol City's form has dropped off a cliff

Most teams now have 7 matches left to play

1. (Coventry) 80pts
2. Middlesbrough 71
--------------
3. Ipswich 69
4. Millwall 69
5. Hull 66
6. (Southampton) 63
---------------
7. Wrexham 63
8. Derby 60
11. Birmingham 53
16. Bristol City 51

Just 2 games to go now although Ipswich have a game in hand; Birmingham and Bristol City can now longer make the play offs but all other selections are still in with a chance

1. (Coventry) 89pts
2. Ipswich 79
--------------
3. Millwall 79
4. (Southampton) 76
5. Middlesbrough 76
6. Wrexham 70
---------------
7. Hull 70
8. Derby 66
10. Birmingham 60
12. Bristol City 59

Ahead of the Championship finale on Saturday lunchtime, Southampton are the only team definitely confirmed in the play offs. Contesting promotion are Ipswich (in pole position), Millwall and Middlesbrough with the 2 missing out on automatic promotion going straight into the play offs. The final play off berth will be claimed by either Wrexham, Hull and Derby.

The play off places were claimed by Millwall, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Hull

After a goalless first leg Hull won 2-0 at Millwall whilst Southampton and Middlesbrough also played out a goalless first leg with their second leg finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes before a late ET winner for Southampton

Hull and Southampton will contest the final

With no selections for Southampton, the 5 selections for Hull are guaranteed to pick up the points on the countback rule

Scrap that - Southampton are expelled from the play offs after a bit of espionage with Middlesbrough reinstated.

The final is now Hull vs Middlesbrough - Game on.

[sportsmeister]

Who will finish as runners-up at the Premier League Darts?

Options and number of selections

Luke Humphries – 39
Gian van Veen – 10
Luke Littler – 4*
Gerwyn Price – 4*
Michael van Gerwen – 3*

* would be worth one additional bonus point

After 9 of the 16 nights, the table is as follows with all players still in contention to make the final 4

Littler 21 points
Price 19
Clayton 19
van Gerwen 13
------------------
van Veen 12
Humphries 11
Bunting 9
Rock 4

With just the final night of the regular season left, the play off positions are fully sewn up; Luke Littler with 6 wins will top the table while Jonny Clayton with 4 wins will finish second. The final 2 places go to Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries although this week's result will determine who finishes 3rd and 4th.

[sportsmeister]

Who, from the listed options, will win the Wimbledon Men's Singles title?

Options and number of selections

Carlos Alcaraz – 33
Jannik Sinner – 19
Any Other Player – 8

Carlos Alcaraz is officially out of Wimbledon with a continuation of his wrist injury so this category will boil down to Sinner vs the field

[forestfan]

And Sinner exits the French, will he be fully fit for Wimbledon?

Women’s Aussie Open champion Rybakina also out in Paris, so we’ll have 4 from 4 unique Grand Slam winners going into SW19.

[sportsmeister]

Who will finish as runners-up at the Premier League Darts?

Options and number of selections

Luke Humphries – 39
Gian van Veen – 10
Luke Littler – 4*
Gerwyn Price – 4*
Michael van Gerwen – 3*

* would be worth one additional bonus point

After 9 of the 16 nights, the table is as follows with all players still in contention to make the final 4

Littler 21 points
Price 19
Clayton 19
van Gerwen 13
------------------
van Veen 12
Humphries 11
Bunting 9
Rock 4

With just the final night of the regular season left, the play off positions are fully sewn up; Luke Littler with 6 wins will top the table while Jonny Clayton with 4 wins will finish second. The final 2 places go to Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries although this week's result will determine who finishes 3rd and 4th.

Both semi finals go to the deciding leg with England beating Wales in both

Its Luke vs Luke going for the title with the loser claiming this category

[sportsmeister]

Who will finish as runners-up at the Premier League Darts?

Options and number of selections

Luke Humphries – 39
Gian van Veen – 10
Luke Littler – 4*
Gerwyn Price – 4*
Michael van Gerwen – 3*

* would be worth one additional bonus point

After 9 of the 16 nights, the table is as follows with all players still in contention to make the final 4

Littler 21 points
Price 19
Clayton 19
van Gerwen 13
------------------
van Veen 12
Humphries 11
Bunting 9
Rock 4

With just the final night of the regular season left, the play off positions are fully sewn up; Luke Littler with 6 wins will top the table while Jonny Clayton with 4 wins will finish second. The final 2 places go to Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries although this week's result will determine who finishes 3rd and 4th.

