Heartwarming Jermain Defoe & Bradley Lowery Friendship Up for 2018 Best Sporting Moment Award

Jermain Defoe and the late Bradley Lowery's moving story is in the running for the 2018 Laureus Best Sporting Moment of the Year award.

The Bournemouth striker, who struck up a heartwarming friendship with the eight-year-old Sunderland fan, have been shortlisted alongside four other candidates for the gong to be handed out at the Laureus World Sports Awards, to be held in Monaco on the 27th February.

Lowery, who passed away in July after a long battle with neuroblastoma, touched the hearts of millions of football fans as he bravely fought against the cancer that affects nerve cells in the body.

The cheeky boy cited Defoe as his favourite player during the forward's time at the Stadium of Light and, after something of a chance encounter after one game, the 35-year-old became one of Bradley's closest friends.

The duo will come up against 18-year-old motor driver Billy Monger, who came back from a horrific sports accident at Donnington race track which required the teenager to have both of his legs amputated as a result.

Other nominees for the award include F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen and his six-year-old fan Thomas Danel, the Iowa Hawkeyes for the 'Kinnick Wave' - a gesture born out of waving to patients' at the childrens' hospital near to their home stadium - and the Chapecoense football team.

The last of those saw the Brazilian outfit lose almost all of their players and coaching staff in a terrible plane crash back in November 2016 and led to a huge widespread outpouring of grief among the footballing community.

The monthly award winners, between August and December 2017, will now go head-to-head in a final vote that will see the public polled on who they want to win.

The winner of the award - a gong that demonstrates qualities such as fair play and dedication - will be announced on stage at the ceremony.

Watch the Best Sporting Moment Nominee videos and VOTE at mylaureus.com