England forward Gary Lineker has been axed as the presenter of one of most watched UK sports shows Match of the Day televised on the BBC but will continue to be on the media corporation, at least until next May, whiles he will be working in different football shows, the FA Cup and World Cup.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has confirmed the departure of England legend Gary Lineker from the media’s Match of the Day programme at the end of the season.
The announcement means the England sports presenter would step down as presenter of the sports show which the BBC says attracts millions of viewers each week, across the UK and world.
There is yet statistically significant data, but the Match of the Day is among UK’s most watched football programmes. In the BBC’s celebration of MOTD’s 60th anniversary in August 2024, the media said MOTD earned 33 million viewers 2023-2024 season across the Premier League and FA Cup, and there were more than 150 million MOTD clip views across social media and the BBC Sport website.
Lineker is only leaving the MOTD in what the BBC consider as a new arrangement but will continue to work with the media house where this time the former Leicester City, Tottenham and Everton forward will cover 2025-2026 FA Cup and 2026 FIFA World Cup in US, Mexico and Canada.
Paying tribute to a “world class presenter”, Alex Kay-Jelski, the new director of BBC Sport, said: “We’re delighted that he’ll lead our coverage of the next World Cup and continue to lead our live coverage of the FA Cup.”
He added: “After 25 seasons Gary is stepping down from MOTD. We want to thank him for everything he has done for the show, which continues to attract millions of viewers each week. He’ll be hugely missed on the show but we’re so happy he is staying with the BBC to present live football.”
Lineker’s tenure of office on Match of the Day- a football highlight show broadcast Saturday nights during Premier League season- started after taking over from former presenter Des Lynam in 1999, and the 63-year old has been present on football fans’ screens on Saturday nights showing highlights of the day’s matches from the Premier League for 25 years. The presenter, whose contract expires next May, has been in negotiations with the BBC for several weeks.
However, no agreement to retain the position was reached despite the former England striker willing to discuss his £1.35m a year earnings contract that according to the Guardian made him BBC’s highest-paid on-air star for the past seven years.
The British Corporation later thought the new arrangement- seeing that Lineker leaves MOTD show to cover FA Cup and World Cup is the better deal for licence fee payers.
Lineker has said he is “delighted to continue my long association with BBC Sport and would like to thank all those who made this happen”.
There have been external attempts to understand the factors leading to BBC’s new arrangement for Gary Lineker and it is understood that the British Corporation is no longer resourced like they used to be in the previous years, and while they cannot afford to lose one of their influential sports presenters leading to the presenter’s new position in the Corporation.
A number of potential Lineker’s replacements have emerged.
Mark Chapman, who has hosted sister programme Match of the Day 2 for more than a decade, is considered to be the frontrunner, with the BBC stalwart sports presenter Gabby Logan and the Football Focus presenter Alex Scott also in the running.
