BBC confirms major changes for Sports Personality of the Year 2026 awards

The BBC has announced some major changes to this year's Sports Personality of the Year Awards – with the public set to have more say than ever before in crowning the winners.

Five of the nine awards at the ceremony will be decided by public vote, including two new awards for Men’s Footballer of the Year and Women’s Footballer of the Year – the latter of which already existed as a BBC World Service award and will be decided as a global vote rather than a UK-only one.

The other awards that will be decided by the public are World Sport Star of the Year, Team of the Year and of course the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year prize itself.

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Meanwhile, the winners of the Young Sports Personality of the Year and Coach of the Year awards will be determined by an expert panel of industry experts, sports broadcasters, sports journalists and former sportspeople – who will also decide the shortlists for the public-voted categories.

The remaining two prizes on offer are the Lifetime Achievement award and the Helen Rollason Award, which is awarded for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity.

The winners will be announced live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from a ceremony in Salford on Sunday 13 December, with Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott on hosting duties. It will take place between 5.45pm and 7.15pm.

Speaking about the upcoming ceremony, BBC's Sport's director Alex Kay-Jelski said: "What I love about BBC Sports Personality of the Year is that it brings together all those moments that stopped us in our tracks.

"The goals, the medals, the upsets, the records, the stories that had us talking at work, in the pub and around the dinner table. And what a year we've had.

"This year's shortlists will be packed with athletes and teams who have achieved extraordinary things, but what's especially exciting is that audiences will have a bigger say than ever before in who takes home the trophies."

At time of writing, the current favourite to win the main award is England men's football captain Harry Kane – who recently won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy that celebrates the best footballer of the previous 12 months.

Other athletes considered to be in the running are sprinter Amy Hunt, middle distance runner Josh Kerr and skeleton racer Matt Weston.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2026 will air on 13 December on BBC One.

Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Authors

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.