As the year, and indeed the decade, draws to a close, it can only mean one thing. It’s award season.
On Monday, football’s very own Raheem Sterling was announced as a nominee for the famous BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, after transforming himself into one of the world’s best on the pitch and a fantastic role model off it. From rising above racist abuse in domestic and foreign lands to shunning internet ‘trolls’, Sterling has proved to be an inspiration for the next generation.
Always humbled by the nominations and messages I keep on receiving.. Thanks for the incredible support you gave me this year and way before https://t.co/7I22wsAX8Y
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7) November 25, 2019
However, history will tell you that a footballer winning the BBC award is rare. This time around it’ll be incredibly tough for the Manchester City man to become just the sixth footballer in history to win the honour, especially when you look at what the likes of Ben Stokes and Lewis Hamilton have accomplished this year.
Nevertheless, as Sterling looks to better England teammate Harry Kane – who finished in third-place last year – let’s take a look at the five footballers who’ve actually won BBC Sports Personality of the Year since the award’s inception in 1954.
Bobby Moore (1966)
1966 wasn’t a bad year for English football with the Three Lions securing their first – and only -FIFA World Cup after beating West Germany 4-2 (A.E.T) in the final.
While Sir Geoff Hurst – who finished third in that year’s award – was the hero on the 30 July, it was Bobby Moore who was the figurehead and captain in Alf Ramsey’s side. The iconic image of Moore hoisting the Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley is one that has not only gone down in British sporting history but British history generally.
The legacy left by Moore is unlike most and in a poll conducted by the RadioTimes, the icon was voted the greatest SPOTY winner of all time. Hero.
Paul Gascoigne (1990)
While George Best, Gordan Banks and Kevin Keegan came close in the 70s and 80s, football had to wait 24 years until they saw another SPOTY victor.
And with British football in tatters, especially English, it looked unlikely for there to be an imminent winner come the start of the 1990s… But then came Italia ’90.
In a tournament that wasn’t meant to go right for the Three Lions, everything (almost everything) did, as England’s heroic journey to the semi-finals enthralled an unexpecting nation.
And despite David Platt’s improvisation, Gary Lineker’s clutch gene and Sir Bobby’s charisma, it was the Geordie in the middle of the park that stole everybody’s hearts. Blessed with immense footballing talent and a charismatic personality, Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne was undoubtedly the man who had the greatest influence on that England side.
The tournament would quite literally end in tears for Gazza after a heart-wrenching penalty shootout defeat to Germany in the semi’s, but nonetheless, Gascoigne’s displays in those six games went a long way in making England fans believe in the Three Lions again.
Michael Owen (1998)
A shorter wait this time around as eight years after Gascoigne, teenage sensation Michael Owen would get his hands on the award.
While his commentary and punditry in later life don’t exactly scream ‘personality’, Owen’s display at the 1998 World Cup in France made him a worthy winner of the award in 1998.
After bursting onto the Premier League scene in the 1997/98 season with Liverpool, the then 18-year-old was announced in Glenn Hoddle’s England squad for the upcoming tournament in the summer.
Impressive performances in the group stages – where he became England’s youngest goalscorer in the World Cup – saw him start in their round of 16 clash with Argentina.
While penalties proved to be England’s undoing once more, Owen scored one of the greatest solo goals the tournament has ever seen. It was a finish that went a long way in the teenager being voted as the SPOTY and later, Owen described the goal as ‘life-changing’, finishing his career as a Ballon d’Or winner and one of the finest natural strikers this country has ever seen.
David Beckham (2001)
If Owen was the ‘hero’ of the 1998 campaign, then David Beckham was the villain.
More than that, Beckham became public enemy number one after a moment of petulance saw the then-24-year-old sent off in that game against Argentina.
However, impressive displays for his club side Manchester United saw him win over the fans again before, in October 2001, Beckham completed his redemption arc from villain to outright saviour.
With Sven Goran Eriksson’s England trailing Greece 2-1 in a qualifier for the World Cup in the Pacific the following summer, a tricky playoff fixture against Ukraine looked likely for the Three Lions. Not on Becks’ watch (likely a Rolex).
In the dying embers of added time, Teddy Sheringham won England a free-kick in a central position, just shy of 30 yards out. With the weight of a nation on his shoulders, Beckham – who had played like a man possessed all game – then proceeded to unleash an unstoppable right-footed strike past an unmoved Antonios Nikopolidis in the Greek net to send England to the World Cup.
That incredible moment was enough to see Beckham bring home the award in 2001.
Ryan Giggs (2009)
The final winner from the world of football was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of them all as Ryan Giggs beat Formula One’s Jenson Button to the 2009 award.
While Giggs’ superior fan-base over the likes of Button and emerging heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill certainly contributed to the Welshman’s victory, Giggs was recognised for playing a role in United’s 11th Premier League title after winning the PFA Player of the Year in April.