The city of Aberdeen has been announced as the host of the 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, the biggest awards night in the British sporting calendar.
This is the first time that the Scottish city will host the event, which will be broadcast live on BBC One on Sunday, December 15, from the brand new P&J Live arena.
Presenters Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan will take to the stage to celebrate a huge year of sport in front of an audience of 10,000, with millions more watching live on the BBC.
Aberdeen is known for its sporting heritage as the birth place of Manchester United legend Denis Law and Open-winning golfer Paul Lawrie.
It is also home to Aberdeen FC, the club where Sir Alex Ferguson first made his name as a manager with such extraordinary success.
Alongside the main event, a special BBC Festival of Sport will take place in Aberdeen on 13-14 December. The festival will offer local schoolchildren and members of the public the opportunity to try a variety of sporting activities with BBC Sport on-screen talent on hand to offer tips and encouragement.
2019 has already seen several ground-breaking sporting moments, including the England men’s team winning the Cricket World Cup for the first time, the longest singles final in history at Wimbledon between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic and the England football team getting to the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup.
Other incredible highlights include Tiger Woods achieving his fifth Masters title, Wales claiming a record-breaking fourth Grand Slam in the Six Nations, Liverpool lifting the Champions League for a sixth time, Adam Peaty smashing his own 100m breaststroke world record to become the first man to go under 57 seconds and Europe winning the last three singles matches to seal a sensational Solheim Cup victory over the USA at Gleneagles.
Alongside the coveted Sports Personality of the Year trophy, won in 2018 by Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, the other categories in this year’s awards are Greatest Sporting Moment, World Sport Star of the Year, Helen Rollason award, Young Sports Personality of the Year, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement award.
Nominations for this year’s Unsung Hero Award are now open, with the award this year supported by Made by Sport, an organisation that champions the power of sport to change lives and raises vital funds to support it.
The Unsung Hero award celebrates individuals that give up their own free time to help others take part in grassroots sports.
Commenting on the 2019 ceremony in Aberdeen, Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said:
“It’s been an extraordinary year of sport so far with many incredible moments and surely more to come. I have no doubt Aberdeen will be an excellent host city to help us celebrate them.”
The 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be broadcast live on BBC One on Sunday, 15 December. Further announcements about the ceremony will be made in due course.
Tickets will go on sale on 11 October from 9am. For more information, visit: bbc.co.uk/sportspersonality.
