Gary Lineker has spoken publicly about stepping down as host of Match Of The Day, saying it was the “right time” to exit after more than two decades at the helm.
The sports broadcaster and former England striker will leave the football highlights programme at the end of the season but will continue to present coverage of the FA Cup in 2025/26 and the World Cup in 2026, the BBC previously confirmed.
“It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC, but all things have to come to an end,” Lineker said on his podcast, The Rest Is Football.
“It came at a point where really the BBC and Match Of The Day, they’ve got the rights for another three years, the cycle starts from next season so it felt like if I just do one more year it would be a bit weird.”
The 63-year-old later added: “I feel this is now the right time.
“I think the next contract they’re looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.”
It has been speculated that possible contenders to take his place include Match of the Day 2 presenter Mark Chapman, as well as Gabby Logan and Alex Scott, the former England Lioness.
However Lineker refused to be drawn on who would be taking his place.
“Obviously I don’t know who it’ll be, and I would never tell publicly my preference, I don’t think that’d be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself,” he said.
“I had to fill the ginormous shoes of certain Des Lynam.
“…I would say just be yourself and enjoy it, it’s a wonderful programme to be a part of. It was brilliant before I took over, and it will be brilliant after I leave.”
Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999.
Insiders at the BBC previously told i that the writing had been on the wall for Lineker since he was taken off air last year for an episode, after a social media message compared the then-Tory Government’s asylum policy to Nazi Germany.
One staffer said: “It’s a late victory for the bosses. It looked to many like Gary was given free rein to vent political views on social media which would have got the rest of us sacked.”
Candidates tipped to replace Lineker as Match of the Day presenter were placed on “red alert” in October when a leaked email suggested his time on the show could be coming to an end.
At the time, when asked by i to respond to suggestions the BBC might be preparing to bring his reign to an end, representatives for Lineker replied with the words “Operation Shrimp”, accompanied by a flag of the Republic of Benin in West Africa.
Operation Shrimp was a failed 1977 coup attempt in Benin, when French mercenaries tried to remove Mathieu Kérékou, the African nation’s revolutionary communist party leader.
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