Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year

Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year

The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year is an annual award honoring the achievements of individual men from the world of sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven constituent awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech. As of 2020, a shortlist of six nominees for the award comes from a panel composed of the "world's leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters". The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the winner who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at the annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. The awards are considered highly prestigious and are frequently referred to as the sporting equivalent of the "Oscars".

The inaugural winner of the award was the American golfer Tiger Woods who finished the 1999 season with 8 wins, a feat not achieved since 1974, including 1 major, the PGA Championship from 21 tournaments played. In 2000, Woods surpassed his previous season in multiple metrics, more wins (9) and major wins (3) in fewer tournaments (20), earning a second consecutive Laureus Award. Woods would win a 4th consecutive major in 2001, the first man to hold all 4 major championships at the same time, and would become the most dominant player of his era, winning a co-record 82 Tour titles and occupying the No. 1-ranking for 683 weeks (13 years 7 weeks), earning him 5 additional nominations between 2002 and 2008, and another nomination in 2020. The 2003 winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year was the American road cyclist Lance Armstrong. He had been nominated the previous year, and earned further nominations in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Following Armstrong's 2013 admission of doping, all his Laureus awards and nominations were rescinded. Tennis players dominate the winners list, with twelve awards, while athletes and Formula One drivers have won four times, and golfers twice. As of 2025, excluding Armstrong, the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year has been won by 11 individuals since its inception at the start of the century. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic hold the record for the most awards with five each. Lionel Messi and Tiger Woods have the nominations record (8). Michael Phelps, Valentino Rossi, and Cristiano Ronaldo have the most nominations without a win (5).

List of winners and nominees

Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year

Lionel Messi, who won the award in 2020 and 2023, is the only awardee to play in a team sport.

