Remco Evenepoel, 2nd in our survey in 2020 (13% behind the untouchable Thiam), had since then, and despite his numerous successes on two wheels, had to settle for places of honor in our popularity charts. 6th in 2021, 5th in 2022, 6th in 2023, the leader of the Soudal Quick-Step has this time won over more than one in four Belgians. Thanks to his exploits on the bike, obviously (in addition to his two Olympic gold medals, he was also crowned world time trial champion and notably shone in the Tour de France, reaching the 3rd step of the podium). But also, undoubtedly, due to his bad luck, his falls and injuries which cut short his spring classics and now his 2025 preparation. Remco also owes his new status as “Favorite sportsman of the Belgians” to his equivalent rating on both sides of the linguistic border (2nd in the two particular rankings, around 25%), where De Bruyne (popular with… French speakers!) and Kopecky (n°1 of Dutch speakers) are less regular. Brabançon received plenty of votes among men (nearly one in three cited it) and among those aged 34 and over. he is also the favorite in Brussels, in a Belgium divided into its three regions, since KDB is the “winnaar” in Wallonia, and Lotte the most cited in Flanders…
Remco Evenepoel: “2024, a year when dreams come true”
Already recently elected “Crystal Bike” and “Flandrien”, it now remains for the new “Favorite Sportsman of the Belgians” to win a fourth “Sportsman of the Year” trophy (verdict on January 12) to round off his 2024 harvest in style Enough, no doubt, to put a little balm on his scars, witnesses of an astronomically moody year…
Evenepoel, Neuville, Thiam…: here are the nominees for the 2024 Sports Gala
KDB, the king of Wallonia!
Beaten in the sprint, with a hose or a crampon, Kevin De Bruyne will console himself by saying that his first part of the 2024-2025 season, complicated with City and sulky with the Devils, has not diminished his popularity . One in four Belgians remains a fan of King Kev (25.3%), by far the favorite footballer ahead of two former Devils, the future retiree Toby Alderweireld (13.7%, 7th overall) and the current “boycotter” Thibaut Courtois (10.8%, 9th). The Antwerp and the Madrilenian are separated by Bashir Abdi (8th with 12%), our silver medalist in the Paris Olympics marathon, in a top 10 closed by Romelu Lukaku (9.7%), in clear decline by compared to 2023 (the Naples striker was 2nd last year, with 26.8%!).
Kevin De Bruyne, “sandwich man” of McDonald's, grills Remco, “face” of Pizza Hut, in the French-speaking votes, while he “is only” 4th on the Dutch-speaking side! KDB is the most popular in Wallonia (more than 30%) and among the youngest (a little less than 30% among those aged 34 and under). Winner in 2015, when our golden generation was settling into the front ranks of world football, the brilliant passer from the Skyblues has never left the top 10 of our survey for ten years, and has been part of your top three since 2022 (3rd last year with 19.7%). A safe bet…
Lotte, favorite of the Flemings
The defending champion, Lotte Kopecky, slips into 3rd position. The Antwerp cyclist continued her harvest of success in 2024, and remains a BV (Bekende Vlaming, well-known personality in Flanders) in sight. This is evidenced by its status as No. 1 on the Dutch-speaking side (29.1%), ahead of Remco and Kevin. She nevertheless falls out of the top 10 on the French-speaking side (11th, she was 6th twelve months ago). But since our survey is representative of the Belgian population, the more numerous Flemish votes allow the world champion, tanned in Paris, to keep a place in the sun, and to remain on the podium in our survey…
This year, Lotte Kopecky shone brightly
This is also why Nafi Thiam, still very popular in the south of the country (3rd among French speakers, behind Kevin and Remco, but 7th among Dutch speakers), remains, as in 2023, 5th. Still in the wake of Wout van Aert.
