The BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 took place on 20 December 2020 at the dock10 studios in

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

. The event was broadcast live on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and hosted by

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents programmes for BBC Sport and Channel 4, and previously for BT Sport. She also formerly presented ''Good Morning Sunday'' on BBC ...

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted '' Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She h ...

and Alex Scott.

Nominees

The nominees for the award were revealed on 1 December 2020. On the night of the final, the public were allowed to vote for one of only six pre-selected contenders.

Controversy

This year's Award was cornered by controversy, when the WBC World Heavyweight Champion,

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...

, issued a video on social media politely requesting the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

remove his name from the nominations for the award: 'This is a message for the @bbcsport and their SPOTY award. Please take me off your list as I'm the people's champion and have no need for verifications or any awards.' The BBC ignored Fury's request. Fury then had his lawyers send the BBC an official letter repeating his request. The BBC did not remove Fury's name from the nominations. Fury requested his fans to respect his wishes and not to vote for him.

Other awards

In addition to the main award as "Sports Personality of the Year", several other awards were also announced: *

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...

* World Sport Star:

Khabib Nurmagomedov Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov (born 20 September 1988) is a Russian former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight (MMA), Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was the longest-rei ...

* Young Sports Personality of the Year:

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix (; born 11 September 2004) is a British-French professional diver who represents Great Britain and England internationally. In her breakthrough year of 2022, she became a World junior, two-time European senior, two-t ...

* Unsung Hero: Sgt Matt Ratana * Helen Rollason Award: Captain Sir Tom Moore *Captain Tom Young Unsung Hero: Tobias Weller *Expert Special Panel Award:

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa, on Loan (association football), lo ...

Performers

In Memoriam

The following people were remembered at the ceremony: *

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...

* Norman Hunter * Trevor Cherry *

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13– ...

* David Bryant *

Alan Glazier Alan James Glazier (21 January 1939 – 12 November 2020) was an English professional darts player. He used the nickname "The Ton Machine" and was noted for his all-black outfits. Career Glazier was one of the first darts players who turned p ...

* Helen Grandon *

Mickey Wright Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright (February 14, 1935 – February 17, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She became a member of the tour in 1955 and won 82 LPGA Tour career events including 13 major champions ...

* Liz Edgar *

Jackie Brown ''Jackie Brown'' is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on the 1992 novel ''Rum Punch'' by Elmore Leonard. It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who smuggles money between the United Sta ...

* Barney Eastwood *

Alan Minter Alan Sydney Minter (17 August 19519 September 2020) was a British professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight title from 1975 to 1976, an ...

Peter Bonetti Peter Philip Bonetti (27 September 1941 – 12 April 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Chelsea, the St. Louis Stars, Dundee United and England. He was known for his safe handling, lightning reflexes a ...

* Harry Gregg *

Tony Dunne Anthony Peter Dunne (24 July 19418 June 2020) was an Irish footballer who played as a left-back. Born in Dublin, he began his career with youth side Stella Maris before signing for Drumcondra-based Shelbourne, with whom he won the FAI Cup in h ...

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Gold Crown of Merit, GCM, Order of the British Empire, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the har ...

* David Capel * Dean Jones * Liam Treadwell *

Pat Smullen Patrick Joseph Smullen (22 May 1977 – 15 September 2020), was an Irish jockey who won the Irish flat racing Champion Jockey title nine times. In a career running from 1992 to 2018 he rode 1,845 winners in Ireland and 47 in Britain. Amongst hi ...

* Stan Mellor *Lucy Kerr *

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown Sr. (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer. Alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, he is recognized as a pioneer of new jack swing: a fusion of hip-hop and Contemporary R&B, R ...

* Marius Zaliukas *Steve Lee *Steve Preston *Mike Renshall * Helen Yate *

Alex Olmedo Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez (March 24, 1936December 9, 2020) was a tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player for 1958, but as a U.S. player for 1959. He helped win the Davis Cup f ...

Angela Buxton Angela Buxton (16 August 193414 August 2020) was a British tennis player. She won the women's doubles title at both the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1956 with her playing partner, Althea Gibson. Early life Buxton was born in Liverpo ...

Mike Slemen Michael Anthony Charles Slemen (11 May 1951 – 20 July 2020) was an international rugby union player. He toured South Africa in 1980 with the British and Irish Lions and at the time played club rugby for Liverpool. Early life Mike Slemen wa ...

Matthew Watkins Matthew Jason Watkins (2 September 1978 – 7 March 2020) was a Welsh professional rugby union player who played as a Centre (rugby union), centre. He was commonly known by the name Matthew J. Watkins to avoid confusion with another Welsh rugby ...

* Ray Prosser *

Paolo Rossi Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He led Italy national football team, Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup t ...

Papa Bouba Diop Papa Bouba Diop (28 January 197829 November 2020) was a Senegalese professional footballer. His preferred position was as a defensive midfielder, but he could also play as a centre-back, where he played at Lens. Diop was considered a physicall ...

Peter Whittingham Peter Michael Whittingham (; 8 September 1984 – 18 March 2020) was an English professional Association football, footballer. His primary position was as a central midfielder, although he also sometimes operated as a wide midfielder on both the ...

* Jordan Cox *

Frank Myler Frank Myler (4 December 1938 – 27 March 2020) was an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. A Great Britain and England national representative or , h ...

Basil Watts Basil J. Watts (15 June 1926 – 31 December 2019), also known by the nickname of "Baz", was an English Rugby League World Cup, World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He played at repres ...

Frank Bough Francis Joseph Bough (; 15 January 1933 – 21 October 2020) was an English television presenter. He was best known as the host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including '' Grandstand'', '' Nationwide'' and '' Breakfast Time'', which he l ...

* David Mercer * Peter Walker *

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

* Margaret Maughan * Eric Hall *

Radomir Antic Radomir may refer to: People * Radomir (given name), a Slavic male given name * Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria (died 1015), Tsar of Bulgaria Places * , a village in Cetinje Municipality, Montenegro * Radomir (mountain), a mountain peak on the Bulgaria ...

Maurice Setters Maurice Edgar Setters (16 December 1936 – 22 November 2020) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he made more than 400 appearances in the Football League for Exeter City, West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Stoke Cit ...

*Denise Smith *

Tony Rutter Tony Rutter (24 September 1941 – 24 March 2020) was a British professional motorcycle road racer. He was a street circuit specialist, who won seven Isle of Man TT Races between 1973 and 1985. Racing career Rutter competed in the Grand Prix ...

*Joy Rainey *Neil Black * Ged Stokes *

Nicolas Portal Nicolas Portal (23 April 1979 – 3 March 2020) was a French directeur sportif and professional road bicycle racer. He was born in Auch, France. He missed much of the 2009 season because of problems with cardiac arrhythmia and retired as a prof ...

* Christophe Dominici * Raymond Hunter *

Iain Laughland Iain Hugh Page Laughland (29 October 1935 – 9 August 2020) was a Scotland national rugby union team, Scottish international rugby union player.Gerard Houllier Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this cas ...

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of the few players to have made over 1,000 career ...

* Michael Robinson * J. J. Williams *

Peter Alliss Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice o ...

* Malcolm Yardley

References

External links

Official website
{{SPOTY BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year. The ...

Bbc The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...