Both semi finals go to the deciding leg with England beating Wales in both

Its Luke vs Luke going for the title with the loser claiming this category

And the final also went to a deciding leg with Luke Littler (111.67 average) beating Humphries (105.60 average)

There were 39 selections for Luke Humphries to finish runner up earning another 2 points each

[sportsmeister]

Which team will win the NBA Finals?

Options and number of selections

Oklahoma City Thunder – 43
Boston Celtics – 5*
Denver Nuggets – 5*
Cleveland Cavaliers – 2*
Detroit Pistons – 2*
Los Angeles Lakers – 1**
Atlanta Hawks – 1**
Golden State Warriors – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

Approaching the end of the regular season, the much fancied Oklahoma City Thunder are leading the way with a near 0.800 PCT whilst 10 teams have been officially eliminated

Latest positions are


E11P78.PNG

Notes

z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
pi – Clinched play-in tournament spot (locked into a play-in spot but not able to clinch a playoff spot directly)
ps – Clinched postseason (at least a play-in spot but can still clinch a playoff spot directly)
x – Clinched playoff spot
o – Eliminated from postseason contention
* – Division leader

The good news is that all of our selections have made it to the post season although Golden State Warriors will need to negotiate the play in tournament in order to reach the first round of the play offs - LA Clippers and then Phoenix/Portland will stand in their way.

The play off picture is as follows


E11POR1.PNG

Golden State squeezed through the first round but were easily beaten by Phoenix to be the first team eliminated in this category

Completed first round matchups

New York 4-2 Atlanta
Oklahoma City 4-0 Phoenix
Denver 2-4 Minnesota
San Antonio 4-1 Portland

with the following matchups still very much in the balance

Detroit 2-3 Orlando
Cleveland 3-2 Toronto
Boston 3-3 Philadelphia
LA Lakers 3-2 Houston

Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and LA Lakers were the ones to make it through the undecided series.

Latest scores in the 2nd round are

Detroit 1-0 Cleveland
New York 1-0 Philadelphia
Oklahoma City 1-0 LA Lakers
Minnesota 1-0 San Antonio

New York and Oklahoma City completed 4-0 routs whilst San Antonio beat Minnesota 4-2 and Cleveland beat Detroit in a deciding match

The conference final match ups are

New York vs Cleveland
Oklahoma City vs San Antonio

A second in a row 4-0 whitewash for New York over Cleveland sees them into their first NBA Finals since 1999

The other conference final is currently poised at Oklahoma City 3-2 San Antonio

Cleveland's elimination means Oklahoma City are the only selection left

[sportsmeister]

Which team will win the Championship play off final?

Options and number of selections

Ipswich – 25
Middlesbrough – 10
Wrexham – 10
Hull – 5*
Millwall – 4*
Bristol City – 3*
Derby – 2*
Birmingham – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

Let's have a look at the latest standings in the Championship promotion race

(Coventry) 71pts
Middlesbrough 63
--------------
Millwall 62
Ipswich 60
Hull 60
Wrexham 57
---------------
(Southampton) 53
Derby 51
(Watford) 51
Bristol City 50
Birmingham 49

Coventry, Ipswich and Middlesbrough are the bookies favourites for promotion with Bristol City ranked as the outsiders

Coventry and Middlesbrough are maintaining their push for automatic promotion whilst Southampton have sneaked into the play off position and Bristol City's form has dropped off a cliff

Most teams now have 7 matches left to play

1. (Coventry) 80pts
2. Middlesbrough 71
--------------
3. Ipswich 69
4. Millwall 69
5. Hull 66
6. (Southampton) 63
---------------
7. Wrexham 63
8. Derby 60
11. Birmingham 53
16. Bristol City 51

Just 2 games to go now although Ipswich have a game in hand; Birmingham and Bristol City can now longer make the play offs but all other selections are still in with a chance

1. (Coventry) 89pts
2. Ipswich 79
--------------
3. Millwall 79
4. (Southampton) 76
5. Middlesbrough 76
6. Wrexham 70
---------------
7. Hull 70
8. Derby 66
10. Birmingham 60
12. Bristol City 59

Ahead of the Championship finale on Saturday lunchtime, Southampton are the only team definitely confirmed in the play offs. Contesting promotion are Ipswich (in pole position), Millwall and Middlesbrough with the 2 missing out on automatic promotion going straight into the play offs. The final play off berth will be claimed by either Wrexham, Hull and Derby.

The play off places were claimed by Millwall, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Hull

After a goalless first leg Hull won 2-0 at Millwall whilst Southampton and Middlesbrough also played out a goalless first leg with their second leg finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes before a late ET winner for Southampton

Hull and Southampton will contest the final

With no selections for Southampton, the 5 selections for Hull are guaranteed to pick up the points on the countback rule

Scrap that - Southampton are expelled from the play offs after a bit of espionage with Middlesbrough reinstated.

