BBC Sports Team of the Year Award

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".

BBC Sports Team of the Year Award
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	BBC Sports Personality of the Year
First award	1960; 65 years ago (1960)
Most recent winner	Wigan R.L.F.C. (2024)

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.^[1] Before that, the winner of the Team of the Year Award has been chosen by public vote^[2] and picked by listeners of Radio 5 Live.^[3]

History

Wigan Warriors, pictured celebrating winning the 2024 Super League Grand Final, are the current holders of the award

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.^[4] 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.^[5] Liverpool F.C. have won the award four times.^[6] 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,^[7] and by the England national rugby union team and the British men's 4 x 400 m relay team in 1991.^[8] 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 2022 to the England women's national football team.

By year

•  †  Denotes joint winners.

A Cooper T51, similar to the one used by the Cooper Car Company in the 1960 Formula One season

The England football team won the award in 1966 for their victory at the 1966 World Cup

Eric Brown, who captained United Kingdom's 1969 Ryder Cup that won the award that year

Nijinsky II, whose team took the award in 1970

Sunderland, 1973 winners, celebrating their FA Cup win

Alan Hansen, who captained the Liverpool F.C. side that won the award in 1986

The 1998–99 Manchester United team that won the 1999 award, after becoming the first English team to win the treble

The England rugby union team won the award in 2003 for their victory at the 2003 Rugby World Cup

Chris Hoy, a member of the British Olympic Cycling Team that won the award in 2008

The England women's football team, 2022 award winners, collecting their medal after victory in Euro 2022

BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award winners

Year	Nation	Winner	Sport	Note
1960	United Kingdom	Cooper motor racing team	Motor racing	[4]
1961	England	Tottenham Hotspur F.C.	Football	[9]
1962	United Kingdom	BRM motor racing team	Motor racing	[10]
1963	West Indies	West Indies cricket team	Cricket	[11]
1964	England	England under-17 football team	Football	[12]
1965	England	West Ham United F.C.	Football	[13]
1966	England	England football team	Football	[14]
1967	Scotland	Celtic F.C.	Football	[15]
1968	England	Manchester United F.C.	Football	[16]
1969†	United Kingdom	Women's 4 x 400 m relay team	Athletics	[7]
1969†	United Kingdom	Ryder Cup team	Golf	[5][7]
1970	Canada	Nijinsky horse racing team	Horse racing	[17]
1971	United Kingdom	British Lions rugby union team	Rugby union	[18]
1972	United Kingdom	Olympic three-day event team	Equestrianism	[19]
1973	England	Sunderland A.F.C.	Football	[20]
1974	United Kingdom	British Lions rugby union team	Rugby union	[21]
1975	United Kingdom	Men's Swimming team	Swimming	[22]
1976	United Kingdom	Olympic modern pentathlon team	Modern Pentathlon	[23]
1977	England	Liverpool F.C.	Football	[6]
1978	United Kingdom	Davis and Wightman Cup tennis teams	Tennis	[24]
1979	United Kingdom	Showjumping team	Equestrianism	[25]
1980	England	England rugby union team	Rugby union	[18]
1981	England	Bob Champion and Aldaniti	Horse racing	[26]
1982	United Kingdom	Torvill and Dean	Figure skating	[27]
1983	United Kingdom	Torvill and Dean	Figure skating	[27][nb 1]
1984	United Kingdom	Olympic Showjumping team	Equestrianism	[29]
1985	Europe	Ryder Cup team	Golf	[5]
1986	England	Liverpool F.C.	Football	[6][nb 2]
1987	Europe	Ryder Cup team	Golf	[5]
1988	United Kingdom	Olympic hockey team	Hockey	[31]
1989	United Kingdom	Men's athletics squad	Athletics	[32]
1990	Scotland	Scotland rugby union team	Rugby union	[33]
1991†	England	England rugby union team	Rugby union	[8]
1991†	United Kingdom	Men's 4 x 400 m relay team	Athletics	[8]
1992	United Kingdom	Olympic rowing pairs	Rowing	[34]
1993	England	England rugby union team	Rugby union	[35]
1994	England	Wigan R.L.F.C.	Rugby league	[36]
1995	Europe	Ryder Cup team	Golf	[5]
1996	United Kingdom	Olympic rowing pairs	Rowing	[37]
1997	United Kingdom	British Lions rugby union team	Rugby union	[38]
1998	England	Arsenal F.C.	Football	[39]
1999	England	Manchester United F.C.	Football	[40]
2000	United Kingdom	Olympic and Paralympic teams	—	[41]
2001	England	Liverpool F.C.	Football	[6]
2002	Europe	Ryder Cup team	Golf	[42]
2003	England	England rugby union team	Rugby union	[43]
2004	United Kingdom	Olympic men's coxless four	Rowing	[44]
2005	England	England cricket team	Cricket	[45]
2006	England	St Helens R.F.C.	Rugby league	[46]
2007	England	England rugby union team	Rugby union	[47]
2008	United Kingdom	Olympic cycling team	Cycling	[48]
2009	England	England cricket team	Cricket	[49]
2010	Europe	Ryder Cup team	Golf	[50]
2011	England	England cricket team	Cricket	[51]
2012	United Kingdom	Olympic and Paralympic teams	—	[52]
2013	United Kingdom  Republic of Ireland	British & Irish Lions rugby union team	Rugby Union	[53]
2014	England	England women's rugby union team	Rugby union	[54]
2015	United Kingdom	Great Britain Davis Cup team	Tennis	[55]
2016	England	Leicester City F.C.	Football	[56]
2017	England	England women's cricket team	Cricket	[57]
2018	England	England netball team	Netball	[58]
2019	England	England cricket team	Cricket	[59]
2020	England	Liverpool F.C.	Football	[60]
2021	England	England football team	Football	[61]
2022	England	England women's football team	Football	[62]
2023	England	Manchester City F.C.	Football	[63]
2024	England	Wigan R.L.F.C.	Rugby league	[64]

By nation

This table lists the total number of awards won by nations that the teams have represented.

Winners by nation

Nation	Number of wins[nb 3]
England	31
United Kingdom	26
Europe	5
Scotland	2
Republic of Ireland	1
Canada	1
West Indies	1

By sport

This table lists the total number of awards won by the teams sporting discipline.

Winners by sport

Sporting profession	Number of wins[nb 4]
Football	16
Rugby union	11
Cricket	6
Golf	6
Athletics	4
Equestrianism	3
Rowing	3
Rugby league	3
Figure skating	2
Horse racing	2
Motor racing	2
Tennis	2
Cycling	1
Hockey	1
Netball	1
Swimming	1

Notes

1. In addition to the Team Award in 1983, an International Team Award was presented to Alan Bond and the rest of Australia II's sailing crew.^[28]
2. In addition to the Team Award in 1986, a Special Team Award was presented to the Great Britain men's 4 x 400 metres relay team.^[30]
3. The 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).
4. The table excludes the individual Olympic sports that members of the winning 2000 Olympic and Paralympic, and 2012 Olympic and Paralympic teams competed in.

References

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