A is for Arne Slot. Every Liverpool fan feared what might happen when beloved manager Juergen Klopp stepped back from the pressures of football management. The calm Dutchman put those fears to rest when he guided the greatest club in the world to title No 20. This season ... well, we can talk about that next year.
B is for Barbie. Among the women’s rugby superstars celebrated in doll form on International Day of the Girl (yes, it’s a thing) were New Zealand great Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and flying English fullback Ellie Kildunne. The latter was in sublime form as the Red Roses charged to victory in the Rugby World Cup.
C is for Cooper Flagg. Born to be a star with a name like that. The Duke University basketball sensation was taken No 1 in the NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Flagg, who turned 19 on December 21, recently became the youngest NBA player to score at least 40 points in a game.
D is for Demolition. Of all the losses by all the teams in all the sports this year, few stick in the craw like the All Blacks’ record 43-10 thumping at the hands of the Springboks in Wellington. Just an absolute shocker. If Scott Robertson can turn that horror into World Cup glory in 2027, fair play to the man.
E is for Eben Etzebeth. Speaking of the Springboks, the great lock damaged his reputation when he copped a 12-match ban for gouging the eye of a Welsh player. But he did visit a foster home dressed as Santa on Christmas Day, so perhaps he is not all bad.
F is for Florida Panthers. Back-to-back winners of ice hockey’s Stanley Cup. Fun fact: the Panthers were originally owned by Blockbuster Video magnate Wayne Huizenga, who wanted the NHL team to be known as ... the Block Busters. His request was denied.
G is for Gilgeous-Alexander, Shai. The best basketballer on the planet (until Victor Wembanyama takes over) was named the NBA’s most valuable player as he guided the Oklahoma City Thunder to their first title since relocating from Seattle. Fun fact: his mother, Charmaine Gilgeous, competed in the 400m for Antigua and Barbuda at the 1992 Olympics.
H is for Harmer, Simon. Even cricket fans had barely heard of this guy before the 36-year-old spin bowler took 17 wickets in two tests to power South Africa to a 2-0 test series win in India.
J is for JMac. New Zealand superstar James McDonald was named the world’s best jockey for a third time. In the other racing code, Canadian James MacDonald claimed his second world driving championship in New Zealand.
K is for Kelly, Chloe. She belted home the winning penalty to lead England to victory over Spain in the Euro 2025 final. Perhaps no team has done as much to advance the cause of women’s sport as the wildly popular Lionesses.
L is for Lando Norris. The cherubic driver became Britain’s 11th Formula 1 champion, in his seventh season, when he piloted his McLaren to victory over the fast-finishing Max Verstappen (usually the V in this annual feature). Fun fact: Norris is a passionate gamer, and even owns his own esports team.
M is for Magnifique. Paris Saint-Germain destroyed Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final. PSG and France star Ousmane Dembele later won the Ballon d’Or.
N is for No, or as Spanish football fans might say, No. La Liga cannot have been expecting such a passionate backlash when the Spanish league announced plans to play a game in Miami. Fans and players staged vocal protests and the idea was binned. That was followed by the Italian league, Serie A, shelving a proposal to hold a game between Milan and Como in Perth due to "financial risks and last-minute complications".
O is for Obituary. The football world came to a standstill when Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota was killed in a car crash in Spain, alongside his brother, on July 3, aged 28. Forever our No 20. Other big losses for the beautiful game included Denis Law, the only Scottish player to win the Ballon d’Or and scorer of 237 goals for Manchester United, and Liverpool and Wales great Joey Jones. Boxing suffered a triple blow with the deaths of two-time world heavyweight champion George Foreman, British larrikin Ricky Hatton and Hungarian-born "Aussie Joe" Bugner. Revered umpire Dickie Bird, former Australian captain Bob Simpson, Durban-born batter Robin "the Judge" Smith, and David Lawrence, the first British-born black player to represent England, were among cricketers to die. Motorsport (Irish F1 team owner turned pundit Eddie Jordan), rugby league (Raiders prop Sam Backo), golf (double major winner Fuzzy Zoeller) and tennis (Australian great Fred Stolle and English pioneer Angela Mortimer-Barrett) all lost prominent figures. Long-serving Scotland and Lions prop Ian "Mighty Mouse" McLauchlan and 29-year-old South African women’s talisman Lusanda Dumke left rugby legacies. Two-time Olympic biathlon gold medallist Laura Dahlmeier, of Germany, was 31 when she was killed in a mountaineering accident. British football writer Brian Glanville and American author and sports columnist John Feinstein left behind plenty of fans. And while neither is really a sport, both chess (Boris Spassky) and professional wrestling (Hulk Hogan) mourned titanic figures. Among New Zealand sporting deaths were double international Ann McKenna, poetic hockey representative Brian Turner, rowers Reg Douglas and Lex Clark, former All Blacks Alex "Grizz" Wyllie, Keith Nelson and Stu Wilson, Otago rugby great Tuppy Diack, sailing identity Peter Lester, former Black Caps coach David Trist and motorcyclist Shane Richardson, killed in action at Oulton Park.
P is for Philadelphia Eagles. Made lots of new fans by beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Q is for Qin Siyue. The 19-year-old prodigy was busted for cheating — using AI and a concealed phone to plot her moves — at the Chinese championship of Weiqi, the strategy board game we know as Go.
S is for Saga. Did New Zealand sport provide the weirdest sporting saga of 2025? The business surrounding revered Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua would take some beating. She has been reinstated after an unexpected and extremely odd stand-down period, but one suspects this story is not over yet.
T is for Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian cyclist charged to a fourth victory in the Tour de France and added another world road title.
U is for UFC. Sank to new lows when boss Dana White and that weird orange bloke announced an MMA event would be held on the White House Lawn as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations in June. U-S-eh?
V is for Volleyball and Vietnam. The Vietnamese had games forfeited at the under-21 world championship when it was discovered two players were not as female as they claimed.
W is for Waxgate. Controversy hit the world pool championship in Saudi Arabia in July when world No 3 Aloysius Yapp (great name) accused an opponent of using wax to change the behaviour of the cue ball. Another player, Eklent Kaci, said players were “massaging that cue ball like it’s a just-born baby” — shades of Aussie cricketers using sandpaper.
X is for Xavier Willison. Won the NRL with the Brisbane Broncos. In an even greater honour, provided the X for the ODT’s annual A to Z feature.
Y is for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Japanese pitcher was named most valuable player after powering the Los Angeles Dodger to World Series victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Z is for Zinger. "The worst leadership in the world." Ouch. That was Minnesota Lynx basketballer Napheesa Collier calling out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert over what the player perceived to be poor officiating, a lack of accountability and a dismissive attitude from the league towards players’ voices.
