2025 Review: Who were the biggest newsmakers in the sporting world and why

2025 is about to end and sports fans had an absolute blast this year. Football fans saw Paris Saint-Germain triumphing in Europe for the first time while cricket fans witnessed Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifting their maiden Indian Premier League trophy. Max Verstappen’s reign finally ended in F1 as Lando Norris won a nail-biting season.

While some sports found new champions, in some arenas, legacies were strengthened. Los Angeles Dodgers won back-to-back Major League Baseball titles and tennis Grand Slams continued to be split between the rising duo of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

There was thrilling action on display across the sporting world with some individuals consistently courting the headline throughout the year. Here we take a look at some of the names who had an outsized presence in the spotlight in year 2025.

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Shohei Ohtani

Arguably the most fascinating athlete on the planet, Ohtani touched further heights in 2025 with his incredible two-way skill. The Japanese superstar stretched the limits of possibilities to play a stellar role to help Los Angeles Dodgers retain the Major League Baseball World Series title. His historic NLCS Game 4 performance against Milwaukee Brewers, where he struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs, is now considered the greatest baseball performance ever. He won his third career MLB MVP and was adjudged the AP Male Athlete of the Year for a record-tying fourth time.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi

Never in the history of cricket had someone so young looked so ready to take on the best players in the world. That Suryavanshi, 14, was a cricketing prodigy was a known fact even last year but in 2025 he exploded on the global scene and made even the most experienced bowlers in international cricket look ordinary. He hit the second-fastest IPL century by an Indian in the Indian Premier League. The left-hander has gone on to blast quickfire centuries everywhere he has played from age-group tournaments to tougher competitions like Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Luka Doncic

In February 2025 came a news that sent shockwaves through the NBA world. Luka Doncic was traded midseason from Dallas Mavericks to Los Angeles Lakers in one of the biggest deals in the competition’s history. The move generated immense buzz with Dallas fans outraged while Los Angeles supporters loving the pairing of Doncic with LeBron James. After that Doncic dominated headlines with his performances as he emerged as one of the top MVP contenders even as the Lakers fell in the first round of play-offs.

Rory McIIroy

McIIroy finally found the missing piece of the jigsaw to complete golfing greatness in 2025 as he won the Augusta Masters. It was a tense victory for McIlroy who completed a career Grand Slam and became only the sixth golfer ever, and the first since Tiger Woods in 2000, to win all four majors. To grab further headlines, he played a key role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory. McIlroy was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year as he reaffirmed his status as one of golf’s all-time great in 2025.

Jannik Sinner

The new era of tennis has arrived, and Sinner is among the two faces of this fresh era alongside Carlos Alcaraz. Both of them had stellar 2025 but Sinner was in the news a little more due to his off-court struggles. The Italian started the year on a high with a succesful title defence in Australian Open. However, soon he was banned for three months for ‘unintentional’ doping. It divided opinions across sporting world but Sinner came back to the court with a bang. He almost won the French Open before an epic comeback from Alcaraz denied him the title. But in Wimbledon, he downed the Spaniard to win his second Grand Slam of the year. He lost the US Open final again to Alcaraz and also his top ranking in ATP.

Shubman Gill

2025 was the year Indian cricket took a new turn and the man in the front leading the charge was Shubman Gill. With stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retiring from Test arena, the 25-year-old took the reins of the side both as the captain and as the lead batter. He had a blockbuster debut series as captain in England where he broke records after records with his phenomenal batting. Gill was soon also given charge of the ODI side with an eye on the 2027 World Cup. He also made news for coming into the T20I side straight as a vice captain and getting dropped for poor form in the format right before the T20 World Cup.

Diogo Jota

One of the most heartbreaking stories from the sports world this year was the untimely demise of Jota. He was only 28 and had just played key roles in Liverpool’s Premier League win and Portugal’s Nations League triumph. However, he died in a car crash in Spain in July alongside his brother André Silva who too was a professional player. That the accident took place just weeks after his marriage made it even more bleak. Tributes poured in from all around the world with Liverpool retiring his No. 20 shirt.

Donald Trump

You did not expect Trump to be here, did you? We also did not expect Trump to be in sports news so much but this year, sports writers across the world were kept busy by the American president. He signed orders on transgender athletes in women’s sports. He pushed for the merger of PGA and LIV to reshape golf. He was at the Ryder Cup cheering for USA. He was also at the FIFA World Cup Draw where he got the newly established Peace Prize of the football body. The lines between politics and sports were blurred by Trump all through the year.