Inside Sport: Sports Personality of the Year

As the voting starts for the BBC’s 72nd Sports Personality of the Year awards, we reflect on the standout sporting performances and achievements of 2025. In a year that featured dramatic Ryder Cup golf in New York, a Women’s Rugby World Cup on English soil and, in football, another breathtaking Women’s Euro in Switzerland, there is no shortage of contenders

Tune in to BBC One at 7pm on Thursday 19 December for a star-studded sporting awards ceremony. Ahead of the event, the 2025 SPOTY shortlist is due to be announced in early December. The winner will be determined by a public telephone and online vote. This is very different from the system in 2011, when there was criticism following the selection of an all-male shortlist. However, it wasn’t until tennis star Emma Raducanu took the title in 2021 that we had the first female winner since equestrian Zara Phillips in 2006. Raducanu’s success was followed by Lionesses Beth Mead in 2022 and Mary Earps in 2023, and athletics golden girl Keely Hodgkinson in 2024, when the popularity of women’s sport became clear.

The bookmakers’ 2025 contenders (at the time of going to print) were:

Chloe Kelly – So how do you top a year where you scored the winning goal in the dying minutes of extra time for England in the Euro 2022 final? In 2025, Chloe Kelly left Manchester City for Arsenal in January; was dropped from the England squad in February; then was an integral part of her new club’s Champions League final victory over Barcelona in May. Her consistent form and direct style helped her back into the England side for Euro 2025 in July. Her attitude and team ethic were exemplified by coming off the bench in every game to make a positive impact, scoring the winning goal in the semi-final and the decisive winning penalty in the final. The new queen of the Lionesses’ pride was born! A third Lioness in four years to win SPOTY 2025? As Chloe might say, “Pressure? What pressure?”. Odds: 8/5

Rory McIlroy – An incredible year for the Northern Irishman saw him finally win the Masters in April, the last long-overdue major that has eluded him since first competing in 2009. Seven top-10 finishes at Augusta in that time have seen Rory experience every possible emotion: the disappointment of missed cuts, exhilarating late charges through the field in vain, and painful final-round collapses. Many doubted he would ever don the iconic green jacket and complete his career Grand Slam, yet he managed it. In September, McIlroy played a starring role in Europe’s thrilling away Ryder Cup success in front of a hostile New York gallery, securing a vital three-and-a-half points out of four in his pairs matches. In addition to wins at The Players Championship, the Irish Open and the Race to Dubai, Rory himself recently told The Telegraph Sport: “I suppose if I don’t win it this time, I never will.” Odds: 9/5

Lando Norris – Having this year helped McLaren romp to their second successive Constructors’ Championship, the 26-year-old Bristolian is aiming to become motorsport’s first SPOTY winner since Lewis Hamilton in 2020. As the end of the Formula One season reaches its dramatic conclusion, much will depend on whether its new shining star can secure his first Drivers’ World Championship, turning a dream he has had since first taking his seat in a go-kart as a seven-year-old boy into reality. Overshadowed in the early part of the season by papaya-clad teammate Oscar Piastri, Norris has added a steeliness to his much-loved playful personality, taking the chequered flag seven times in 22 races. Can he hold on in the final corners of the season and win the race to SPOTY glory? Odds: 15/4

Hannah Hampton – Sport often provides us with inspirational stories of how people have fought back in the face of adversity. Born with strabismus (an eye condition that affects depth perception), by the age of three Hampton had experienced as many operations as birthdays at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and is now an ambassador for them. Despite such a challenging start in life, especially for a goalkeeper who relies so much on vision, Hannah battled to become Chelsea’s number one in 2024/25, helping them to the Women’s Super League title unbeaten. In 22 games she kept 13 clean sheets, winning herself the Golden Glove and earning her England’s number-one shirt for the Euro. With added pressure following the retirement of Mary Earps, her performances guided Eng-land to the final. She was player of the match after her two crucial saves in the dramatic penalty shootout. Odds: 50/1

Luke Littler – After bursting onto the scene in January aged just 17, ‘Luke the Nuke‘ became the youngest player ever to win the PDC (Professional Darts Corpo-ation) World Championship, beating five-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 with a three-dart average of 102.73. Going one step further than his runner-up finish in 2024, when he entered as a 16-year-old boy. In March, he won his first UK Open after demolishing James Wade 11-2 in the final, sweeping Wade aside again in July to win his first World Matchplay title. Littler oozes confidence way beyond his years and plays with total freedom, making every effort to showboat and entertain the crowd. In October and November, he beat Luke Humphries in the World Grand Prix and the Grand Slam of Darts to finally become the new world number one. Odds: 32/1

Ellie Kildunne – A home World Cup is the ideal stage to show the world exactly what you can do, so the timing for England’s latest star with the oval ball was perfect. Kildunne was instrumental in the Red Roses’ success in the Women’s Rugby World Cup last summer, showcasing her electric pace and creative attacking style, leaving opponent after opponent in her wake. After missing the quarter-final victory against Scotland with a concussion, she returned with a player-of-the-match performance against a French side, scoring two tries which took them to the final. In front of 81,000 people at Twicken-ham against Canada, England – helped by another Kildunne try – blossomed to become world champions, extending their unbeaten run to 33 matches. Odds: 200/

Sports bites

Darts

The World Darts Championship, returning to Alexandra Palace from 11 December to 3 January, will see 128 players compete for the Sid Waddell Trophy, with the prize money doubled to £5 million, including £1 million for the winner. Can the two Lukes reign again, or will a rising star such as Josh Rock or Gian van Veen prevail?

Snooker

The UK Championship is one of the majors that make up the snooker Triple Crown, and it reaches its closing stages this month at the Barbican Centre in York from 29 November to 7 December, available to view on the BBC. In 2024, Judd Trump (pictured) won his second UK Championship, beating Barry Hawkins 10-8 in the final.

The Great Debate: Is a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ good for sport?

On 28 December, the world number one of women’s tennis, US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, takes on Nick Kyrgios, the combative Aussie whose world ranking in the men’s game, due to injuries, has dropped to 652. The controversial, although intriguing, exhibition is the fourth of its kind in tennis and has created much discussion.

YES, IT’S GREAT ENTERTAINMENT

• The 1973 contest between 29-year-old women’s champion Billie Jean King and 55-year-old former men’s champion Bobby Riggs attracted over 90 million viewers worldwide and was a key moment in the fight for gender equality. King won 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

• Following King’s victory, the match was thought to have been key to achieving equal prize money in tennis. Later that year, the US Open became the first major sports event to offer equal pay, although it took decades for other major tournaments to follow suit.

• Sport is about entertainment. This is an exhibition and nothing more than a bit of fun for tennis fans. Mixed doubles have been around for years. Does it need to be taken too seriously? 

NO, IT DOES NOTHING FOR WOMEN

• Such contests are just gimmicks that undermine female athleticism, trivialise women’s sport, and reinforce harmful stereotypes. Women’s tennis has been popular for years, and this could prove damaging.

• Ahead of King’s match, openly sexist Riggs thrashed women’s world number one Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1, a spectacle seen by many as embarrassing and distasteful. The press dubbed it the ‘Mother’s Day Massacre’. Court later admitted it was a mistake.

• Tennis podcaster Catherine Whitaker argued that the upcoming event offers “only bleakness”. The 1973 match was a crucial moment for social change and the women’s liberation movement, but the world has changed and a modern exhibition is seen by many as a step backwards.