Sports Personality of the Year Returns with Five Public Vote Awards

The 2026 BBC Sports Personality of the Year show is scheduled for Sunday, 13 December. Five of the nine awards presented during the event will be determined by public votes. Gabby Logan, Alex Scott, and Clare Balding will return to host the programme, which will be broadcast live from Salford on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website and app starting at 17:45 GMT.

The ceremony will honour a year of significant sporting accomplishments, including Team GB's most successful Winter Olympics, England's best finish at a men's FIFA World Cup since 1966, and record-breaking performances at the European Athletics Championships. Two new award categories have been introduced this year: Men's Footballer of the Year and BBC World Service Women's Footballer of the Year. The latter has been a BBC World Service award since 2015 but will now be presented as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards for the first time. Voting for the BBC World Service Women's Footballer of the Year opens on Tuesday, 10 November.

In addition to the new football awards, fans will also select the winners of World Sport Star of the Year, Team of the Year, and Sports Personality of the Year. An independent panel of experts will determine the shortlists for Sports Personality of the Year, Team of the Year, and World Sports Star, with the winners chosen by public votes. The same panel will also decide the winners of Young Sports Personality of the Year and Coach of the Year. Separate panels of football experts will provide the shortlist of contenders for Men's Footballer of the Year and Women's Footballer of the Year. Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, stated that the event brings together moments that capture the public's attention and that this year's shortlists will be filled with athletes and teams who have achieved extraordinary feats.