The BBC Sports Team of the Year Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. Currently, the award is given "for the team in an individual sport or sporting discipline that has achieved the most notable performance in the calendar year to date. The team should have significant UK interest or involvement".
Nomination procedure From 2012 the award's recipient is decided by an expert panel selected by the BBC. For some years before 2012 a panel of over 30 sporting journalists, each of whom voted for their top two choices and followed a defined set of voting criteria. Before that, the winner of the Team of the Year Award has been chosen by public vote and picked by listeners of BBC Radio 5 Live.
History The Team of the Year Award was first presented in 1960, six years after the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award was introduced. The first recipient of the award was the Cooper Formula One Racing team. The England national rugby union team and the Ryder Cup team have won the award the most times; both teams have won five times and have shared the award on one of those occasions. Liverpool F.C. have won the award four times. The award has been shared on two occasions—by the British women's 4 x 400 m relay team and the British Ryder Cup team in 1969, and by the England national rugby union team and the British men's 4 x 400 m relay team in 1991. Teams have varied greatly in size. The smallest winning team has been two members; the figure skating duo of Torvill and Dean in 1982 and 1983, and the Olympic men's coxless rowing pair of Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent in 1992 and 1996. The largest winning team was in 2012; the British representatives at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Six nations have been represented by the award-winning team. Teams representing Great Britain have won the award the most times, having had twenty-three recipients, three of which shared the award. Excluding the 2000 British Olympic and Paralympic teams, which fielded competitors in many Paralympic and Olympic sports, the remainder of the winning teams have represented 15 sporting disciplines. Although dominated by teams from England or representing Great Britain, the award has been won twice by Scottish teams; Celtic in 1967, after they became the first British football club to win the European Cup, and the 1990 Grand Slam winning Scotland rugby union squad.
Football has had the highest representation among the winners, with 15 recipients. The most recent award was presented in 2025 to the England women's national football team.
By year
+BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award winnersYearNationWinnerSportNote1960Motor racing1961Football1962Motor racing1963Cricket1964Football1965Football1966Football1967Football1968Football 1969Athletics 1969Golf1970Horse racing 1971Rugby union1972Equestrianism1973Football1974Rugby union1975Swimming (Note: Requires RealPlayer software).1976Modern Pentathlon1977Football1978Tennis 1979Equestrianism1980Rugby union1981Horse racing 1982Figure skating1983Figure skating1984Equestrianism 1985Golf1986Football1987Golf1988Hockey 1989Athletics (Note: Requires RealPlayer software).1990Rugby union 1991Rugby union 1991Athletics 1992Rowing 1993Rugby union1994Rugby league1995Golf1996Rowing 1997Rugby union1998Football1999Football 2000—2001Football2002Golf2003Rugby union2004Rowing2005Cricket2006Rugby league2007Rugby union2008Cycling2009Cricket2010Golf2011Cricket2012—2013Rugby Union2014Rugby union2015Tennis2016Football2017Cricket2018Netball2019Cricket2020Football2021Football 2022Football2023Football2024Rugby leaguebbc.co.uk2025Golf
By nation This table lists the total number of awards won by nations that the teams have represented. +Winners by nationNationNumber of winsThe fractions refer to occasions on which the awarded was shared between more than one person. For example, the British & Irish Lions are made up of representatives from both Ireland and the United Kingdom (including when they were called the British Lions). 6 2 1 1 1
By sport This table lists the total number of awards won by the teams sporting discipline. +Winners by sportSporting professionNumber of winsThe table excludes the individual Olympic sports that members of the winning 2000 Olympic and Paralympic, and 2012 Olympic and Paralympic teams competed in.Football 16Rugby union 11Golf 7Cricket 6Athletics 4Equestrianism 3Rowing 3Rugby league 3Figure skating 2Horse racing 2Motor racing 2Tennis 2Cycling 1Hockey 1Netball 1Swimming 1
Notes
References General
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