Andy Devaney
If you’re here to find out who won BBC Sports Personality of the Year, pour the tea and loosen the tie: Rory McIlroy has done it. The public vote crowned him BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025 at the BBC’s annual sporting jamboree, staged with the sort of glitz usually reserved for box sets and royal weddings.
McIlroy took the top prize in front of a star-studded audience and the millions watching on BBC One and iPlayer, emerging from a top-three shootout that had enough jeopardy to make even a neutral start checking their Wi-Fi.
Who finished where in the public vote?
After the shortlist tightened to a final three on the night, England rugby standout Ellie Kildunne finished second, with Formula One world champion Lando Norris taking third. Also on the broader shortlist: Lionesses pair Hannah Hampton and Chloe Kelly, plus darts phenomenon Luke Littler.
Rory McIlroy’s winning speech
On winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025, Rory McIlroy said: “Wow. First of all I’d like to congratulate all the other finalists here tonight. It’s a pleasure to just be in this room along with so many dedicated people, and I feel truly honoured to be a part of it. 2025 has been the year that I made my dreams come true. From Augusta to the Ryder Cup and everything else in between, it really has been the year that dreams are made of.
“I’ve a lot of people to thank: firstly, the public for voting me as your BBC Sports Personality of the year. My family, my Mum and Dad: they sacrificed so much for me. My wife Erica, my daughter Poppy – they’re what holds me together, my rocks. And to the BBC for hosting these awards. I remember growing up looking forward to this night watching it on TV seeing who’s going to win. I’m very honoured to get my hands on this trophy behind me. Hopefully I can challenge it again next year! Thank you everyone, it truly is an honour.”
There’s the headline, there’s the heart, and there’s the detail that lands: for all the trophies and numbers, he put the emphasis where it usually belongs—family, gratitude, and that unmistakable sense he knows exactly how hard it is to win one of these.
Rory McIlroy’s 2025 season: why the public went his way
This wasn’t a popularity contest won on charm alone; it was powered by a year that reads like a sporting novelist got carried away and nobody edited them.
- After years of frustration and near misses, McIlroy won the Masters to become only the sixth man in history to complete the Grand Slam of golf’s four majors.
- The Augusta play-off triumph was his first major win since 2014.
- He then delivered three-and-a-half points at the Ryder Cup as Europe won in America for the first time since 2012, doing it while “shrugging off a hostile crowd”.
- Add further wins at the Players Championship, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Irish Open.
- Then, to finish the job properly, he sealed a seventh Race to Dubai title.
In other words: if you want to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, a good strategy is to have the kind of year that makes your rivals start asking if you’ve discovered time travel.
Full list: BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025 award winners
Here’s the complete roll-call from the night:
- BBC Sports Personality of the Year – Rory McIlroy
- World Sport Star of the Year – Armand Duplantis
- Helen Rollason award – Sergio Aguiar and David Stancombe
- Young Sports Personality of the Year – Michelle Agyemang
- Coach of the Year – Sarina Wiegman
- Team of the Year – European Ryder Cup Team
- Lifetime Achievement award – Thierry Henry
And the BBC’s Director of Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, set the tone with: “Tonight’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards have been nothing short of spectacular – it was an incredible showcase of sport in 2025. We’ve witnessed breathtaking skill, unstoppable determination, and jaw-dropping talent from these extraordinary athletes. This evening wasn’t just a ceremony, it was a celebration of the unforgettable moments this year, and I can’t wait to see how sport will continue to bring the nation together in 2026.”
World Sport Star of the Year: Duplantis makes dominance look routine
For the second year running, Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis took World Sport Star of the Year after a season that effectively turned the bar into a suggestion.
He won a third World Championship gold, posted another world record of 6.30m (his fourth of 2025 and 14th of his career), retained his indoor world title, and went undefeated across all 16 events—becoming the first male pole vaulter in the modern era to go unbeaten for two consecutive years. It’s the sort of excellence that makes you wonder what the rest of the field did wrong in a past life.
Helen Rollason Award: legacy built through loss
Sergio Aguiar and David Stancombe—fathers of two of the three young girls killed in Southport last year—received the Helen Rollason Award, which recognises outstanding achievement in the face of adversity.
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King died at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in July 2024. Since then, the families have worked to establish legacies through Elsie’s Story, Alice’s WonderDance and Bebe’s Hive. Aguiar and Stancombe also ran the 2025 London Marathon, raising funds tied directly to those projects.
Young Sports Personality of the Year: Michelle Agyemang’s “super sub” year
BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year went to 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang, described as England’s breakout star on the road to Women’s Euros glory.
Her story is a highlight reel of perfectly-timed interventions: after scoring 41 seconds into her Lionesses debut, she later produced late equalisers in the quarter-final against Sweden and the semi-final against Italy. Add Young Player of the Tournament, the Golden Girl award for Europe’s best young player, and a Kopa Trophy nomination—plus a 2024–25 loan spell at Brighton & Hove Albion from Arsenal—and you’ve got momentum that doesn’t politely slow down.
Coach and Team of the Year: Wiegman and the Ryder Cup machine
Sarina Wiegman won Coach of the Year after guiding England’s women to European Championship glory again—retaining the title and becoming the first England team to win a major trophy on foreign soil. The campaign demanded resilience too, with England becoming the only country in Euros history to have three different matches go to extra time.
Team of the Year went to the European Ryder Cup Team, who won on US soil for only the fifth time and the first since the ‘Miracle of Medinah’ in 2012. Luke Donald’s side opened a record seven-point lead after two days at Bethpage Black, then held firm to win 15–13 despite a late American surge.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Thierry Henry gets his flowers
Thierry Henry collected the Lifetime Achievement Award—an honour that barely needs explanation, but got one anyway: Arsenal and France’s record goalscorer, a World Cup winner (1998), a European champion (2000), and a forward who redefined the role with a blend of pace, flair and ruthless finishing.
His career arc ran Monaco to Juventus to Arsenal (where Arsène Wenger converted him from winger to striker), then on to Barcelona, the New York Red Bulls, and into coaching, punditry and ambassadorial work.