Year	Image	Winner(s)	Nationality	Sport	Nominees	Refs
2000		Tiger Woods	USA	Golf	Andre Agassi ( USA) – tennis Maurice Greene ( USA) – athletics
2001		Tiger Woods (2)	USA	Golf	Steve Redgrave ( GBR) – rowing Michael Schumacher ( GER) – Formula One Ian Thorpe ( AUS) – swimming Pieter van den Hoogenband ( NED) – swimming
2002		Michael Schumacher	GER	Formula One	Lance Armstrong ( USA) – cycling Maurice Greene ( USA) – athletics Ian Thorpe ( AUS) – swimming Tiger Woods ( USA) – golf
2003		Lance Armstrong	USA	Cycling	Ole Einar Bjørndalen ( NOR) – biathlon Ronaldo ( BRA) – football Michael Schumacher ( GER) – Formula One Tiger Woods ( USA) – golf
2004		Michael Schumacher (2)	GER	Formula One	Lance Armstrong ( USA) – cycling Roger Federer (  SUI) – tennis Michael Phelps ( USA) – swimming Valentino Rossi ( ITA) – MotoGP Jonny Wilkinson ( GBR) – rugby union
2005		Roger Federer	SUI	Tennis	Lance Armstrong ( USA) – cycling Hicham El Guerrouj ( MAR) – athletics Michael Phelps ( USA) – swimming Valentino Rossi ( ITA) – MotoGP Michael Schumacher ( GER) – Formula One
2006		Roger Federer (2)	SUI	Tennis	Fernando Alonso ( ESP) – Formula One Lance Armstrong ( USA) – cycling Ronaldinho ( BRA) – football Valentino Rossi ( ITA) – MotoGP Tiger Woods ( USA) – golf
2007		Roger Federer (3)	SUI	Tennis	Fernando Alonso ( ESP) – Formula One Fabio Cannavaro ( ITA) – football Asafa Powell ( JAM) – athletics Michael Schumacher ( GER) – Formula One Tiger Woods ( USA) – golf
2008		Roger Federer (4)	SUI	Tennis	Tyson Gay ( USA) – athletics Kaká ( BRA) – football Michael Phelps ( USA) – swimming Kimi Räikkönen ( FIN) – Formula One Tiger Woods ( USA) – golf
2009		Usain Bolt	JAM	Athletics	Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One Rafael Nadal ( ESP) – tennis Michael Phelps ( USA) – swimming Cristiano Ronaldo ( POR) – football Valentino Rossi ( ITA) – MotoGP
2010		Usain Bolt (2)	JAM	Athletics	Kenenisa Bekele ( ETH) – athletics Alberto Contador ( ESP) – cycling Roger Federer (  SUI) – tennis Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Valentino Rossi ( ITA) – MotoGP
2011		Rafael Nadal	ESP	Tennis	Kobe Bryant ( USA) – basketball Andrés Iniesta ( ESP) – football Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Manny Pacquiao ( PHI) – boxing Sebastian Vettel ( GER) – Formula One
2012		Novak Djokovic	SRB	Tennis	Usain Bolt ( JAM) – athletics Cadel Evans ( AUS) – cycling Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Dirk Nowitzki ( GER) – basketball Sebastian Vettel ( GER) – Formula One
2013		Usain Bolt (3)	JAM	Athletics	Mo Farah ( GBR) – athletics Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Michael Phelps ( USA) – swimming Sebastian Vettel ( GER) – Formula One Bradley Wiggins ( GBR) – cycling
2014		Sebastian Vettel	GER	Formula One	Usain Bolt ( JAM) – athletics Mo Farah ( GBR) – athletics LeBron James ( USA) – basketball Rafael Nadal ( ESP) – tennis Cristiano Ronaldo ( POR) – football
2015		Novak Djokovic (2)	SRB	Tennis	Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One Renaud Lavillenie ( FRA) – athletics Marc Márquez ( ESP) – MotoGP Rory McIlroy ( NIR) – golf Cristiano Ronaldo ( POR) – football
2016		Novak Djokovic (3)	SRB	Tennis	Usain Bolt ( JAM) – athletics Stephen Curry ( USA) – basketball Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Jordan Spieth ( USA) – golf
2017		Usain Bolt (4)	JAM	Athletics	Stephen Curry ( USA) – basketball Mo Farah ( GBR) – athletics LeBron James ( USA) – basketball Andy Murray ( GBR) – tennis Cristiano Ronaldo ( POR) – football
2018		Roger Federer (5)	SUI	Tennis	Mo Farah ( GBR) – athletics Chris Froome ( GBR) – cycling Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One Rafael Nadal ( ESP) – tennis Cristiano Ronaldo ( POR) – football
2019		Novak Djokovic (4)	SRB	Tennis	Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One LeBron James ( USA) – basketball Eliud Kipchoge ( KEN) – athletics Kylian Mbappé ( FRA) – football Luka Modrić ( CRO) – football
2020		Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Formula One	Eliud Kipchoge ( KEN) – athletics Marc Márquez ( ESP) – MotoGP Rafael Nadal ( ESP) – tennis Tiger Woods ( USA) – golf
	Lionel Messi	ARG	Football
2021		Rafael Nadal (2)	ESP	Tennis	Joshua Cheptegei ( UGA) – athletics Armand Duplantis ( SWE) – athletics Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One LeBron James ( USA) – basketball Robert Lewandowski ( POL) – football
2022		Max Verstappen	NED	Formula One	Tom Brady ( USA) – American football Novak Djokovic ( SRB) – tennis Caeleb Dressel ( USA) – swimming Eliud Kipchoge ( KEN) – athletics Robert Lewandowski ( POL) – football
2023		Lionel Messi (2)	ARG	Football	Stephen Curry ( USA) – basketball Armand Duplantis ( SWE) – athletics Kylian Mbappé ( FRA) – football Rafael Nadal ( ESP) – tennis Max Verstappen ( NED) – Formula One
2024		Novak Djokovic (5)	SRB	Tennis	Armand Duplantis ( SWE) – athletics Erling Haaland ( NOR) – football Noah Lyles ( USA) – athletics Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Max Verstappen ( NED) – Formula One
2025		Mondo Duplantis	SWE	Athletics	Carlos Alcaraz ( ESP) – tennis Léon Marchand ( FRA) – swimming Tadej Pogačar ( SLO) – cycling Jannik Sinner ( ITA) – tennis Max Verstappen ( NED) – Formula One
2026					Carlos Alcaraz ( ESP) – tennis Ousmane Dembélé ( FRA) – football Mondo Duplantis ( SWE) – athletics Marc Márquez ( ESP) – MotoGP Tadej Pogačar ( SLO) – cycling Jannik Sinner ( ITA) – tennis