Laureus World Sports Awards 2025: Hollywood actor Matthew Goode to host ceremony

The Laureus World Sports Awards 2025 will feature many big names.

As the 25th anniversary of Laureus World Sports Awards approaches, a host of the biggest names in sport – including Nominees for this year’s Awards, past winners, and all-time legends – are confirmed for ‘The Athletes’ Awards’ in Madrid this month.

Last year’s Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, Novak Djokovic, will be in attendance, along with Nominees for this year’s Award including four-time tennis Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz and Mondo Duplantis, the pole vaulter, who was one of the stars of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The two biggest names from the world of gymnastics – 2024 Olympic champions Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade – will be there, as will the women’s tennis World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.

The most prestigious honours event on the sporting calendar is back for a second successive year at the iconic Palacio de Cibeles in the Spanish capital, with the world’s best sportsmen and women competing for The Laureus, the statuette which signifies the ultimate recognition from the world of elite sport – athletes are nominated by a panel of global media and the winners decided by the 69 sporting legends of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

The Awards show takes place on Monday, April 21, and will be broadcast globally. Hollywood actor Matthew Goode will host the landmark show. He will host the Laureus Awards following acting heavyweights like Morgan Freeman, Hugh Grant, and Andy Garcia.

He said: “The best athletes in the world are coming to Madrid for the 25th anniversary Laureus World Sports Awards – but I’m not sure any of them will be as excited as I am to be a part of the greatest show in sports.

“The sportswomen and men we will celebrate and honor do not need a script and they do not wait for direction. The stars of our show wrote their own stories in 2024.”

Access opportunities for accredited media begin 48 hours before the Awards Show and include media centre press conferences, roundtables, and one-on-one interviews. Only at Laureus are the greatest athletes in the world available for interview alongside sporting legends from the past 40 years.

Among the stars who will be in Madrid are two Nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award – and Djokovic, the man who won it for a record-equalling fifth time last year. Duplantis is nominated after an incredible 2024 in which he won Olympic gold in Paris and broke his world record twice, while Carlos Alcaraz claimed the French Open and Wimbledon to take his Grand Slam total to four.

Carlos Alcaraz said: “I am delighted to be shortlisted again for these prestigious Awards. I have great memories of picking up my Statuette for Breakthrough of the Year in Paris in 2023 – and of meeting Messi on the red carpet!

I was privileged to attend last year in Madrid and present Jude Bellingham with his Breakthrough trophy, so to return to the same city again this year is exciting. 2024 was an unbelievable year for me – to win at Roland Garros and then at Wimbledon was a dream.”

Biles and Andrade were rewarded for their remarkable achievements in Paris last summer with nominations for Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year and World Comeback of the Year respectively. Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open and US Open in 2024, is also nominated in the Sportswoman category.

As the clock ticks down to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, a star of the slopes will be in Madrid to preview that event with global media. Eileen Gu won the 2023 Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award and will defend her two Olympic titles in freestyle skiing in Italy next year.

Other Nominees who are already confirmed to walk the red carpet in Madrid include Letsile Tebogo, the Botswanan star who won the men’s 200m title – his country’s first-ever gold medal – in Paris and is nominated for Breakthrough. Comeback of the Year Nominees set to attend include swimmer Ariarne Titmus.

Nominees in the Team of the Year category represented in Madrid include Zak Brown from the McLaren Formula One Team and Robin Le Normand and Luis de la Fuente from Spain Men’s National Team. Also in Madrid will be a host of athletes shortlisted for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award, including Spanish para swimmer Teresa Perales, para archer Matt Stutzman, para swimmer Jiang Yuyan and para badminton star Qu Zimo.

Swedish football ace Kosovare Asllani, Iker Casillas, Spain’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper; the tennis stars Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas; and surfing’s biggest athlete, Kelly Slater are also attending the show.

From the sporting legends among the Laureus World Sports Academy Members and Ambassadors, those attending the Awards include Rugby World Cup winner Bryan Habana; football legends Fabio Capello, Cafu, Luis Figo, and Ruud Gullit; gymnastic great Nadia Comăneci, athletics heroes including Edwin Moses and Nawal El Moutawakel, plus former Olympians Chris Hoy and Steve Redgrave.

Tennis champions Boris Becker and Garbiñe Muguruza, who announced her retirement from the sport at last year’s Awards, and adventurer Annabelle Bond.

Joining Nominees and Academy Members will be sports fans from fashion, film, and entertainment, plus Laureus Ambassadors including:

• Athletics: Mondo Duplantis, Nawal El Moutawakel, Tegla Loroupe, Edwin Moses, Letsile Tebogo
• Basketball: Rudy Fernández
• Cricket: Steve Waugh
• Cycling: Chris Hoy
• Football: Kosovare Asllani, Cafu, Fabio Capello, Fernando Carro, Iker Casillas, 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 Athletics: Tanni Grey-Thompson
• Para-Badminton: Qu Zimo
• 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: Eileen Gu, Maria Hőfl-Riesch
• Squash: Nicol David
• Surfing: Kelly Slater
• Swimming: Ariarne Titmus
• Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz, Paula Badosa, Mansour Bahrami, Boris Becker, Belinda Bencic, Novak Djokovic, Garbiñe Muguruza, Aryna Sabalenka, Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Windsurfing: Robby Naish

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