BBC adds football awards to Sports Personality of the Year ceremony

Football will have two dedicated award categories at the 2026 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, with viewers also given a wider role in choosing the winners. The BBC announced that the programme will take place in Salford on Sunday, 13 December, and that five of its nine awards will be determined by public votes.

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Men's Footballer of the Year and BBC World Service Women's Footballer of the Year will both feature in this year's ceremony. The women's award is not a new competition: it has been presented by the BBC World Service since 2015. Its inclusion marks the first time it will be handed out as part of the Sports Personality of the Year show.

According to the BBC's announcement, separate panels of football experts will draw up the contender shortlists for the men's and women's awards. Supporters will then choose the winners. Football's two categories join Sports Personality of the Year, Team of the Year and World Sport Star of the Year as the five prizes whose recipients will be decided through public voting.

An independent panel comprising industry experts, sports broadcasters, sports journalists and former sportspeople will select the shortlists for the main Sports Personality, Team and World Sport Star awards. That panel will also choose the winners of Young Sports Personality of the Year and Coach of the Year directly. The Helen Rollason Award and Lifetime Achievement award complete the programme's nine categories.

Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott will return as presenters. The ceremony will be broadcast live from 17:45 GMT on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, with coverage also available through the BBC Sport website and app. The BBC said that full voting details, dates and terms and conditions would be released in due course.

BBC Sport director Alex Kay-Jelski said the expanded audience role was a particularly significant feature of this year's awards. In the announcement, he described the ceremony as a way of bringing together the sporting performances and stories that prompted discussion throughout the year. The revised format gives fans the final decision in a majority of the evening's award categories, while retaining expert panels to establish the shortlists.