With one of the most notable years about to come to an end, BBC Sports has just announced the nominees for its ‘Sports Personality of the Year’, and sports fans can’t hold their breath.
A shortlist of six contenders for the 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award has been announced.
The nominees include English footballers Hannah Hampton and Chloe Kelly, rugby player Ellie Kilnauw, darts player Luke Littler, golfer Rory McIlroy and Formula 1 driver Lando Norris.
Director of BBC Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, said: “This has been a breathtaking year for the sport, driven by athletes whose achievements belong in the history books and each of them has produced moments of pure brilliance that have defined 2025.
“It was incredible to watch, and I can’t wait to celebrate their achievements and see who the nation chooses as BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025.”
The voting will take place during the show on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Thursday 18 December 2025.
The Team of the Year award will also be determined by a public vote, with the contenders to be announced on December 15, 2025.
The six nominees include:
#1 Hannah Hampton – Sports: Football
Hannah is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Women’s Super League club Chelsea and the England national team.
In 2025, she won the World’s Best Female Goalkeeper at the Ballon d’Or awards and became co-winner of the WSL’s Golden Glove award with 13 clean sheets in 22 games at club level.
Her current teams are Chelsea FC Women and the England women’s national football team.
English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women’s Super League Club Arsenal and the England national team.
Kelly is a winner of the European Championship and the Champions League
She is the hero of the Euro 2022 final and showed big moments by scoring the decisive penalty as the Lionesses retained the trophy.
She was also an integral part of Arsenal’s Champions League success, coming fifth in the Women’s Ballon d’Or voting.
Her current teams include Arsenal WFC and the England women’s national football team
#3 Ellie Kiltun – Sport: Rugby
Ellie Kiltun is an English rugby player and member of the England national rugby union team.
Ellie was named World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year at the 2024 World Rugby Awards.
She scored four tries as England recorded another Grand Slam as they retained their Six Nations title in 2025.
Ellie also scored 14 tries for Harlequins during the 2024-25 season.
She currently plays for Great Britain.
#4 Luke litter – Sport: darts
Litter is an English professional darts player and the youngest darts world champion in history with a dominant victory over Michael van Gerwen in the final.
His subsequent World Matchplay victory made him only the fifth player to complete the PDC Triple Crown of World Championship, Premier League and Matchplay titles.
Furthermore, Litter’s victory in the Grand Slam of Darts in November saw him climb to number one in the world for the first time.
He currently competes in the Professional Darts Corporation PDC.
#5 Rory Mcllory – Sports: golf
Irish professional golfer Mcllory was named European Golfer of the Year in 2012, 2014 and 2015
He is a former number one golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings and has spent 100 weeks in that position.
Moreover, he also won the Masters tournament in 2025
#6 Lando Norris – Sports: Formula 1
British racing driver Norris who competes in Formula 1 for McLaren
He won McLaren’s first drivers’ championship since 2008 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris had won the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship with McLaren in 2025 and has won 11 Grands Prix in seven seasons.
