The Year's Best Sports Writing 2025

A must-read collection featuring the best in sports journalism

Editor Hanif Abdurraqib has curated an essential anthology showcasing incredible feats and diverse perspectives across the world of sports.

Selected from a wide range of newspapers, magazines, and digital publications during the previous year, these stories capture enduring moments while celebrating the craft of writing at its most sublime.

This extraordinary collection reveals the fascinating stories behind the sports we love, the competitors who push their boundaries, and the cultures they are ultimately embedded in.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio, and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant. His most recent book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, has been longlisted for the National Book Award and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. His first collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was named one of the books of the year by NPR, Esquire, BuzzFeed, O: The Oprah Magazine, Pitchfork, and Chicago Tribune, among others. Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Critics Circle Award and Kirkus Prize finalist and was longlisted for the National Book Award. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance was the winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burns Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award. He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.

Glenn Stout served as an editor for the Best American Sports Writing series for 30 years and is the founding editor of The Year's Best Sports Writing. He is the author of several books including The Young Woman and the Sea, Fenway 1912, and Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid.