Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year

Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year
Lamine Yamal, 2025 winner
Awarded for	"Awarded to the sportsperson or team whose performance as a newcomer suggests the greatest potential for an outstanding career or to an established sportsman or sportswoman who produces a significant step-up in class to a considerably higher level of sporting achievement." [1]
Location	Madrid (2025)
Presented by	Laureus Sport for Good Foundation
First award	2000
Currently held by	Lamine Yamal (2025)
Website	Official website

The Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year (previously known as the Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the Year until 2007) ^[2] is an annual award honoring the achievements of individuals or teams who deliver breakthrough performances in the world of sports. First presented in 2000, it is one of seven constituent awards within the Laureus World Sports Awards. ^[1] The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organization involved in over 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. The inaugural ceremony took place on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, where Nelson Mandela delivered the keynote address. ^[3] As of 2020 ^[update] , a shortlist of six nominees for the award comes from a panel composed of the "world's leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters". ^[1] The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the individual winner or winning team who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. ^[4] The awards are considered highly prestigious and are frequently referred to as the sporting equivalent of "Oscars". ^{[5] [6] [7]}

The inaugural winner of the award was the Spanish golfer Sergio García. During his debut season as a professional, the 19-year-old finished one stroke behind Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship and became the youngest player to gain selection for Team Europe for the Ryder Cup. ^{[8] [9]} In 2018 he also became the first and, As of 2020 ^[update] , only person to win the award twice, after winning his first major golf tournament (The Masters) at the age of 37. ^[10] Altogether, the award has been won by five women and eighteen men, although several teams have also been nominated. British sportspeople have won more awards than any other nationality with six, followed by Spanish with five. Tennis players are the most successful overall with seven wins, followed by golfers with six.

The winner in 2017 was the German Formula One driver Nico Rosberg. Having beaten teammate Lewis Hamilton to the 2016 World Championship title by five points, Rosberg announced his retirement from the sport five days later, two months prior to collecting his Laureus statuette. ^{[11] [12]}

The 2025 winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year was Spanish football player Lamine Yamal.

