Rory McIlroy is believed to have been sensationally snubbed from the New Year’s Honours list on the heels of his Masters-winning 2025 following an intervention from tax officials, according to reports.
The Northern Irish golfer finally ended his majors drought in Augusta, becoming the first European star to claim all four of his sports biggest tournaments, and helped Team Europe pull off a sensational Ryder Cup victory on hostile American soil months later.
McIlroy’s exceptional year was duly acknowledged by the British public, with the star named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but made an eyebrow-raising omission from the honours list, which included sporting figures such as England manager Sarina Wiegman and Women’s Rugby World Cup winner Ellie Kildunne.
As per Telegraph Sport, McIlroy’s snubbing may have stemmed from a historic investment in a scheme which HM Revenue & Customs deemed to be tax avoidance, in a similar manner to the ‘red flag’ which saw Sir David Beckham repeatedly kept off the list until the England legend received his knighthood this year.
In 2015, McIlroy was a one of a number of high-profile figures to have invested money into a program to regenerate a run-down area of Liverpool’s city centre, as well as parts of Birmingham and Sheffield – which would have in turn granted him tax relief.
However, HMRC subsequently conducted an inquiry to investigate whether the program could have exploited the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme.
Rory McIlroy was a notable omission from the New Years Honours list after winning Sports Personality of the Year
There has been no suggestion that McIlroy or his representatives at the time would have either known anything about the scheme’s scope for exploitation of tax relief, nor done anything intentionally to avoid tax obligations.
McIlroy was previously made an MBE after winning his first major in 2011.
As well as Wiegman, a number of other members of England’s Euros-winning squad were recognised in the list, including captain Leah Williamson, who becomes CBE after first being made OBE following the team’s Euro 2022 victory.
But there were a number of notable omissions from inside the Lionesses set-up, with neither Chloe Kelly – who scored the winning penalty – nor Hannah Hampton, who was named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year and won the Yashin Trophy at this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, recognised.
Team-mates Alex Greenwood, Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, and Keira Walsh were, however, all set to be made MBEs.
Elsewhere in football, former Tottenham executive chairman Daniel Levy received a CBE for services to charity and the community in north London.
There is recognition for other members of England’s Women’s Rugby World Cup-winning side and ice skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who have been awarded a damehood and a knighthood for services to their sport.
Their award comes almost 42 years after dancing to Olympic gold in Sarajevo in 1984.
There were also OBEs for former world marathon champion Paula Radcliffe and broadcasters Gabby Logan and Clive Tyldesley, while Isa Guha, the broadcaster and former England cricketer, is made an MBE.