The final is now Hull vs Middlesbrough - Game on.

For the second season in a row, the final was decided by an injury time goal - Oli McBurnie taking Hull back into the Premier League

There were 5 selections for Hull which is enough to qualify for a bonus point making a total of 3

[sportsmeister]

Which team will win the NBA Finals?

Options and number of selections

Oklahoma City Thunder – 43
Boston Celtics – 5*
Denver Nuggets – 5*
Cleveland Cavaliers – 2*
Detroit Pistons – 2*
Los Angeles Lakers – 1**
Atlanta Hawks – 1**
Golden State Warriors – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

Approaching the end of the regular season, the much fancied Oklahoma City Thunder are leading the way with a near 0.800 PCT whilst 10 teams have been officially eliminated

Latest positions are


E11P78.PNG

Notes

z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
pi – Clinched play-in tournament spot (locked into a play-in spot but not able to clinch a playoff spot directly)
ps – Clinched postseason (at least a play-in spot but can still clinch a playoff spot directly)
x – Clinched playoff spot
o – Eliminated from postseason contention
* – Division leader

The good news is that all of our selections have made it to the post season although Golden State Warriors will need to negotiate the play in tournament in order to reach the first round of the play offs - LA Clippers and then Phoenix/Portland will stand in their way.

The play off picture is as follows


E11POR1.PNG

Golden State squeezed through the first round but were easily beaten by Phoenix to be the first team eliminated in this category

Completed first round matchups

New York 4-2 Atlanta
Oklahoma City 4-0 Phoenix
Denver 2-4 Minnesota
San Antonio 4-1 Portland

with the following matchups still very much in the balance

Detroit 2-3 Orlando
Cleveland 3-2 Toronto
Boston 3-3 Philadelphia
LA Lakers 3-2 Houston

Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and LA Lakers were the ones to make it through the undecided series.

Latest scores in the 2nd round are

Detroit 1-0 Cleveland
New York 1-0 Philadelphia
Oklahoma City 1-0 LA Lakers
Minnesota 1-0 San Antonio

New York and Oklahoma City completed 4-0 routs whilst San Antonio beat Minnesota 4-2 and Cleveland beat Detroit in a deciding match

The conference final match ups are

New York vs Cleveland
Oklahoma City vs San Antonio

A second in a row 4-0 whitewash for New York over Cleveland sees them into their first NBA Finals since 1999

The other conference final is currently poised at Oklahoma City 3-2 San Antonio

Cleveland's elimination means Oklahoma City are the only selection left

San Antonio won Games 6 and 7 to advance to the NBA Finals at the expense of defending champions Oklahoma City

With no selections in the final, the losing conference finalists, Cleveland and Oklahoma City take reduced points on the countback rule

Oklahoma City were a very popular selection with 43 picks all earning 1 point whilst there were only 2 picks for Cleveland earning 2 points including 1 point for a less popular selection

[sportsmeister]

How many different players (both male and female) will win a Grand Slam tennis singles title during 2026?

Options and number of selections

3 – 2*
4 – 5*
5 – 35
6 – 18

* would be worth one additional bonus point

A quick update from back in January where Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina were crowned champions in the first Grand Slam event in Australia

Carlos Alcaraz has been ruled out of the French Open

Elena Rybakina was dumped out of the French Open in the first week as was hot favourite, Jannik Sinner in the Men's draw

The number of different GS winners was already guaranteed to increase to 4 as Mirra Andreeva and Alexander Zverev were crowned the French Open champions

[sportsmeister]

Which England bowler will take the most wickets during the summer's 6 Test matches?

Options and number of selections

Josh Tongue – 26
Gus Atkinson – 12
Brydon Carse – 10
Jofra Archer – 7
Ben Stokes – 3*
Liam Dawson – 1**
Mark Wood – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

After the 1st Test vs New Zealand, Ollie Robinson, the previously out of favour by both the England selectors and also us, made a strong return to the team on a bowler friendly wickets

Wicket totals after the first Test

(unselected Ollie Robinson) - 7
Gus Atkinson - 7
Josh Tongue - 5
Ben Stokes -1

[sportsmeister]

At which of the 3 Grand Tours will a GB cyclist record the best General Classification finish?

Options and number of selections

Giro d’Italia – 34
Vuelta a Espana – 16
Tour de France – 10

There were 10 GB cyclists entered into the Giro and were only featured in the top 10 after the first stage. Only 4 of the 10 finished the race with Mark Donovan best placed in 38th place.

Surely this mark can be beaten in the remaining 2 Grand Tours?

[sportsmeister]

In which World Cup group will the most goals be scored?

Options and number of selections

A – 0
B – 1**
C – 10
D – 2*
E – 13
F – 1**
G – 1**
H – 19
I – 5*
J – 1**
K – 4*
L – 3*

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

After 2 rounds of matches the group goal tallies are

A – 8
B – 15
C – 7
D – 10
E – 12
F – 20
G – 10
H – 10
I – 17
J – 12
K – 12
L – 8

[sportsmeister]

At which of the listed racing festivals will Oisin Murphy ride the most winners?

Options and number of selections

Glorious Goodwood – 27
Royal Ascot – 26
Tie – 7

After 4 days at Royal Ascot, Oisin Murphy had failed to register a winner but finally redeemed himself with 1 winner on the final day.

Surely he can better that total at Glorious Goodwood?

[sportsmeister]

In which World Cup group will the most goals be scored?

Options and number of selections

A – 0
B – 1**
C – 10
D – 2*
E – 13
F – 1**
G – 1**
H – 19
I – 5*
J – 1**
K – 4*
L – 3*

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

After 2 rounds of matches the group goal tallies are

A – 8
B – 15
C – 7
D – 10
E – 12
F – 20
G – 10
H – 10
I – 17
J – 12
K – 12
L – 8

The final goal tally at the end of the group stage is

A – 12
B – 22
C – 16
D – 15
E – 17
F – 26
G – 18
H – 11
I – 27
J – 22
K – 16
L – 13

An injury goal from France was enough to move Group I one goal ahead of Group F

There were 5 selections for Group I, all rewarded with 3 points (including one bonus point)

[sportsmeister]

At which stage will host nation, United States, be eliminated from the World Cup?

Options and number of selections

Eliminated at Group Stage – 3*
Lose in Round of 32 – 16
Lose in Round of 16 – 37
Lose in Quarter Finals – 4*

* would be worth one additional bonus point

United States topped their group and advance to the round of 32 where their opponents will be Bosnia & Herzegovina

The 3 selections for out at the group stage are now eliminated

[sportsmeister]

Which country will win the FIFA World Cup?

Options and number of selections

Spain – 21
England – 14
France – 13
Brazil – 8
Argentina – 4*

* would be worth one additional bonus point

As the semi finals begin, only Brazil have been eliminated so no need to go to countback rules for this category

[sportsmeister]

At which stage will host nation, United States, be eliminated from the World Cup?

Options and number of selections

Eliminated at Group Stage – 3*
Lose in Round of 32 – 16
Lose in Round of 16 – 37
Lose in Quarter Finals – 4*

* would be worth one additional bonus point

United States topped their group and advance to the round of 32 where their opponents will be Bosnia & Herzegovina

The 3 selections for out at the group stage are now eliminated

After easing past Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium were the next opponents for United States in the round of 16 - United States must have wished that Belgium were as accommodating as the FIFA discplinary panel as the scoreline of 4-1 ensured United States were eliminated from their home World Cup.

There were 37 selections for the round of 16 exit earning a regulation 2 points each

[sportsmeister]

Who, from the listed options, will win the Wimbledon Men's Singles title?

Options and number of selections

Carlos Alcaraz – 33
Jannik Sinner – 19
Any Other Player – 8

Carlos Alcaraz is officially out of Wimbledon with a continuation of his wrist injury so this category will boil down to Sinner vs the field

Sinner survived a 5 set scare in the first round and then didn't lose another set until the final where Zverev was able to claim a tiebreak set but was unable to resist the defending champion beyond that.

There were 19 selections for Jannik Sinner to retain his title earning a further 2 points

[sportsmeister]

Which player will be best placed American (no exclusions this year) at the Open?

Options and number of selections

Scottie Scheffler – 42
Bryson DeChambeau – 4*
Xander Schauffele – 3*
Patrick Cantlay – 3*
Cameron Young – 2*
Max Homa – 2*
Sam Burns – 1**
Lucas Glover – 1**
Billy Horschel – 1**
Akshay Bhatia, Keegan Bradley, Wyndham Clark, Eric Cole, Nick Dunlap, Austin Eckroat, Harris English, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Max Greyserman, Ben Griffin, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Tom Hoge, Chris Kirk, Kurt Kitayama, Denny McCarthy, Matthew McCarty, Maverick McNealy, Collin Morikawa, JT Poston, Jordan Spieth, Sahith Theegala, Justin Thomas, Davis Thompson, Will Zalatoris – no selections
Any Other Player – 1**

* would be worth one additional bonus point
** would be worth 2 additional bonus points

From the named selections, only Lucas Glover has failed to qualify for the Open which begins on Thursday