The cyclist, winner of our survey in 2022, has shone a little without being polished this season (five successes, an Olympic medal but, above all, several falls), but he has maintained his popularity, in particular by participating in the Flemish version of Mask Singer in a very effective squirrel-superhero costume…
Despite his new status as world rally champion, Thierry Neuville (11th) is stalling at the edge of the top 10 in our survey. The pilot from Saint-Vith nevertheless invites himself to the table of the darlings of French speakers (6th), and achieves his best overall performance (+ 20 places, he was 31st in 2023, and his “best ranking” was 26th in 2022). Neuville precedes two Belgian Cats, Julie Allemand (12th, a good rebound of more than 21 places compared to 2023) and Emma Meesseman (13th)…
For the holidays, Thierry Neuville comments on his family album
Great progress and entries into the top 20 for athlete Dylan Borlée (17th, +21 places) – who is undoubtedly benefiting from the retirements of his two elders, Kevin and Jonathan – and cyclist Victor Campenaerts (19th, +25). The mustachioed man, now Wout van Aert's teammate at Visma | Lease a Bike, is the 5th among cyclists behind the two untouchables, REV and WvA, followed by Thibau Nys and Tiesj Benoot, still very popular in the north of the country. Campenaerts precedes his former teammate Arnaud De Lie, who closes our top 20, tied with skater Loena Hendrickx…
His dream of winning the Tour as a teammate, his link with De Lie and his departure from Lotto: the secrets of Victor Campenaerts
The golden generation still adored
Another lesson from our 2024 survey, Belgians still have a weakness for the golden generation of our Devils. In the top 10 footballers, dominated by Kevin De Bruyne, only Doku (6th) and De Ketelaere (8th) manage to dribble past the oldest. And six of the top ten footballers are no longer in the national team or not currently taken over by Tedesco: Alderweireld (2nd), Courtois (3rd), Batshuayi (5th), Witsel (7th), Mertens (8th) and Carrasco (10th)… For Romelu Lukaku on the other hand, the decline is scathing (minus 8 places overall).
Romelu Lukaku too Big for Rome: “But let’s stop talking about me all the time”
In 2023, the Devils striker, 2nd, followed the winner, Lotte Kopecky, and appeared for the first time in the top 5 of our survey. Twelve months ago, Big Rom was the Belgians' favorite footballer, and the number 1 sportsman in the south of the country (more than one in three French speakers cited him among their five favorites). The Neapolitan is now 4th in the specific ranking of footballers, and if he limits the damage in the French-speaking hierarchy (5th), he disappears from the Dutch-speaking top 10 (4th in 2023, he is now in 14th place)…
For Lukaku, as for all sportsmen and women, present or not in our top 50, one of the major objectives of 2025 will be to thrill the hearts of Belgians…
5
In 14 editions of our “unisex” survey, Evenepoel is the 5th man to take the lead in your hit parade, after Vincent Kompany in 2013, Thibaut Courtois in 2014, Kevin De Bruyne in 2015 and Wout van Aert in 2022. He ties since 5 women also appear on the list: Kim Clijsters (2011), Tia Hellebaut (2012), Nafi Thiam (5 times, from 2016 to 2020), Nina Derwael (2021) and Lotte Kopecky (2023).
The results of the 2024 edition of the survey “The Belgians’ favorite sportswoman”
- Survey carried out online by the market research and marketing office iVOX between December 4 and 11, 2024 among 1,000 representative Belgians (language, gender, age, diploma, region). The maximum margin of error is 3.02%. Among 100 active Belgian athletes, respondents had to choose their five favorites, with the possibility of adding an athlete of their choice.
The rankings of the “Belgians’ favorite sportswoman” survey since its creation in 2011
Favorite sportsperson of the Belgians 2023: cyclist Lotte Kopecky succeeds Wout van Aert, Favorite sportsperson of the Belgians 2022: cyclist Wout van Aert dethrones gymnast Nina Derwael Favorite sportsperson of the Belgians 2021: Nina Derwael puts an end to the hegemony of Nafi ThiamFavorite sportsperson of Belgians 2020: The Devils lagging behind, Nafissatou Thiam is the queen Favorite sportswoman of the Belgians 2019: Nafi Thiam acclaimed, ahead of Eden Hazard Favorite sportswoman of the Belgians 2018: for the 3rd year in a row, Nafi Thiam remains your queen of hearts Favorite sportswoman of the Belgians 2017: Nafi Thiam is your queen of hearts Favorite sportswoman of the Belgians 2016 : Nafi Thiam, favorite of the Belgians Favorite sportsman of the Belgians 2015: the Devil Kevin De Bruyne succeeds Courtois in the rankings of our big survey Favorite sportsman of the Belgians 2014: Thibaut Courtois succeeds Vincent Kompany Favorite sportsman of the Belgians 2013: Vincent Kompany, the favorite sportsman of the Belgians Favorite sportsman of the Belgians 2012: Tia Hellebaut and Vincent Kompany , your favorite couple… Favorite sportsman of the Belgians 2011: Kim Clijsters is the big winner of our first survey
