Hannah Hampton
No sporting event in 2025 gripped England quite like the Lionesses’ Euros success and that euphoria would not have happened without Hannah Hampton’s saves. Long before Hampton dived the correct way to stop two Spain penalties in the final, including one from the world’s best player Aitana Bonmatí, she had produced heroics, without which the team would have flown home disappointingly early.
Hampton expertly prevented England from falling 3-0 down against Sweden in the quarter-final and went on to make two shootout saves. In the semi-final, moments before England snatched their late equaliser against Italy, Hampton had kept them in the competition – again – with a crucial double save. In the group stage she had sprayed the pass of the tournament upfield, going viral on social media, to help kickstart Sarina Wiegman’s team’s campaign during their thumping victory against the Netherlands. In the final she helped thwart the most potent attacking force in the sport.
Winning two shootouts in a major tournament with England, in the space of 10 days, is the stuff of legend, and unheard of in English football. If that were not enough, she also helped Chelsea win a domestic treble unbeaten and was the joint winner of the WSL’s golden glove, keeping 13 clean sheets in 22 league fixtures. She has achieved all this despite being born with a serious eye condition which affects her depth perception and meant doctors warned her she would not be able to play football. At the age of 25 she has filled the sizeable gloves of England’s previous No 1, Mary Earps, and not only coped with the pressure that brought, but thrived. Tom Garry
Chloe Kelly
You could argue that Chloe Kelly has not played enough football for club or country to win a major individual award but her position on this shortlist is appropriate reward for a year of gamechanging impact.
The 27-year-old’s hop, skip, jump and strike from the penalty spot to seal a European title for the Lionesses, for the second time, as the team became the first senior England side to win a major tournament away from home, was probably enough.
However, in a year which began in turmoil with Kelly contemplating quitting football after being frozen out at Manchester City, her journey has been remarkable. Going public with her frustrations and deteriorating mental health, as her career stalled and a place in England’s Euros squad looked increasingly at risk after one start in the first half of the season, forced City to allow her to move to Arsenal on loan. Returned to the club she left in 2018, Kelly settled then thrived, making a significant contribution to Arsenal’s historic Champions League win before replicating her 2022 Euros final heroics in 2025.
Critically, she did it all with an unmatched swagger epitomised by her wry smile at Sweden’s goalkeeper Jennifer Falk before she scored her penalty in the quarter-final shootout and her comments in the press conference after the final when she said: “Tough times don’t last – just around the corner was a Champions League final. I won that. Now a Euros final, I’ve won that. So, thank you to everyone that wrote me off. I’m grateful.”
Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final for the men’s team in 1966, and Martin Peters also scored in that final. They wrote their names into the history books for the everlasting impact they had on football in England. Kelly did not need 90 minutes week-in week-out or throughout the Euros to deliver on the biggest of stages, twice. She deserves her flowers. Suzanne Wrack
Ellie Kildunne
Ellie Kildunne’s nomination for Sports Personality of the Year is as unsurprising as it is deserved. She has had a sparkling year as part of a formidable Red Roses team in which all players contributed to adominant 2025 culminating in winning the Rugby World Cup.
England’s squad is full of talented and skilled players but there is no questioning that Kildunne has become one of the faces of the squad. That is mainly thanks to her style of play and scoring tries when the team needs a lift.
In 2025 Kildunne scored nine tries across the Six Nations and the World Cup. As well as that she has only grown as a role model. The Harlequins star was made into a Barbie, spoke openly about mental health, and amplified the image that now signifies the Red Roses: the cowboy hat. It is her, Jess Breach and Meg Jones’s try celebration that has taken the sport by storm.
But Kildunne is much more than her stats. It’s her connection with fans that really stands out when you watch her play. There is nothing quite like how a crowd reacts to the full-back. As soon as she receives the ball the stadium catches fire with excitement and anticipation. Supporters get to their feet to see what magic the 26-year-old will produce and she more than delivered for them, one highlight being her sizzling solo effort in the World Cup final.
Her nomination alone is groundbreaking as she is the first women’s rugby player to be on the shortlist for the accolade. Because of that, along with all of her achievements this year, winning Spoty would be the cherry on top of Kildunne’s sundae. Sarah Rendell
Luke Littler
Even Luke Littler doesn’t think Luke Littler should win this year: he’s already stated that he won’t be turning up at the ceremony, and his endorsement has gone to Lando Norris. That said, it’s hard to think what more he could have done: world champion, world No 1, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix champion, UK Open and Grand Slam champion, Players Championships winner and architect of the most frightening reign of dominance the sport has seen since Phil Taylor. Not only that, but his emergence has utterly transformed the landscape of professional darts, cutting through the snobbery and condescension that often accompanies it. It is in large part down to the Littler effect that the prize money for this year’s world champion has been doubled to £1m.
Still, no Sports Personality voter was moved to pick up the phone by an uplift in tournament prize funds. And perhaps Littler’s most significant impediment – in both this and future years – will be timing. The world championship final, the crowning achievement of the darting year, comes in January, a full 11 months before voting begins. Beyond these few weeks, darts remains a niche sport in the media and the wider national conversation, and the relative absence of darts on terrestrial television doesn’t help either.
The curse of repeated excellence is that after a while, everyone gets used to it. Perhaps Littler’s best chance – as with Taylor in 2010, when he finished a surprising second place to AP McCoy – is to wait for a quieter year, accumulate a groundswell of campaigning momentum and triumph by sheer unanswerable weight of precious metal. That is, if he’s bothered about Sports Personality in the slightest. Which he may well not be. Jonathan Liew
Rory McIlroy
The moment of this sporting year was delivered by Rory McIlroy. It was not simply that he won the Masters in April – a formidable enough feat – but the theatric circumstances by which McIlroy became just the sixth man in history to complete a Grand Slam of majors turned heads way beyond golf. Elton John called him up to offer praise, for goodness sake.
McIlroy has delivered lessons in persistence, in chasing a dream that looked so likely to escape him and in rising from such humble roots to the very summit of his sport. True to McIlroy form, he did it dramatically. Masters success confirmed he is the UK’s finest golfer of all time. The clean sweep of majors proves a golfer who can handle any examination.
It we are being true to the title of this award, McIlroy wins hands down. He has personality in abundance. He displayed it not only at Augusta National but in New York, where he was front and centre for Europe’s famous Ryder Cup triumph. Separate wins on either side of the Atlantic in 2025 and another European order of merit title means this ranks as the finest spell of his career. Throughout it all, McIlroy remained relatable.
There is a legitimate argument that McIlroy has not received the credit he deserves at home. He should have claimed the Spoty title in 2014. Now 36, he has long since been a global superstar. This is the time to properly recognise McIlroy’s brilliance. Ewan Murray
Lando Norris
British F1 world champions are among the nation’s most treasured sporting figures, and Lando Norris’s title sees the young English driver chisel his name on a pantheon that bears the imprints of Lewis Hamilton, Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, John Surtees, James Hunt, Damon Hill and Jenson Button. Names that still resonate down the years.
Seven seasons into his F1 career, Norris became the 11th name on that feted list and after a compelling climax to the season, his triumph arrived with a third-place finish in Abu Dhabi, the margin of championship victory to a hard-charging Max Verstappen just two points.
With Verstappen and his own teammate, Oscar Piastri, looming ever larger in his rearview mirrors – after an initial McLaren procession this season turned into a thrilling three-way rivalry – Norris did the unexpected. He did not turn on Piastri – their relationship remains cordial – and shrugged off McLaren’s leanings for instigating team orders to see him over the line.
Yes, he’s been behind the wheel of a winning car – McLaren won the constructors’ title with six races to spare. But there were wobbles – bungled qualifying in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the angry tussle with Verstappen in Miami, the team’s disqualification in Las Vegas. Such bumps in the road would have derailed lesser drivers. “I just won it my way, I’m happy I could go out and be myself,” was Norris’ typically understated verdict.
After all the clamour that is heaped on an F1 valedictorian, next season Norris will return to McLaren without a strutting ego, just a calm resolve to start again on level terms with his teammate. This is not your typical grand prix narrative of petulant paddock backstabbing, which is why Norris and his 2025 world championship should be cherished. A Spoty crown to top it all feels right. Andy Martin
