Jonathan Liew is a sports writer for The Guardian. The 2007 ‘student columnist of the year’ Liew started in 2009 on the Daily Telegraph graduate training scheme and became a feature writer and columnist at The Telegraph. Whilst at the Telegraph, Liew was named as the 2011 Sports Journalists Association ‘young sports writer of the year’. At the Telegraph, Liew estimated he covered at least 39 sports on five different continents and developed a fondness for rugby league. Upon leaving the Telegraph he was warned by BBC Cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew to take a kinder approach in his writing to those who unconditionally love sport. Liew moved to The Independent in June 2017 and as part of his role Liew features regularly as a pundit on ‘The Indy Football Podcast’ which was nominated for best podcast at the 2017 Football Supporters Federation awards. Liew has also guested on podcasts such as Second Captains and The Anfield Wrap. In October 2019, it was announced that Liew had joined the Guardian. Liew has appeared on Sky Sportstelevision programmes the Sunday Supplement, World Cup Supplement, and Cricket Writers on TV. Liew contributes columns to the cricket almanac Wisden and has written for Prospect magazine and the Belfast Telegraph. Liew has received praise from his peers for the way he has spoken out on racial issues within sport. He is a ‘Raise Your Game’ mentor for the Kick It Out campaign. On the 31 October 2018, it was announced that Liew has been nominated in the ‘writer for the year ’ category at the 2018 Football Supporters Federation Awards. On 31 January 2019 Liew was shortlisted for the football journalist of the year award and on 26 February 2019 won the sports columnist of the year award at the SJA awards. In September of that year, Liew spoke out on the issue of under representation of British Asians in professional football in England, stating that he believed that the issue began at grassroots level.
Personal life
Liew graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in History. He appeared as a contestant on Channel 4 television quiz showCountdown and won a succession of shows, becoming an octochamp.