Kelly and McIlroy favourites to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025

Imago Rory McIlroy celebrates; but will he claim the SPOTY prize in 2025? 

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year award is nearly upon us. The ceremony is held in December and the venue for the 2025 edition has yet to be named. MediaCity in Salford looks likely to host once again, having staged the prestigious award last year.

Keely Hodgkinson became the 19th athletics winner of the award after she won an Olympic Gold at the 800m in Paris last summer.

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Teenage darts sensation, Luke Littler, was runner-up in 2024, while cricketer Joe Root came third.

Usually, there tends to be a runaway candidate, especially with less than two months to go before the ceremony. This year, however, two athletes are battling it out to see who will be crowned the 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

FIRST.com’s partners have installed Lioness star Chloe Kelly as the favourite, but she has a fight on her hands in order to win the coveted award.

Chloe Kelly – 10/11

One of the great feel-good sporting stories this summer was the Lionesses beating Spain on penalties to win a second consecutive European title.

Kelly scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Italy. With just a minute left of extra-time, her initial penalty was saved, but the 27-year-old made no mistake with the rebound.

In the final, Kelly slotted home the winning penalty which saw England retain her title, thus making the Arsenal star a 7/10 favourite to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Rory McIlroy – 11/8

Surely Rory McIlroy won't have a better chance to win this award. In April, he won the Masters to complete the career grand slam, adding his fifth major in the process.

Elsewhere, the Northern Irishman also won at Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass and claimed another Irish Open title. The icing on the cake was helping Team Europe win the Ryder Cup in New York, winning 3.5 points from 5 in what was a sublime away victory.

The last golfer to win this award was Nick Faldo in 1989, coincidentally, the year McIlroy was born.

Lando Norris – 22/1

Lando Norris is the third-favourite for the award, but his odds could certainly improve should the Englishman win the Formula 1 world title.

At the time of writing, he trails leader Oscar Pistari by just 22 points with only six races remaining.

Lewis Hamilton was the last British driver to win a world title and that came back in 2022. Hamilton also won this award twice during his career. Should Norris claim a historic title win, he could emerge as one of the favourites.

Hannah Hampton – 25/1

Hannah Hampton is another Lioness who was a star in Switzerland this summer. The goalkeeper became England’s no.1 for the 2025 European Championship following the retirement of Mary Earps.

Hampton was named player of the match against Sweden in the quarter-final, saving two penalties during the shootout. She repeated these heroics in the final against Spain, once again stopping two penalties as England won 3-1 in the shootout.

Luke Littler – 25/1

Littler was runner-up in 2024, but his chances of winning this year are slim to say the least.

That comes despite becoming the youngest ever darts world champion in January while adding a further three major titles throughout 2025. His world title defence will come a little too late for the December awards, but may give him an even bigger shout in 2026. 

If he continues at this current rate, Littler will surely become the first darts player to win the award at some stage.

FIRST's recommended sports betting sites for 2025 BBC Sports Personality of the Year odds 

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Odds correct at the time of writing.

Previous odds

We may only be a month into the year, but Luke Littler is already the front-runner to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025 Award. The teenage darts sensation has already crowned himself as the winner of the PDC World Darts Championship, beating many of the world’s greats in the process. 

The 18-year-old placed second at the 2024 awards, behind Keely Hodgkinson, after his debut year in professional darts where he finished second at the World Championship but did win a number of tour events including the Premier League. 

However, despite not winning the main award, the darts player did win the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year for 2024. When receiving the award, he said: “It shows how well I have done this year (2024), not only for myself, but I have changed the sport of darts.”

The current second favourite to win this year’s award is F1 driver Lando Norris. The McLaren driver finished second in the driver standings last year after winning four races in the 2024 calendar. 

If he manages to win his first world title this year, he could be a good bet to win the BBC award, especially at his current price of 11/2 via Mr.Play. 

Third place on the list is another F1 driver in Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion has won this award two times already; in 2014 and 2020. And, since he’s been struggling in the Mercedes car in recent years, he will drive for Ferrari this year. 

Should he win the world championship in one of F1’s most iconic cars, he could be great value at 14/1. 

Joint-fourth on the current list are two Lionesses, Lucy Bronze and Leah Williamson. It’s a big year for the England Women’s Football Team as they look to defend their European Championship title this summer in Switzerland. 

Beth Mead and Mary Earps won it in 2022 and 2023 respectively so, should one of Bronze or Williamson win it, it would be the third time in four years that a Lioness has won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. 

Further down the list are Rory McIlroy, Emily Scarratt and Zoe Aldcroft at 33/1. McIlroy, who this weekend won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, has never won this award but did finish second in 2014. 

For Scarratt and Aldcroft, they’re both integral members of the England Women’s Rugby Union Team. The Women’s World Cup is taking place in England later this year and the hosts will be hoping to go one step further than they did in 2021 and win the title for the third time. 

The winner will be announced in December 2025.

Full odds from Mr.Play are listed below and were correct at the time of publishing