1990 in sports
 |
1990 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
| Years in sports: | 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s |
| Years: | 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 |
- Alpine Skiing World Cup
- Men's overall season champion: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland
- January 1 - Miami Hurricanes win 1989 college football national championship, won 33-25 over Alabama Crimson Tide at Sugar Bowl
- January 28 - Super Bowl XXIV - San Francisco 49ers won 55-10 over the Denver Broncos
- November 11 - Derrick Thomas has 7 sacks for Kansas City Chiefs against Seattle Seahawks.
- West Germany won the Football World Cup in Rome, Italy, defeating defending champion Argentina 1-0 in the final.
- Ecuador - Ecuadorian Serie A Champions: Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito
- 1990 Commonwealth Games held in Auckland, New Zealand
- 1990 European Championships in Athletics held in Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
- Australian Football League
- The Victorian Football League is renamed the Australian Football League
- Collingwood wins the 94th AFL premiership (Collingwood 13.11 (89) d Essendon 5.11 (41))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Tony Liberatore (Footscray)
- June 11 - Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitched a no-hitter against the Oakland Athletics.
- The Cincinnati Reds sweep the Oakland A's in the World Series.
- Ira Smith becomes the first player in NCAA history to win consecutive batting titles after hitting .519 with the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks.
NBA Finals
- Detroit Pistons win four games to one over the Portland Trail Blazers
National Basketball League (Australia) Finals
- Perth Wildcats defeated the Brisbane Bullets 2-1 in the best-of-three final series.
Events
- Erica Jiles AkA All-City of Indianapolis, Indiana
- UNLV wins the NCAA Men's Division I championship
- Yugoslavia wins the FIBA World Championship.
- February 11 – Buster Douglas defeated Mike Tyson by a knockout in round 10 to win the world's unified Heavyweight title, in what many consider boxing's biggest upset ever.
- March 31 – Thunder Meets Lightning: Julio César Chávez defeated Meldrick Taylor to unify boxing's world junior welterweight title
- September 22 to October 7 – Asian Games held in Beijing, PR China
- November 24 to December 3 – Central American and Caribbean Games held in Mexico City
- Grey Cup – Winnipeg Blue Bombers 50-11 over the Edmonton Eskimos
- Vanier Cup – Saskatchewan Huskies win 24-21 over the St. Mary's Huskies
- Giro d'Italia won by Gianni Bugno of Italy
- Tour de France - Greg LeMond of the United States
- UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race – Rudy Dhaenens of Belgium
- Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion –
- Susan Butcher won with lead dogs: Sluggo & Lightning
- Phil Taylor (darts player) wins his first world title
- Men's World Cup held in Lahore won by the Netherlands
- Men's Champions Trophy held in Melbourne won by Australia
- Women's World Cup held in Sydney won by the Netherlands
- World Figure Skating Championships –
- Men's champion: Kurt Browning, Canada
- Ladies' champion: Jill Trenary, United States
- Pair skating champions: Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov, Soviet Union
- Ice dancing champions: Marina Klimova / Sergei Ponomarenko, Soviet Union
- Camogie
- Gaelic football
- All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – Cork 0-11 died Meath 0-9
- National Football League – Meath 2-7 died Down 0-11
- Ladies' Gaelic football
- Hurling
- All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship – Cork 5-15 died Galway 2-21
- National Hurling League –
Men's professional
- Masters Tournament - Nick Faldo
- U.S. Open - Hale Irwin
- British Open - Nick Faldo
- PGA Championship - Wayne Grady
- PGA Tour money leader - Greg Norman - $1,165,477
- Senior PGA Tour money leader - Lee Trevino - $1,190,518
Men's amateur
Women's professional
- Nabisco Dinah Shore - Betsy King
- U.S. Women's Open - Betsy King
- LPGA Championship - Beth Daniel
- Classique du Maurier - Cathy Johnston-Forbes
- LPGA Tour money leader - Beth Daniel - $863,578
- The inaugural Solheim Cup match was won by the United States who beat Europe 11½ - 4½
- North America Cup - Apaches Fame
- United States Pacing Triple Crown races –
- United States Trotting Triple Crown races –
- Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
- Pacers: Thorate
- Trotters: Real Force
Steeplechases
Flat races
- Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Kingston Rule
- Canadian Triple Crown Races:
- Queen's Plate – Izvestia
- Prince of Wales Stakes – Izvestia
- Breeders' Stakes – Izvestia
- For the second straight year, a horse sweeps the series.
- France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Saumarez
- Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Salsabil
- Japan – Japan Cup won by Better Loosen Up
- English Triple Crown Races:
- United States Triple Crown Races:
- Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships:
- Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
- Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Mark Messier, Edmonton Oilers
- Stanley Cup – Edmonton Oilers won 4 games to 1 over the Boston Bruins
- World Hockey Championship
- Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden
- Junior Men's champion: Canada defeated russia
- Women's champion: in the inaugural event, Canada defeated United States
- The 6th World Lacrosse Championship is held in Perth, Australia. The United States win, and Canada is the runner-up.
- The Philadelphia Wings beat the New England Blazers 17-7 in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League Championship.
- The Brooklin Redmen win the Mann Cup.
- Orangeville wins the Founders Cup.
- The St. Catharines Athletics win the Minto Cup.
- Stock car racing –
- CART Racing - Al Unser, Jr. won the season championship
- Indianapolis 500 - Arie Luyendyk of the Netherlands
- Formula One Championship - Ayrton Senna of Brazil
- 24 hours of Le Mans –
- won by the team of John Nielsen / Price Cobb / Martin Brundle driving a Jaguar XJR-12.
- Rally racing - Carlos Sainz in a Toyota won the World Rally Championship
- the team of Didier Auriol/Bernard Occelli won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Delta HF Integrale
- Drag racing - Joe Amato won the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.
- The first World Radiosport Team Championship held in Seattle, Washington, US Gold medals won by John Dorr K1AR and Doug Grant K1DG of the United States.
- Fifth Amateur Radio Direction Finding World Championship held in Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia.
- 1990–91 French Championship season
- 1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France
- 1990 New Zealand rugby league season
- 1990 NSWRL season
- 1990 Pacific Cup
- 1989–90 Rugby Football League season / 1990–91 Rugby Football League season
- 1990 State of Origin series
- 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup
- 96th Five Nations Championship series is won by Scotland who complete the Grand Slam
- World Snooker Championship – Stephen Hendry beats Jimmy White 18-12
- World rankings – Stephen Hendry becomes world number one for 1990/91
- March 24 – Tom Jager betters his own world record (22.12) in the 50m freestyle (long course) twice at a swimming meet in Nashville, Tennessee, swimming 21.98 in the heats and 21.81 in the final.
- Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
- Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
- Davis Cup – United States won 3-2 over Australia in world tennis.
- ITU World Championships held in Orlando, United States
- ETU European Championships held in Linz, Austria
- FIVB World League 1990 held in Osaka, Japan won by Italy
- 1990 FIVB Men's World Championship held in Rio de Janeiro won by Italy
- 1990 FIVB Women's World Championship held in Beijing won by USSR
- Asian Games held in Beijing, China
- Winter Asian Games held in Sapporo, Japan
- Central American and Caribbean Games held in Mexico City, Mexico
- Commonwealth Games held in Auckland
- Summer Goodwill Games held in Seattle, United States
Awards
- Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Joe Montana, National Football League
- Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Beth Daniel, LPGA golf
- BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year – Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league footballer