PHA Group’s Dan Funston walks through some of the biggest sports stories of 2025, reflecting on the rise of women’s sports and how the broadcasting environment has shifted
With more sports content readily available than ever before – from traditional broadcasts, content creator hosted watch-a-longs, podcaster simulcasts and an unlimited dose of social clips, instant highlights and digital discourse – sitting down to review some of 2025’s biggest stories and trends felt like a somewhat daunting task.
But amongst the jostling for screentime, fandom and share of voice came some truly iconic sporting moments and some sizeable industry shifts which I’ve taken some time to delve into as we steel ourselves to watch it, engage with it, celebrate it and commiserate over it all again in 2026.
Full stream ahead
With industry analysts pointing to changing viewing habits for years – and despite sport being the one consistent holdout for traditional broadcast viewing – this year has felt like the true arrival of the streaming giants into the industry.
DAZN kicked off the year with a bang by announcing its exclusive global broadcast rights deal with the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup, a competition which despite its sceptics drew in billions of viewers worldwide and represented a major production feat.
Meanwhile Disney+ secured the UK rights for the UEFA Women’s Champions League, owing in large part to its family friendly subscriber base that aligns so closely with women’s football. And Netflix cemented its position as a serious player in live sports broadcasting with its foray into boxing – which continued with the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua bout.
With Netflix vying for ownership of Warner Bros, including the international arm of TNT Sports, and the UK rights to the UEFA Champions League set to change hands to Paramount+, expect the broadcast rights landscape to become more competitive and more fragmented in 2026.
Form is temporary, class personality is permanent
Fitting, with BBC Sports Personality of the Year having just taken place, to recognize that personality really does trump all when it comes to engaging new audiences. Yes, Rory McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam and helped take Team Europe to Ryder Cup glory, but he also opened up about the mental toll his many Masters near-misses have taken and he spoke for a continent in telling a group of partisan Ryder Cup spectators where to go when they heckled him one too many times.
Ellie Kildunne gave us the year’s most iconic, clippable and imitable celebration. No amount of sponsors can hide the massive heart that Lando Norris wears on his McLaren sleeve. Luke Littler is just as likely to tell you his favourite kebab toppings as his favourite check-out. And Hannah Hampton and Chloe Kelly continue to bring a rebellious streak and the Midas touch to the Lionesses clutch moments.
The thing they all share: authentic stars that people can relate to, root for and be inspired by. Rights holders, sponsors and broadcasters who home in on the personality over the media ‘performance’ will stand to capitalize.
A truly golden year
You may have heard, but it was a rather good year for women’s sport. The Lionesses solidified the legend of their Euro 2022 win on home soil by going back-to-back and becoming the first England football team to win a major tournament on foreign soil. Which then paved the way of the Red Roses to enjoy their own landmark moment, sweeping aside the competition to win the World Cup in front of a sold-out Allianz Stadium.
And that’s not to mention the many incredible female performances we’ve seen around the world, including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s epic 400m wins and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s historic sprint treble at this year’s World Athletics Championships.
Yes, there are discussions around addressing decreased WSL attendances and viewing figures this season – to be expected you might argue after an exponential rise in recent years and a switch from a free-to-air broadcaster – while Premiership Women’s Rugby is working hard to grow fanbases for women’s club rugby off the back of international glory. But the UK can be proud to be a standard bearer when it comes to investment in women’s sport, especially those traditionally male-dominated, and 2026 promises to make more household names for the next generation to aspire to.
USA to take centre stage like never before
As you’d expect from the sporting juggernaut that is the USA, the Stars & Stripes were at the very heart of some of the year’s biggest sporting moments: McIlroy’s epic play-off decided Masters victory at Augusta, Chelsea’s unexpected FIFA Club World Cup humbling of European champions Paris St. Germain at New Jersey’s epic MetLife Stadium, Aryna Sabalenka’s hard-fought Flushing Meadows victory over home hope Amanda Anisimova and, of course, Team Europe’s somehow comprehensive-yet-at-the-same-time-barely-holding-on defeat of Team USA in Bethpage.
All roads lead back to the States in 2026, with the US-hosted FIFA Club World Cup becoming the FIFA World Cup as international sport’s biggest carnival, save perhaps for the Olympics, pitches up for five and a half weeks of football/soccer action expected to give a burgeoning MLS fanbase the international showcase they’ve been craving since ’94 and to finally convert the casual and curious into the committed.
Dan Funston is a Senior Account Director, Sport, at leading UK PR, Digital & Creative agency The PHA Group
