Top 10 Sports Personality of the year 2019 (by earnings)

One of the big events to look forward to at the end of a sporting year is who will get the sports personality of the year award. Many countries offer these to their sporting stars and we have collected together the information to show who won each one in ten different countries. 

These are prized events, and an honour to win, with many big names winning them both in 2019 and in previous years. Here is a look back at the big winners of 2019, and a little bit about them. We list them here based on their highest paid athletes 2019 by earnings, the highest first and the lowest in 10th position. 

Football is one of the most paid sport in the world and Cristiano Ronaldo is without a doubt one of the biggest names in world football and a huge star in his home country of Portugal. He is at the top of our earnings list for winners of the award thanks to him pocketing a cool 60 million in 2019. This is not only from football, but he is also one of the most in-demand sports stars for brands looking to find partners. So Cristiano Ronaldo salary per week around 1 million euros.

The future continues to look bright for him, he has a lucrative deal with Juventus in Serie A and endorsements continue to pour in for the superstar. With the Euro 2020 football tournament scheduled to take place in the summer, Ronaldo has another chance to show just how much he means to Portuguese football with another star performance for them. 

He is worshipped by fans all over the world and when he does eventually retire, he will go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the game, winning honours with his country as well as around Europe. 

He is unlikely to go into football management of any kind after playing but will be in demand for further endorsements and appearances, both in Portugal and around other parts of the world. Now Cristiano Ronaldo endorsements deals is with Electronic Arts, Altice, DAZN, Herbalife, MTG, Egyptian Steel.

Marcel Hirscher is second on our list but is a name that some people won’t know. Hirscher is a famous alpine skier and its very popular sports in Austria. He retired at the end of 2019, which made it even more fitting that he won the Austrian sports personality of the year 2019 award because of that. 

He raked in a huge 46 million in 2019, with endorsements, prize money and sponsorship deals all coming together to form that for him. In the skiing world, Hirscher is in big demand, every brand wants to be associated with him and it is easy to see why. 

The skier holds a total of eight World Cup titles, 11 World Championship medals, with seven of them being gold, two gold medals from the 2018 Olympics and one silver medal from the 2014 Olympics. All in all, he is the most decorated ski racer of all time, and the greatest we have ever seen. 

Towards the end of 2019, he announced his retirement from the sport, going out while he was still competing at the top level rather than fading away and falling down the rankings. There is every chance that he would have been able to continue skiing for longer but felt the time was right for him to move on and begin the next chapter of his life.  

The 32 years old Serbian is a household name all over Europe and the world thanks to his tennis skills. He’s won multiple titles, including major championships and 2019 was another fantastic year for him. He was named the 2019 Serbian sports personality of the year 2019 for winning a total of five tennis titles during the calendar year, with two of those being grand slam events. 

With Roger Federer beginning to feel his age and both Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray struggling with injuries at the same time, the door was opened for Djokovic to strike. Not only has he won events, but he has dominated tennis for big parts of the last few years. 

He picked up a total of 36 million in 2019, with a combination of sponsorship deals and prize money helping him to accumulate that. Novak Djokovic sponsors are racquet manufacturer Head, sports equipment company ASICS, sports brand Lacoste and watchmaker Seiko. Biggest Novak Djokovic endorsements deal is with Japenese fashion brand Uniqlo worth $300M deal.

The biggest prize money in tennis is always found at the grand slams so his wins in the Australian Open and at Wimbledon have helped Djokovic accrue so much in 2019. 

His success over the next few years will solely depend on his body and how long he can go for. There doesn’t appear to be a new player ready to take over just yet, so if Djokovic can keep himself fitter than the opposition then he has a good chance of securing many more titles despite being 32 himself. 

Irish golfer Shane Lowry had a year he will never forget in 2019, culminating in him winning the Irish sports personality of the year award. The 32-year-old had a fantastic year, winning two titles including the biggest one of all for British golfers and Irish golfers, the Open Championship. 

Thanks to those two wins and other prize money as well as sponsorship deals that he had for the season, Lowry amassed a total of 15 million in 2019 to give himself a brilliant year financially. With golf, much of the money earnt for lesser names on the tour depends on prize money so a win like the Open Championship is a life-changing sum of money to someone like Lowry. 

At just 32 there is plenty of time for him to add more titles to the five he has so far in his career, whether they are minor events or big ones such as another major. The exposure Lowry received for winning The Open will no doubt have helped him land some further sponsorship deals so expect him to continue earning well over the coming years. 

