AIPS has opened its end-of-the-year poll to choose the very best of 2025; AIPS members from all over the world can vote for the Best Athletes and Team of 2025, and the sporting event that provided the best working conditions for journalists…
Polling has begun in the AIPS “Vote for the Champions of 2025” Poll, which is open to SJA members provided they also hold an AIPS Press card.
Instead of an open poll, voters can choose from a shortlist of more than 50 in each of the four categories.
SJA Sportswoman of 2025 Chloe Kelly, who converted the decisive penalty in the shootout as England’s Lionesses retained the European Championship, and star goalkeeper Hannah Hampton – recipient of the SJA President’s Award – are both in the field of contenders for the AIPS Sportswoman award, but competition is fierce.
In the race to be the AIPS Sportsman of 2025, candidates include double Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz and our inaugural International Award winner Mondo Duplantis after another dominant season in the pole vault.
Newly-crowned Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris could well make a late surge to the chequered flag, although the SJA Sportsman of the Year, Rory McIlroy, is not in the running, despite winning the US Masters at Augusta and playing a vital role in Europe’s Ryder Cup winning team.
The Open champion, American Scottie Scheffler, who lifted the old Claret Jug for the first time and then the US PGA Championship a few weeks later, is included.
In the poll for Team of the Year, India’s World Cup-winning women cricketers will surely present a stiff challenge to the SJA’s own Team of the Year, the Lionesses.
UEFA Men’s Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are in a shortlist which also features England’s World Cup-winning women’s rugby union team, already winners of the SJA award for “Outstanding Sporting Performance”.
AIPS members are also invited to choose their top three media facilities of the year from a shortlist.
There was a time when the year between an Olympics and a World Cup was relatively quiet, but this list proves emphatically that that is no longer the case.
“The AIPS is counting on its vast network of professionals across the world to select the Champions of 2025,” a statement said.
Voting closes at 11:59 pm CET on December 29, 2025.
AIPS members can vote by visiting the AIPS website.
To see the shortlists, visit the AIPS Europe website.
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