List of winners and nominees

Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year winners and nominees

Year	Image	Winner	Nationality	Sport	Nominees	Refs
2000		Sergio García	ESP	Golf	Kurt Warner ( USA) – American football Serena Williams ( USA) – tennis	[13] [14]
2001		Marat Safin	RUS	Tennis	Aaron Baddeley ( AUS) – golf Jenson Button ( GBR) – Formula One Juan Carlos Ferrero ( ESP) – tennis Brett Lee ( AUS) – cricket	[15] [16]
2002		Juan Pablo Montoya	COL	Formula One	Kim Clijsters ( BEL) – tennis Steven Gerrard ( ENG) – football Justine Henin ( BEL) – tennis Andy Roddick ( USA) – tennis	[7] [17]
2003		Yao Ming	CHN	Basketball	Daniela Hantuchová ( SVK) – tennis David Nalbandian ( ARG) – tennis Wayne Rooney ( ENG) – football Jochem Uytdehaage ( NED) – speed skating	[18] [19]
2004		Michelle Wie	USA	Golf	Fernando Alonso ( ESP) – Formula One Ben Curtis ( USA) – golf LeBron James ( USA) – basketball Robinho ( BRA) – football Maria Sharapova ( RUS) – tennis	[20] [21]
2005		Liu Xiang	CHN	Athletics	Amir Khan ( GBR) – boxing Svetlana Kuznetsova ( RUS) – tennis Laure Manaudou ( FRA) – swimming Dani Pedrosa ( ESP) – MotoGP Xing Huina ( CHN) – athletics	[22] [23]
2006		Rafael Nadal	ESP	Tennis	Paula Creamer ( USA) – golf Lionel Messi ( ARG) – football Andy Murray ( GBR) – tennis Danica Patrick ( USA) – auto racing Ben Roethlisberger ( USA) – American football	[24] [25]
2007		Amélie Mauresmo	FRA	Tennis	Xavier Carter ( USA) – athletics Ghana men's national football team ( GHA) – football Lewis Hamilton ( GBR) – Formula One Britta Steffen ( GER) – swimming Ma Xiaoxu ( CHN) – football	[26] [27]
2008		Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Formula One	Novak Djokovic ( SRB) – tennis Tyson Gay ( USA) – athletics Alberto Contador ( ESP) – cycling Oscar Pistorius ( RSA) – athletics Casey Stoner ( AUS) – MotoGP	[28] [29]
2009		Rebecca Adlington	GBR	Swimming	Novak Djokovic ( SRB) – tennis Ana Ivanovic ( SRB) – tennis Anthony Kim ( USA) – golf Sebastian Vettel ( GER) – Formula One Zou Kai ( CHN) – gymnastics	[30] [31] [32]
2010		Jenson Button	GBR	Formula One	Mark Cavendish ( GBR) – cycling Tom Daley ( GBR) – diving Juan Martín del Potro ( ARG) – tennis Jiyai Shin ( KOR) – golf VfL Wolfsburg ( GER) – football	[33] [34]
2011		Martin Kaymer	GER	Golf	Christophe Lemaitre ( FRA) – athletics Teddy Tamgho ( FRA) – athletics Louis Oosthuizen ( RSA) – golf Matteo Manassero ( ITA) – golf Thomas Müller ( GER) – football	[35] [36]
2012		Rory McIlroy	GBR	Golf	Li Na ( CHN) – tennis Oscar Pistorius ( RSA) – athletics Mo Farah ( GBR) – athletics Petra Kvitová ( CZE) – tennis Yohan Blake ( JAM) – athletics	[37] [38]
2013		Andy Murray	GBR	Tennis	Gabby Douglas ( USA) – gymnastics Kirani James ( GRN) – athletics Neymar ( BRA) – football Yannick Agnel ( FRA) – swimming Ye Shiwen ( CHN) – swimming	[39] [40]
2014		Marc Márquez	ESP	MotoGP	Afghanistan men's national cricket team ( AFG) – cricket Raphael Holzdeppe ( GER) – athletics Nairo Quintana ( COL) – cycling Justin Rose ( GBR) – golf Adam Scott ( AUS) – golf	[41] [42]
2015		Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Formula One	Marin Čilić ( CRO) – tennis Mario Götze ( GER) – football Switzerland Davis Cup team (  SUI) – tennis Mikaela Shiffrin ( USA) – alpine skiing James Rodríguez ( COL) – football	[43] [44]
2016		Jordan Spieth	USA	Golf	Max Verstappen ( NED) – Formula One Chile men's national football team ( CHI) – football Adam Peaty ( GBR) – swimming Tyson Fury ( GBR) – boxing Jason Day ( AUS) – golf	[45] [46]
2017		Nico Rosberg	GER	Formula One	Almaz Ayana ( ETH) – athletics Fiji men's rugby sevens team ( FIJ) – rugby sevens Iceland men's football team ( ISL) – football Leicester City F.C. ( GBR) – football Wayde van Niekerk ( RSA) – athletics	[12] [47]
2018		Sergio García	ESP	Golf	Giannis Antetokounmpo ( GRE) – basketball Caeleb Dressel ( USA) – swimming Anthony Joshua ( GBR) – boxing Kylian Mbappé ( FRA) – football Jeļena Ostapenko ( LAT) – tennis	[48] [49]
2019		Naomi Osaka	JPN	Tennis	Ana Carrasco ( ESP) – MotoGP Jakob Ingebrigtsen ( NOR) – athletics Geraint Thomas ( GBR) – cycling Sofia Goggia ( ITA) – Alpine skiing Briana Williams ( JAM) – athletics	[50] [51]
2020		Egan Bernal	COL	Cycling	Andy Ruiz ( USA) – boxing Bianca Andreescu ( CAN) – tennis Coco Gauff ( USA) – tennis Japan men's rugby team ( JPN) – rugby union Regan Smith ( USA) – swimming	[52] [53]
2021		Patrick Mahomes	USA	American football	Ansu Fati ( ESP) – football Joan Mir ( ESP) – MotoGP Tadej Pogačar ( SVN) – cycling Iga Świątek ( POL) – tennis Dominic Thiem ( AUT) – tennis	[54]
2022		Emma Raducanu	GBR	Tennis	Neeraj Chopra ( IND) – athletics Daniil Medvedev ( RUS) – tennis Pedri ( ESP) – football Yulimar Rojas ( VEN) – athletics Ariarne Titmus ( AUS) – swimming	[55]
2023		Carlos Alcaraz	ESP	Tennis	Elena Rybakina ( KAZ) – Tennis Morocco men's national football team ( MAR) – football Nathan Chen ( USA) – Figure skating Scottie Scheffler ( USA) – Golf Tobi Amusan ( NGR) – Athletics	[56]
2024		Jude Bellingham	GBR	Football	Linda Caicedo ( COL) – Football Coco Gauff ( USA) - Tennis Qin Haiyang ( CHN) – Swimming Josh Kerr ( GBR) – Athletics Salma Paralluelo ( ESP) – Football	[57]
2025		Lamine Yamal	ESP	Football	Julien Alfred ( LCA) – Athletics Bayer 04 Leverkusen ( GER) – Football Summer McIntosh ( CAN) – Swimming Letsile Tebogo ( BOT) – Athletics Victor Wembanyama ( FRA) – Basketball	[58]

Statistics

Statistics are correct as of 2025 winners.

Winners by nationality Country Winners Nominations GBR 7 15 ESP 6 10 USA 3 20 GER 2 8 CHN 2 6 COL 2 3 AUS 1 6 FRA 1 6 RUS 1 3 JPN 1 1 RSA 0 4 ARG 0 3 SRB 0 3 BEL 0 2 BRA 0 2 CAN 0 2 ITA 0 2 JAM 0 2 NED 0 2 ENG 0 2 AFG 0 1 AUT 0 1 BOT 0 1 CHI 0 1 CRO 0 1 CZE 0 1 ETH 0 1 FIJ 0 1 GHA 0 1 GRN 0 1 GRE 0 1 IND 0 1 ISL 0 1 JPN 0 1 KAZ 0 1 KOR 0 1 LAT 0 1 LCA 0 1 MAR 0 1 NGR 0 1 NOR 0 1 POL 0 1 SVK 0 1 SVN 0 1   SUI 0 1 VEN 0 1

Winners by sport Sport Winners Nominations Tennis 7 24 Golf 6 11 Formula One 5 5 Football 2 23 Athletics 1 21 Swimming 1 9 Cycling 1 5 MotoGP 1 4 Basketball 1 3 American football 1 2 Boxing 0 4 Alpine skiing 0 2 Cricket 0 2 Gymnastics 0 2 Auto racing 0 1 Diving 0 1 Figure skating 0 1 Rugby sevens 0 1 Speed skating 0 1

See also

• Best Breakthrough Athlete ESPY Award

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