This may be another name that people haven’t heard of, but if the youngster continues to play tennis as well as he did in 2019, it won’t be long before he is a household name all over the world. Tsitsipas Stefanos won the Greek sports personality of the year award for his fantastic play in 2019, with the 21-year-old claiming the first title of his career with a win in the ATP London event. 

He had a mixed bag in the grand slam competitions, with a semi-final appearance in the Australian Open putting him on the map but he was beaten in the first round at both Wimbledon and the US Open later in the year. 

With the prize money he picked up play a few sponsorship deals, Tsitsipas was able to make 5 million in 2019, but at just 21 there is plenty of room for improvement for him. Expect to see more from him this year and if he can maintain his ability and pick up further titles over the next few years, he will become a household name. 

Cricketer Ben Stokes won the UK sports personality of the year award after a fantastic 2019 for him. The all-rounder played a key role in two huge games of cricket during the English summer, writing his own name into the headlines. 

First, he played a key part in England winning the 2019 World Cup on home soil, with a huge partnership alongside Jos Buttler to eventually give England the win via a super over contest after a tie with New Zealand. 

Then he helped England draw with Australia in their Ashes series, much of which was thanks to the innings he played at Headingly. Stokes scored 135 not out to guide England to a famous victory in that game, much in the same manner as Ian Botham delivered a win in the 1980s. 

Stokes has cemented himself as one of the best cricketers in the world during 2019 and earnt himself 2 million along the way. That comes from his contract to play for England, T20 cricket deals in the leagues he plays in and a few sponsorship deals that he has. 

He looks cemented to be a huge part of English cricketing future for the next few years and could eventually become captain of the team. This is only going to enhance the Ben Stokes brand, and get him more sponsorship deals and exposure in the future. 

Romanian Simone Halep tennis player was the winner of her sports personality of the year award in Romania after another solid year on the tour. The 28-year-old has won a total of 20 titles during her career, and in 2019 she won one of the biggest. 

Halep was victorious at Wimbledon to put her name in the lights once again. She did only finish as the fourth-ranked player in the world at the end of 2019 which was a little surprising considering she won at Wimbledon. 

For the two years previous to that, 2017 and 2018, she was ranked number one in the world so this was no fluke, Halep has been fantastic for many years. Halep made 705k during 2019, with most of that coming from winning Wimbledon, with other prize money and sponsorship deals making up the rest of her income. 

At just 28, Halep will be hoping she can continue to do well on the WTA tour and keep the prize money coming in. 

Simona Halep endorsements deal is with Nike, Vodafone, swiss luxury Hublot and Simona Halep endorsement deal in Romania are with Mercedes-Benz.

Kelly Sildaru was the winner of the Estonian sports personality of the year. The freestyle skier is not a household name in Europe or the world, but much of that is down to the popularity of the sport. Fortunately for Sildaru, her sport is popular in Estonia and that is where many of her fans are from. 

At just 18 years old, Sildaru is one for the future, and she could well dominate not only this award but the sport of freestyle skiing for many years to come. 

She was excellent at the junior world championships and the Winter X Games, and the next few years are going to be about transforming that into all-age company over the coming years. 

Kelly Sidaru made 500k in 2019, a good start for her but expect to see that rise considerably if she kicks on and has more success as she gets older. 

Road cycling is a big sport in France, with the Tour de France taking place each year and they love their own cyclists. Alaphilippe Julian was loved enough in 2019 that he won the French sports personality of the year. The 27-year-old is a road racer and took part in the Tour de France in 2019, winning two stages and holding the yellow jersey for a short period of time. 

Julian Alaphilippe earnt a total of 500k during 2019 and made a real impression. He also performed well in the Dauphine, Tour of the Basque Country and Tour Colombia. He is expected to go close in a number of individual stages yet again in 2020 and will no doubt attract more interest from his country of birth if he can perform well in those. 

The Polish speedway star Bartosz Zmarzlik is not a household name in too many places, but in the world of speedway, he performed very well and made a big impression. He won the Polish sports personality of the year award, a country that takes the sport of speedway very seriously. 

During 2019, he made a total of 300k from winning prize money and having a few sponsorship deals in place. With the sport not being a huge one, sponsorship payments are far lower than for others, which will always prevent Zmarzlik from being a big earner. 

24-year-old Zmarzlik won three Grand Prix events in 2019 and was also crowned the world champion. At such a young age, there is every chance that he can go on to dominate the sport for many years to come and not only that, but he could also take this title for a few more years.