Vardy Nominated For BBC Sports Personality Of The Year

- The striker became a Premier League winner in 2016 as well as representing England at Euro 2016 

- The winner will be announced at Birmingham’s Genting Arena on December 18 after a public vote 

- Just five footballers have won the prestigious award since it began in 1954 

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has been named on the shortlist for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award for 2016.

The 29-year-old lifted the Premier League title with Leicester City as well as helping guide them into the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, while also finding the net for England at the 2016 European Championships. 

It has been a remarkable year for the Foxes man, whose achievements are made all the more astonishing given his rise from non-league football, having signed from Fleetwood Town as recently as 2012. 

He ended the 2015/16 season with 24 Premier League goals for the Foxes and was named Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association having played a key role in one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time.

 Vardy will go head-to-head in a public vote against 15 other British sportspeople in a competition to find out whose achievements deserve to see them handed the title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2016. 

The award has been in existence since 1954 and has been won by footballers on just five occasions - Bobby Moore (1966), Paul Gascoigne (1990), Michael Owen (1998), David Beckham (2001) and Ryan Giggs (2009). 

Athletics is the field with the most winners since the award’s inception with 17, while seven winners have come from the world of Formula One. Scottish tennis player and World No.1 Andy Murray scooped the prize in 2015 and will be looking to become the first person in history to win it three times, having also won in 2013. 

The awards ceremony will be hosted by former Leicester City striker Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan from Birmingham’s Genting Arena on Sunday 18 December, starting at 6:40pm GMT.