Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year

The Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year is an award honouring the achievements of those teams who have demonstrated "supreme performance" in the world of sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven constituent awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech. As of 2020, a shortlist of six nominees for the award comes from a panel composed of the "world's leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters". The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the winner who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. The awards are considered highly prestigious and are frequently referred to as the sporting equivalent of "Oscars".

The inaugural winner of the award was English football team Manchester United, who had completed an "historic treble" by winning the UEFA Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup during the 1998–99 season. Football teams, including both domestic and international sides, have won more awards than any other sport with eleven, followed by rugby union (four) and Formula One teams (three). Teams from France, Germany and Spain have won the award three times, while teams from England and South Africa have won it twice. The 2025 winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year was the Real Madrid.

List of winners and nominees

UEFA Champions League trophy, FA Cup trophy and FA Premier League trophy
Manchester United won three trophies in the 1998–99 season, and earned the inaugural Laureus team award in 2000.
England rugby union team celebrating with the World Cup
England's rugby union team won the World Cup in 2003, and won the Laureus team award the following year.
Greek player ANgelos Charisteas scoring for Greece in 2004
Angelos Charisteas scoring Greece's winning goal in the Euro 2004 final – his team received the award in 2005
Ross Brawn in 2010
Ross Brawn's Formula One team Brawn GP won the award in 2010.
Germany lift the World Cup in 2014
Germany lifting the World Cup trophy in 2014 – the team won the Laureus award in 2015
Chicago Cubs in 2016
The Chicago Cubs celebrating winning the 2016 World Series – they were the 2017 recipients of the Laureus team award.

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.