Gary Lineker will stand down as host of the BBC’s flagship football show Match of the Day at the end of the season.
Lineker, 63, has hosted the programme, which predominantly shows Premier League highlights on Saturday nights, since 1999.
Lineker has agreed in principle an 18-month contract extension with the BBC, which will see him anchor their FA Cup coverage and the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico before he leaves in 2026.
Former England and Tottenham Hotspur striker Lineker said: “I’m delighted to continue my long association with BBC Sport and would like to thank all those who made this happen.”
BBC director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski paid tribute to “world-class” Lineker. “He’ll be hugely missed on the show but we’re so happy he is staying with the BBC to present live football,” Kay-Jelski said.
Of the salaries that are published, Lineker is the public service broadcaster’s highest-paid employee, earning more than £1.3million ($1.7m) a year.
As well as hosting major football tournaments, such as World Cups and European Championships, the former England international fronted the BBC’s coverage of the London Olympics in 2012.
Lineker was taken off air for an episode last season following a tweet he had posted about the then-UK Government’s asylum policy, which was found to have breached the BBC’s impartiality guidelines.
The show aired on March 11, 2023, without Lineker, its pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, and commentators.
(Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
