The 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards will take place in Salford on Thursday. As always, it will be a star-studded sporting jamboree, packed with highlights, laughs, tears, and joy. In addition to the main prize the usual awards will also be given out, among them those for international star, best team, and Young Sports Personality of the Year.
Our focus here though is the main event and the six brilliant performers in the race to be crowned 2025 BBC Sorts Personality of the Year. Five of them, as we will see, could be in for two awards on the night, with three also featuring in the Team of the Year running and one up for both the main prize and the young one.
Hannah Hampton – Football
Chelsea’s goalkeeper turned 25 in November and may have many years ahead of her as England’s number one. She now boasts 23 caps and played a key role in the brilliant victory the Lionesses secured at Euro 2025, where they beat big favourites Spain on penalties in the final to defend their title.
She initially played as a striker, including in Villarreal’s academy, and her ability on the ball is clear for all to see. She has won all domestic honours in the women’s game and was also in the squad for the Euros in 2022, as well as when England lost in the 2023 World Cup final. 2025 has been a stunning year for Hampton, and she has been named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year and top goalie at FIFA’s The Best awards. Can she add SPOTY as well?
Chloe Kelly – Football
Like Hampton, Kelly could also land glory on Thursday night with the Lionesses, who are nominated for Team of the Year. She has 63 caps and nine goals for England and signed permanently for Champions League champions Arsenal in 2025, having helped them to European glory whilst on loan from Man City.
“I’m just so grateful for Arsenal” ❤️
Chloe Kelly gives a raw, honest reaction to winning the Champions League and talks what is next in her career 🏆 pic.twitter.com/7vWxynwSfd
— Sky Sports WSL (@SkySportsWSL) May 24, 2025
She was instrumental in England’s success in Euro 2025, having previously scored the winning goal of the final off the bench in Euro 2022. She was even better at this year’s tournament though, scoring several vital goals along the way and the decisive penalty in the shootout that brought the Lionesses their title.
Ellie Kildunne – Rugby Union
Ellie Kildunne, like the two women above, is in with a shout at team glory too, with the Red Roses battling the Lionesses and the European Ryder Cup team in the team category. Kildunne, from Keighley in West Yorkshire, is one of the greatest female players in the game and was named Player of the Year at the World Rugby Awards in 2024.
She was a key player for England as they lifted the World Cup in 2025. She scored five tries as the Red Roses swept to glory on home soil.
Luke Littler – Darts
Littler is another who has two shots at glory on the night, also being nominated for Young SPOTY. It is certainly not impossible that he could do the double, but his chances look much greater in the young award, which he also won in 2024.
The Nuke will hope to retain the World Darts Championship that he claimed early in 2025, with the 2026 edition of the game’s showpiece currently underway. Littler keeps getting better and better and recently made it to the top of the world rankings. He seems likely to occupy that spot for many years to come and he is the one all the rest have to beat.
Rory McIlroy – Golf
If the bookies are right, it will be Northern Irish golfing superstar Rory McIlroy who wins SPOTY this year. He came second back in 2014 after winning two majors and enjoying a stunning season. In 2025 he landed just one of the big four evets but it was the one that he had wanted for so long. In winning the US Masters, in a play-off against Justin Rose, Rory became only the sixth player ever to win the career Grand Slam.
In addition to that, the five-time major champion is hugely popular and liked by fans, pundits and other players. He was excellent at the Ryder Cup in New York, leading from the front, helping Europe to a memorable victory. He also claimed a second The Players title and a second Irish Open in 2025, and the Manchester United fan would be a worthy winner if he gets the nod.
Lando Norris – Formula 1
Glastonbury native Lando Norris won the Formula 1 world championship recently, and given the success F1 stars have had at SPOTY (only athletics has yielded more winners), he might pip Rory. He is the second favourite but is some way back in the betting, as he bids to become the ninth F1 victor of this prize.
Lewis Hamilton won in 2020 and 2014 (when he beat McIlroy), and Norris would love to have an F1 career anything like the seven-time world champion. He claimed his first at Abu Dhabi recently, taking the title by two points from Max Verstappen. Norris won seven races this year and was rarely off the podium, his amazing consistency seeing him edge out Verstappen and his own teammate, Oscar Piastri.