2025 - A Year Of Firsts For RCB, Harry Kane, Crystal Palace And Now South Africa
South Africa won their first senior men's title in 27 years by defeating Australia at Lord's, joining several other sporting fairytales in this 'year of firsts'.
The 27-year-long streak is over. South Africa have won a senior men's title in this century, after years and years of tantalizing near-misses in World Cups and Champions Trophies.
They beat none other than the most successful side of this period, Australia, by five wickets, at no lesser place than the Home of Cricket, Lord's, to commemorate it. The win was set up by the bowlers, who reduced the Aussies to 212 and 207 respectively in their batting essays, keeping the leash on knockout demons like Steve Smith, Travis Head and even, to a part, Pat Cummins.
Cummins wasn't quiet with the ball as he shot Temba Bavuma's team for just 138 in the second innings, which meant the target was a hefty 282. South Africa were in early trouble after losing two wickets for 70, but centurion Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma's sensational 147-run partnership broke the back of the chase.
South Africa's special triumph is just another enhancement to this stunning year for sport (it's not over yet), where many trophy droughts have ended around the world.
Here's a look at other major teams/players who've won a major trophy in 2025 so far after years of waiting.
Cricket
2. Royal Challengers Bengaluru win IPL: One of the only three original-eight teams to have never won the IPL title, RCB ended their 18-year-long wait by finishing second in the 2025 points table and then thumping Punjab Kings in the final in Ahmedabad. Virat Kohli top-scored in the first innings (as he did for RCB throughout the season), and important wickets from Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar sealed the deal.
Andy Flower's revolutionary mentorship and Rajat Patidar's fresh-ideas-filled captaincy turned around what had become one of the biggest memes in the sport. RCB could finally say Ee Saala Cup Namdu (This year, the cup is ours). However, most of the euphoria was marred by the deaths of 11 people in the stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during the team's celebrations.
3. Hobart Hurricanes win BBL: Nathan Ellis-led Hobart Hurricanes were also one of the two teams to have never won the Big Bash League (BBL) until earlier this year. They beat David Warner's Sydney Thunder in the final played at the Ninja Stadium in front of their home crowd on January 27 to end the 14-year-long wait. Mitchell Owen's jaw-dropping 42-ball 108 led them to chasing 183 runs in less than 15 overs.
Football
1. Newcastle United: English football club Newcastle United secured their first major trophy since 1954-55 (70 years!) by beating eventual Premier League Champions Liverpool in the 2024-25 League Cup final played at Wembley on March 16. Defender and boyhood Magpie, Dan Burn, and Alexander Isak scored in the 2-1 win.
2. Crystal Palace: London club Crystal Palace, despite having a huge legacy, had never won a major domestic title in its 119-year-long history. They changed that in the FA Cup 2025 final against Manchester City at Wembley on May 17, securing a famous one-goal win. 26-year-old attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze scored the solitary goal in the 16th minute.
3. PSG: French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain smashed multiple-time champions Inter Milan 5-0 in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League final played at Allianz Arena in Munich on Saturday (May 31), in one of the most resounding wins ever in Europe's most prestigious football competition.
It was the Paris-based club's first-ever European Championship title. What the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr, and several other legends failed to do for the Parisians, despite their relentless wins domestically, Ousmane Dembele and his young team achieved under Luis Enrique's mentorship.
4. Spurs win Europa League: North London-based Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur defeated Manchester United 1-0 to win the 2024-25 Europa League title. The Lilywhites' previous major title came back in the 2007-08 season when they bagged the League Cup.
Like RCB, their lack of trophies was joked about regularly, but Australian coach Ange Postecoglou came through with his prophecy that he 'always wins trophies in his second season' to end them once and for all. Postecoglu has since been let go of, with the more pragmatic Thomas Frank taking over.
5. Harry Kane wins first major trophy: Talking about Spurs, their former captain and arguably English football's greatest footballer, Harry Kane, had never won a major trophy until this year. His move from Spurs to Bundesliga's serial winners Bayern Munich seemed like the end of that curse, but they went trophyless, too.
Germany finally awarded him as Bayern comfortably won the Bundesliga in the 2024-25 season, and he played a big role by finishing as the leading goal scorer.
5. Bologna: Italian club Bologna defeated AC Milan 1-0 in the Coppa Italia final played on May 15. The narrow win over Rossoneri at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome helped the Serie A club win its first major trophy since the 1973-74 Coppa Italia title win — another historic achievement.
Tennis
I did it📸 @AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/v33bMm1uKo
— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) January 25, 2025
Madison Keys wins US Open: Madison Keys, an American tennis professional, has been competing at the highest level since 2009. This year, she achieved her first Grand Slam title. In the 2025 AUS Open final against Aryna Sabalenka, Keys secured a memorable victory with scores of 6–3, 2–6, 7–5.
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tags :
aiden markram Australia cricket team Crystal Palace Hobart Hurricanes Pat Cummins RCB South Africa Cricket team Spurs temba bavuma WTC Final 2025
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New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
June 14, 2025, 20:06 IST
News cricket 2025 - A Year Of Firsts For RCB, Harry Kane, Crystal Palace And Now South Africa
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