Which Footballers Have Won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award?

TV Camera Filming Football Pitch

Since its inaugural award in 1954, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year has celebrated the sportspersons who has been deemed the most successful in the preceding 12 months. Given that football is often referred to as the UK’s national sport, it is perhaps surprising that of the 32 awards, only seven have gone to footballers. This puts the sport in third place behind athletics (who are miles ahead with 19 awards) and – rather shockingly – Formula One (in second place with eight).

In this article, we’ll take a look at the seven footballers who were picked for the SPOTY award, as well as those who just missed out over the years.

Footballers Awarded the SPOTY

Despite football being the sport of the people in the UK, it took a World Cup win for a footballer to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The 12 awards before that featured sportspeople from athletics, cricket and golf. The great Bobby Charlton was beaten in second place twice: by the Scottish swimmer Ian Black in 1958 and motorcyclist John Surtees in 1959. As such, you might be forgiven for thinking SPOTY is – or at least was – rather ludicrous. Still, occasionally people came to their senses and the following footballers landed the top prize.

Year Player Main Reason for the Award
1966 Bobby Moore (ENG) Captained England to their 1966 World Cup triumph
1990 Paul Gascoigne (ENG) Performance (crying) at Italia ’90
1998 Michael Owen (ENG) Scored a great goal at a World Cup aged 18
2001 David Beckham (ENG) Last-minute free kick goal against Greece (and great hair!)
2009 Ryan Giggs (WAL) Career of 700+ games and 150+ goals
2022 Beth Mead (ENG) Won Euros with England and earned the Golden Boot
2023 Mary Earps (ENG) Won Golden Glove at the World Cup and the Women’s Super League

Bobby Moore – 1966

You can’t really do much better than leading your country to the World Cup, so it would have been an utter travesty had Bobby Moore (or one of the other World Cup heroes) not won SPOTY in 1966. Interestingly, adding a little surrealism to the process, Geoff Hurst – who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final at Wembley – was only good enough for third place. Second place was awarded to a speedway rider from New Zealand called Barry Briggs! Given that the award is supposed to celebrate British sporting excellence, we’re not really sure what happened there.

Paul Gascoigne – 1990

Okay, let’s be fair to Gazza, he did lots more than just bawl his eyes out at the World Cup in Italy in 1990. But, for better or worse, that’s the image that is best remembered. The cheeky Geordie came into his own on the biggest stage of all, providing an assist for England teammate Mark Wright for the winner against Egypt and then another for David Platt’s iconic volley against Belgium. In the quarter-final, Gascoigne also played the through ball for Gary Lineker that resulted in a penalty against Cameroon (that Lineker scored to seal the win). In the semi against Germany, Gazza picked up his second yellow card of the tournament and was thus ruled out of the final (which England didn’t make anyway). Cue tears and immortal images.

Michael Owen – 1998

Owen was actually 18 years and 59 days old when he made his full England debut in February 1998, and was reported to be the youngest player to represent the Three Lions at the time (although technically there were three who were younger around 1880, before the Football League was founded). He’s since been surpassed by Raheem Sterling, Jude Bellingham, Wayne Rooney and – the current record holder – Theo Walcott who was 17 years, two months and 14 days old on his debut. Owen certainly became the youngest goalscorer for England though in May 1998 when he scored in a friendly against Morocco.

It was at the 1998 World Cup that Owen really shone, however. He scored the equaliser in England’s 2-1 defeat to Romania (becoming England’s youngest World Cup goalscorer at the time). Boss Glenn Hoddle selected Owen for England’s first knockout game against Argentina, and after their opponents went a goal up, Owen won a penalty for England (which Alan Shearer duly converted). But it was Owen’s solo goal in the 16th minute that really caught the attention of the watching public. Alas, Argentina equalised, and then England did the usual (in those days!): lost on penalties. England’s cause in that match wasn’t helped by the next man on our list!

David Beckham – 2001

It’s interesting that David Beckham won the SPOTY award and was runner-up twice (see below) despite never actually winning anything with England (the 1997 Tournoi de France really doesn’t count!). Still, Becks was a force to be reckoned with on and off the pitch, and the love-him/hate him/love-him-again relationship with the public was probably what led to him winning SPOTY in 2001. The peak of hatred for Beckham came after he got himself sent off in the aforementioned World Cup clash against Argentina in 1998. But he battled his way back into the public’s affections, and that cracking free kick against Greece in the World Cup qualifier in October 2001 was the icing on the cake.

Ryan Giggs – 2009

There’s little doubt that one-club man Ryan Giggs was an outstanding player who was integral to Manchester United’s success in the 1990s and 2000s. This award in 2009 was more a recognition of Giggs’s overall career than for one particular incident. It’s a shame some off-field shenanigans have tainted his reputation somewhat since, but at the time it was probably a deserved award.

Beth Mead – 2022

Another football player who actually won something with their nation, Beth Mead was a key cog in the Lionesses’ machine that went all the way to Euros victory in 2022. She won the Golden Boot at the tournament with six goals (which was the same as German Alexandra Popp, but Mead also had five assists and Popp had none, so won the award). Mead was also named as the player of the tournament and picked in the team of the tournament. All in all, not a bad year!

Mary Earps – 2023

Mary Earps was also a key part of England’s 2022 Euros success (and was also picked in the team of the tournament). Unfortunately England’s women couldn’t repeat their success in the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but they gave it a very good go. England eventually lost 1-0 in the final to Spain, but Earps had been brilliant throughout the tournament and earned the Golden Glove award. She also won the Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper award in 2022 and 2023, the Women’s Super League Golden Glove for 2022/23 and was voted as England’s Player of the Year for 2022/23. Few could argue with her winning SPOTY ahead of cricketer Stuart Broad and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Football Players Who Finished Second

Over the years there have been a number of players who have hit the bar at the SPOTY awards, with the following players finishing as runners-up.

Year Player Winner (Sport)
1958 Bobby Charlton Ian Black (Swimming)
1959 Bobby Charlton John Surtees (Motorcycle Racing)
1971 George Best Princess Anne (Eventing)
1972 Gordon Banks Mary Peters (Athletics)
1999 David Beckham Lennox Lewis (Boxing)
2002 David Beckham Paula Radcliffe (Athletics)
2020 Jordan Henderson Lewis Hamilton (Formula One)