The BBC has introduced a new footballer category to its Sports Personality of the Year show, meaning Harry Kane could go away with two major awards this year.

The newly crowned Ballon d’Or winner is poised to surpass Peter Shilton as England’s most-capped footballer on Thursday and is also favourite to become only the sixth men’s footballer to win the main Spoty prize after Bobby Moore, Paul Gascoigne, Michael Owen, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.

However, in a twist to the event, the BBC will also hold public votes for the men’s and women’s footballer of the year. Football will be the only sport to have its own prize, but it could be a double-edged sword for the likes of Kane and Jude Bellingham if viewers decide not to also vote for them in the main poll. Athletes Josh Kerr and Amy Hunt as well as Matt Weston, who won two Winter Olympic golds, are regarded as Kane’s main challengers for the overall Spoty prize.

England Lionesses Beth Mead and Mary Earps are the two most recent winners of Spoty, with Rory McIlroy last year ending a sequence of four straight female winners after completing a career grand slam of golf majors.

In an extension to the viewers’ role in the show, five of the nine prizes will be voted for by the public, including the world sports star of the year and team of the year.

The show will again be hosted by Gabby Logan, Clare Balding and Alex Scott and will move back to its traditional Sunday timing, albeit at an earlier slot between 5.45pm and 7.15pm.

Other prizes include the Helen Rollason award for courage in adversity, coach of the year, young sports personality of the year and a lifetime achievement award.

“What I love about BBC Sports Personality of the Year is that it brings together all those moments that stopped us in our tracks,” Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC director of sport, said.

“The goals, the medals, the upsets, the records, the stories that had us talking at work, in the pub and around the dinner table. And what a year we’ve had. This year’s shortlists will be packed with athletes and teams who have achieved extraordinary things, but what’s especially exciting is that audiences will have a bigger say than ever before in who takes home the trophies.”