• Argentine World Cup winner joins the Laureus movement ahead of attending 25th anniversary Laureus World Sports Awards
  • AS Roma star visits Sport for Good programme in Rome to kick off his role as a Laureus Ambassador 
  • Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal confirmed to attend Monday’s Awards Ceremony
  • Ski legend Lindsey Vonn to host the “athletes’ awards” in Madrid
  • For full list of this year’s Nominees click here
  • Last chance to apply for media accreditation – APPLY NOW

Paulo Dybala, the Argentine World Cup winner, has today been announced as a Laureus Ambassador. The 31-year-old initiated his new role with a visit to a Laureus Sport for Good programme in Rome and will be in attendance at the 25th anniversary Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid on Monday.

Dybala won five Serie A titles with Juventus and the World Cup with Argentina in 2022. The Argentine star – who now plays for AS Roma – visited Calcio Insieme on Wednesday, a Rome-based project supported by the AS Roma Foundation, which uses football to help children with intellectual disabilities. More than 30 children and young adults were there to meet the new Laureus Ambassador.

Paulo Dybala said: “It is a huge honour to join Laureus as an Ambassador. I have been inspired to learn about the incredible work they do, and to see ‘sport for good’ in action during my visit to Calcio Insieme was a great experience. The Laureus mission, to use sport as a vehicle for societal change, is inspiring and I am looking forward to attending a special 25th anniversary Laureus Awards in Madrid in the company of many sporting legends.

Joining Dybala at this year’s Awards show will be a host of champions including Spanish sporting hero Rafael Nadal. Nadal brought his illustrious career to a close in 2024 after 22 Grand Slams (including 14 French Open titles) two Olympic gold medals and 81 consecutive matches unbeaten on clay. Nadal has also completed a ‘Laureus Slam’ as the only athlete to win Breakthrough of the Year, Comeback of the Year, Sportsman of the Year and the Laureus Sport for Good Award.

This year’s event will be hosted by ski legend Lindsey Vonn, who won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award in 2011 and picked up the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award eight years later. Vonn – who hosted the virtual Awards in Seville in 2022 – launched a daring comeback in December at the age of 40 and secured her first World Cup podium finish in Idaho last month.

Vonn, a Member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the 69 sporting legends whose votes determine the winners of the Awards said: “It is a huge thrill to host the Awards once again. I enjoyed the experience virtually three years ago in Seville, but this time it will be even more special with everyone actually in attendance. I’ve been on both sides of the coin, thankfully I know what it’s like to win a Laureus award, and I also know what it’s like to vote. Having this perspective makes me appreciate how special Laureus is even more. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Madrid! Vamos!

Joining Nominees, Laureus Ambassadors and Academy Members will be sports fans from fashion, film and entertainment. Those attending include:

Athletics: Mondo Duplantis, Nawal El Moutawakel, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Tegla Loroupe, Edwin Moses, Letsile Tebogo

Basketball: Rudy Fernández
Cricket: Steve Waugh
Cycling: Mark Cavendish, Chris Hoy                              
Football: Thiago Alcantara, Kosovare Asllani, Cafu, Fabio Capello, Fernando Carro, Iker Casillas, Paulo Dybala, Luis de la Fuente, Luis Figo, Ruud Gullit,  Robin Le Normand, Rafael Louzán
Gymnastics: Rebeca Andrade, Simone Biles, Nadia Comăneci, Li Xiaopeng  
Hockey: Luciana Aymar          
Kayaking: Saúl Craviotto
Motor Racing: Zak Brown, Emerson Fittipaldi,           
Para archery: Matt Stutzman
Para badminton: Qu Zi Mo
Para fencing: Bebe Vio
Para swimming: Daniel Dias, Teresa Perales, Jiang Yuyan
Rowing: Steve Redgrave      
Rugby: Sean Fitzpatrick (Laureus Academy Chairman), Bryan Habana, Hugo Porta
Skiing: Lara Gut-Behrami, Eileen Gu, Maria Hőfl-Riesch, Lindsey Vonn
Squash: Nicol David            
Surfing: Kelly Slater
Swimming: Ariarne Titmus              
Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz, Paula Badosa, Mansour Bahrami, Boris Becker, Belinda Bencic, Novak Djokovic, Garbiñe Muguruza, Rafael Nadal, Jasmine Paolini, Aryna Sabalenka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Donna Vekić  
Windsurfing: Robby Naish

The full list of the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards Nominees is:   
   
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) Tennis - Won the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympic silver medal
Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) Athletics - retained Olympic pole vault title; has now broken world record 10 times
Léon Marchand (France) Swimming - won four individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics
Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) Cycling - 25 wins, including Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Championship
Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Motor Racing - won a fourth successive Formula One World Championship

LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Simone Biles (USA) Gymnastics - impressive return to Olympic stage with three golds and a silver in Paris
Aitana Bonmatí (Spain) Football - second straight Ballon d’Or Feminin as Barcelona won Champions League, Liga F and Copa de la Reina
Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) Athletics - bronze in 5,000m and 10,000m plus marathon gold in Paris
Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) Athletics - became the only three-time Olympic champion in 1,500 metres in Paris
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) Athletics - Olympic golds in 400m hurdles and 4 x 400m relay
Aryna Sabalenka Tennis - won Australian and US Opens; became World No.1 in singles and doubles

LAUREUS WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD
FC Barcelona Women’s Team (Spain) Football - won Champions League, Liga F and the Copa de la Reina 
Boston Celtics (USA) Basketball - claimed a record 18th NBA title, one more than their old rivals LA Lakers
McLaren Team (UK) Formula One - secured their first World Constructors’ Championship since 1998
Real Madrid (Spain) Football - won 15th Champions League/European Cup, La Liga and Supercopa de España
Spain Men’s Football Team - became most successful team in European Championship history with fourth win
USA Basketball Men’s National Team - claimed USA’s fifth straight Olympic gold to emulate the famous Dream Team
 
LAUREUS WORLD BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR AWARD
Julien Alfred (St Lucia) Athletics - won 100m in debut Olympics to take home St Lucia’s first-ever Olympic gold
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany) Football - Bundesliga champions for first time in their 120-year history after unbeaten season
Summer McIntosh (Canada) Swimming - won three individual golds and a silver in Paris
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) Athletics - won 200m gold medal, Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medal
Victor Wembanyama (France) Basketball - San Antonio Spurs centre won the NBA Rookie of the Year
Lamine Yamal (Spain) Football - named Best Young Player as Spain won the European Championships
 
LAUREUS WORLD COMEBACK OF THE YEAR AWARD
Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) Gymnastics - battling back from injury, she won Olympic gold, two silvers and bronze
Caeleb Dressel (USA) Swimming - overcame mental health issues to win two relay golds and a silver in Paris
Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland) Alpine Skiing - won overall World Cup title for first time since 2015/16 season
Marc Márquez (Spain) Motor Cycling - returned from serious injury to win three Grand Prix in 2024
Rishabh Pant (India) Cricket - 629 days after a life-threatening car crash, returned to play for India Test team
  • Ariarne Titmus (Australia) Swimming - defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title less than year after being diagnosed with a tumour
Ariarne Titmus (Australia) Swimming - defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title less than year after being diagnosed with a tumour
 

LAUREUS WORLD ACTION SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD
Yuto Horigome (Japan) Skateboarding - landed best trick of street competition to secure back-to-back Olympic golds
Chloe Kim (USA) Snowboarding - won her seventh X-Games superpipe gold medal
Caroline Marks (USA) Surfing - 22-year-old won the Olympic surfing gold in Tahiti
Aleksandra Miroslaw (Poland) Speed Climbing - set two world records on her way to Paris gold
Tom Pidcock (UK) Mountain Biking - won back-to-back Olympic titles in the cyclo-cross discipline
Arisa Trew (Australia) Skateboarding - became Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic champion, aged 14
 
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTPERSON OF THE YEAR WITH A DISABILITY AWARD
Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) Para Athletics - won five gold medals and a silver at the Paris Paralympics

Teresa Perales (Spain) Para Swimming - won bronze in Paris, to take her Paralympic medal haul to 28

Tokito Oda (Japan) Wheelchair Tennis - came from match point down to become youngest-ever Paralympic singles winner

Matt Stutzman (USA) Para Archery - became first-ever armless para-archery champion to win Olympic gold

Jiang Yuyan (China) Para Swimming - most-decorated athlete at Paralympics, she won seven golds from seven events

Qu Zimo (China) Para Badminton - won three golds at World Championship, then two more in Paris.

LAUREUS SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD  
Programmes nominated by a specialist selection panel; Laureus Academy select the winner 

Kick4life (Lesotho) Football x Gender Equity - uses football to reach at-risk children and young people

Figure Skating in Harlem (USA) Figure Skating x Racial Equity - help girls transform their lives through figure skating

Kind Surf (Spain) Surfing x Inclusion - uses surf therapy to support young people at risk of social exclusion due to intellectual disabilities

Liberi Nantes (Italy) Football x Social Inclusion – offers wide range of sporting activities for refugees and political asylum seekers

Paris Basket 18 (France) Basketball x Gender Equity - focuses on development of women’s sport, and also promotes social integration

Street League (UK) Multi-sport x Employability - uses the power of sport to help young people aged 14-30 prepare for employment and training opportunities