Who won Sports Personality of the Year 2024? Luke Littler and Jude Bellingham among nominees for BBC prize | Sporting News United Kingdom

A six-person shortlist is in contention for the BBC’s annual Sports Personality of the Year award.

The prize, which was first awarded back in 1956, is given to the UK’s outstanding sportsperson of the calendar year.

The winner will be decided by a public vote during the live show on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on December 17, which will summarise the highlights of an Olympic year when England’s men reached the final of Euro 2024.

Here’s a rundown of who’s in contention for the big prize and every previous winner of the famous television camera trophy.

MORE: Who was the last Premier League player to win the Ballon d’Or?

Who won Sports Personality of the Year? Nominees and results

As is typical during an Olympic year, 800m sensation Keely Hodgkinson, triathlete Alex Yee and para-cyclist Sarah Storey have earned nominations on the back of their exploits at the Games in Paris.

Joe Root enjoyed another superbly prolific year with the bat for the England men’s cricket team, becoming his country’s all-time leading Test runs scorer. Jude Bellingham is in the mix having excelled for Spanish and European champions Real Madrid before scoring crucial goals on England’s run to eventual Euros heartache versus Spain.

As the list below demonstrates, near misses are not necessarily historically punished by the British public. Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler will be hoping to go one better in his bid for World Championship glory over the coming weeks and completes the sextet.

Sports Personality of the Year: Nominees

List of Sports Personality of the Year winners

The first Ballon d’Or was awarded in 1956 to Blackpool legend Stanley Matthews, one of the greats of the English game.

Dutch giant Johan Cruyff became the first player to win it three times in the 1970s. French star Michel Platini won it three times in a row — the first to achieve that feat — in the 80s.

Messi and Ronaldo dominated from 2008-2017, with only Luka Modric capable of stopping that run in 2018.

Messi then won the 2021 Ballon d’Or, beating out Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho by a narrow margin for his seventh trophy before lifting his eighth in 2023.