The official shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year has yet to be released, but the latest bookmakers' odds give us a very good idea of who the frontrunners are.
It could be something of a race between sprinter Amy Jones and footballer Harry Kane, but others also have chances.
It Takes Two to Tango
Normally, by this time of the year, there’s a heavy odds-on favourite on the SPOTY winner market. But not this time round.
Not only are there two candidates currently available at odds below 3.0, but a couple of others can’t be completely dismissed, either. But the smart money is on either Amy Hunt or Harry Kane winning the prestigious award. Here’s what they’ve got going for and against them.
Harry Kane
- Sport: Football
- Odds: 1.73 - 1.9
Harry Kane had a brilliant season for both Bayern Munich and England in 2025-26, scoring a truly ridiculous number of goals: 77 in 68 games for club and country, winning the Bundesliga, German Cup and making the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they were a little unlucky to go out to winners PSG, losing 6-5 on aggregate.
Kane was also in red-hot form at the World Cup, where he was England’s captain, scoring 10 goals in seven matches, including both in a tight 2-1 win against DR Congo in the first knockout round and has already started the current season in style, with 12 goals in 13 games so far.
In his favour:
Beyond his brilliant season last year, including those standout performances at the World Cup, Kane is generally seen as one of sport’s ‘good guys’: humble, friendly, and controversy-free.
At a time when some stars are seen as spoilt, pampered, and overly flashy, that may well count in his favour, too.
As may the fact that he won the Ballon d’Or earlier this week. There will have been endless media coverage about it, so his name may well be on the public’s mind when it comes to casting their vote.
Against him:
The fact he plays in Germany rather than England may count somewhat against him, as UK-based voters will see fewer of his games now that he’s no longer in the Premier League. It’s also true that England didn’t actually win the World Cup. They really should have beaten Argentina in the semis but failed again, while Hunt won four golds.
Amy Hunt
- Sport: Athletics
- Odds: 2.3 - 2.9
Sprinter Amy Hunt became the first-ever athlete, man or woman, to win four gold medals at the same (athletics) European Championships when winning the 100 metres, 200 metres, 4x 100 relay and 4x100 mixed relay in Birmingham during the summer.
In her favour:
Four of the last five winners have been female, with tennis player Emma Raducanu, footballers Beth Mead and Mary Earps and fellow athlete Keely Hodhkinson all victorious since 2021, before male golfer Rory McIlroy won it last year.
Against Her:
Athletes don’t have a particularly great record when it comes to winning SPOTY, with only two winners since 2005: Mo Farah in 2017 and Hodgkinson in 2024, which perhaps isn’t that surprising given athletics isn’t generally seen as one of the most popular or high-profile sports in the UK, compared to the likes of football, tennis or cricket.
Best of the Rest
And now to an extremely quick summary of the next four candidates for the Sports Personality of the Year 2026, ranked according to betting sites.
Josh Kerr
- Sport: Athletics
- Odds: 6.5 - 9.0
Scottish middle-distance runner Kerr has enjoyed a remarkable 2026, winning world indoor 3,000m and Commonwealth Games mile gold, alongside breaking the world mile record in London.
Matt Weston
- Sport: Winter Sports
- Odds: 13 - 17.0
British skeleton racer Matt Weston made history at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, winning gold in both the individual and mixed team events. He is also a multiple world champion and reigning overall World Cup winner.
Jude Bellingham
- Sport: Football
- Odds: 26.0 - 40.0
Real Madrid and England star Bellingham has been playing football at another level over the past few months, including standout performances at the World Cup, where he scored seven goals, most notably his back-to-back braces in 3-2 and 2-1 wins over Mexico and Norway in the knockout stages.
Luke Littler
- Sport: Darts
- Odds: 41.0 - 51.0
2026 runner-up Littler won almost every major darts tournament this season as he continues to dominate the sport with relentless scoring and an amazing ability to finish on a double while seemingly immune to pressure. But the 19-year-old has also been the subject of criticism for being overly aggressive towards opponents at the oche, while others have accused him of being something of a bad loser on the few occasions when he doesn’t win. So in terms of pure popularity among voters, others have better chances.
What is Sports Personality of the Year?
Sports Personality of the Year (often abbreviated to SPOTY) is an annual British sporting awards ceremony celebrating outstanding achievements in sport. The main award goes to the sportsperson judged to have made the greatest impact during the year, decided by a public vote.
So in that regard, the ‘Personality’ side of things is a little misleading, as it’s more about the sporting achievements of the different candidates over the course of a year rather than their personality, demeanour, and public image, although the candidate being seen as a nice, friendly person with lots of time for their fans will also certainly help their cause.
All in all, SPOTY is generally regarded as the most prestigious individual award a sportsperson can receive in the UK because, by definition, you’re up against hundreds of top sportspeople from all the different sports, so to be the one who is seen as achieving the most is easier said than done.
Then there’s the fact that it’s a public vote, which in the eyes of many, means more than just an objective assessment of what you achieved.
Previous Sports Personality of the Year Winners
The list of past SPOTY winners reads like a ‘who’s who’ of all the great British sportspeople since 1954, the first year it was held.
Early winners included England World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore (1966), tennis player Virginia Wade (1977) and maverick cricketer Ian Botham (1981).
90s and noughties winners included England midfielder Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne (1990), Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill (1992), sprinter Linford Christie (1993), long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe (2002), equestrian champ Princess Zara Phillips (2006) and wing wizard Ryan Giggs (2009).
More recently, tennis ace Andy Murray won it three times in four years (2013, 2015 and 2016), F1 star Lewis Hamilton won it for the second time in 2020 after also doing so in 2014, and Emma Raducanu won it herself in 2021 after her fairytale victory at the US Open that year.
