Olympic and Grand Slam champions, world record breakers and all-time-greats are among the athletes confirmed to attend the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards. At the same time, Hollywood actor Matthew Goode will host the 25th anniversary Awards.

FROM BILES, ANDRADE AND SABALENKA TO DJOKOVIC, DUPLANTIS AND ALCARAZ

As the 25th anniversary Laureus World Sports Awards approach, 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.

READ MORE: For a full list of this year’s Nominees

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 number 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

‘THE ATHLETES’ AWARDS’ RETURN TO MADRID FOR 25th ANNIVERSARY

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.

Matthew Goode will host the 25th anniversary Awards

The Awards show takes place on Monday, April 21, and will be broadcast globally. The landmark show will be hosted by Hollywood actor Matthew Goode – star of Downton Abbey, The Watchmen and The Imitation Game, who follows acting royalty such as Morgan Freeman, Hugh Grant and Andy Garcia as host of the Laureus Awards.

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.

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 own world record twice, while Carlos Alcaraz claimed the French Open and Wimbledon to take his Grand Slam total to four.

Most prestigious event on the sporting calendar to be broadcast worldwide

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

The Awards Show takes place on Monday, April 21

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.

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 interviews alongside sporting legends from the past 40 years.

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

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 own 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 very exciting. 2024 was an unbelievable year for me – to win at Roland Garros and then at Wimbledon was a dream.”

Sporting legends

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 and US Opens in 2024, is also nominated in the Sportswoman category.

Simone Biles said, “Receiving my first Laureus Award from Nadia Comăneci, in 2017, is still one of my most cherished memories, and this event is incredibly special to me. I’m excited to be in Madrid with everyone to celebrate so many amazing achievements as well as the wonderful work that Laureus does. The Nominees in every single category are so inspiring to me, and I’m extremely proud to stand alongside so many others who competed at the top of their sport in 2024.”

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 paraswimmer Teresa Perales, para archer Matt Stutzman, para swimmer Jiang Yuyan and para badminton star Qu Zimo.

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

Other Nominees

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.

In addition to celebrating the sporting success of 2025, the Laureus World Sports Awards are also a platform to showcase Laureus Sport for Good, which uses the power of sport to end violence, discrimination and inequality, showing how sport can change the world. Today, Laureus supports more than 300 programmes in over 50 countries, working to transform society and improve the lives of young people. Since its inception in 2000, Laureus Sport for Good has used the power of sport to improve the lives of more than six-and-a-half million children and young adults.

READ MORE: Springboks lead SA nominees for Laureus World Sports Awards

The impact of the Awards is a key element to both the planning and delivery of the 2025 event. Working closely with both Host Partners, Madrid City Council and the Regional Government of Madrid, Laureus will bring the expertise and support of Laureus Sport for Good to leave a lasting legacy for the young people of the city and region of Madrid.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN COMPILED BY THE Laureus Public Relations Team.