BBC Sports Team Of The Year 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. 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. Liverpool F.C. have won the award four times. 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, and by the England national rugby union team and the British men's 4 x 400 m relay team in 1991. 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.
![Photograph of the front of the Cooper T51 racing car. It is fairly cylindrical in shape, coloured green, with two white racing stripes, and the number 17 on the bonnet.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Cooper_indy_1961.jpg/170px-Cooper_indy_1961.jpg)
![Black-and-white photograph from the front of Eric Brown which shows him finishing his golf swing over his left shoulder.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/EricBrownGolfer.jpg/170px-EricBrownGolfer.jpg)
![Photograph from the side of horse Nijinsky II, who is walking round the paddock at the 1970 Irish Derby.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/NijinskyII.jpg/170px-NijinskyII.jpg)
![Photograph of an eight-and-a-half-foot bronze statue of Bob Stokoe, which imitates him running to celebrate after the final whistle of the 1973 FA Cup Final.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Stokoe_statue.jpg/170px-Stokoe_statue.jpg)
![Photograph of nine members of the England rugby team on an open top bus victory parade. Lawrence Dallaglio is in the centre holding up the golden coloured Webb Ellis Cup, which is the trophy awarded to the winners.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/England_world_cup_winners.jpg/170px-England_world_cup_winners.jpg)
By nation
This table lists the total number of awards won by nations that the teams have represented.
Nation | Number of wins. |
---|---|
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33 |
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23 |
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5 |
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2 |
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2 |
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1 |
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1 |
By sport
This table lists the total number of awards won by the teams sporting discipline.
Sporting profession | Number of wins |
---|---|
Football | 16 |
Rugby union | 11 |
Cricket | 6 |
Golf | 6 |
Athletics | 4 |
Equestrianism | 3 |
Rowing | 3 |
Figure skating | 2 |
Horse racing | 2 |
Motor racing | 2 |
Rugby league | 2 |
Tennis | 2 |
Cycling | 1 |
Hockey | 1 |
Netball | 1 |
Swimming | 1 |