Gary Lineker is to step down as the presenter of Match of the Day at the end of the season, the BBC has said.
The BBC confirmed earlier reports that Lineker would stay with the broadcaster to cover the FA Cup in 2025-26 and the 2026 Fifa World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, but step back from its flagship highlights programme at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Lineker and the BBC had been in negotiations for several months before the presenter’s contract expires in May next year.
The Guardian understands the presenter – who is the BBC’s highest-paid on-air star – was willing to discuss his £1.35m a year earnings but the BBC decided the new arrangement was a good deal for licence fee payers, with both parties said to be happy with the new deal.
In a 21-word statement, Lineker said he was “delighted to continue my long association with BBC Sport and would like to thank all those who made this happen”, but did not touch on why he was leaving Match of the Day.
Paying tribute to Lineker, who has helmed the BBC’s key Saturday night football programme for the last 25 years, Alex Kay-Jelski, the director of BBC Sport, called the former England striker a “world class presenter”.
“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 said.
“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.”
Away from the BBC, Lineker has had huge success with Goalhanger Podcasts, the company he founded in 2019, which produces The Rest is Politics, The Rest is Entertainment, The Rest is History and The Rest is Football. The BBC said Lineker would continue to feature on the MOTD Top 10 podcast, while his podcast The Rest is Football is available on BBC Sounds.
Lineker, 63, took over the Match of the Day chair from Des Lynam in 1999, and has been a presence on football fans’ screens on Saturday nights for 25 years.
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He joked during an episode of the show in October about leaving the BBC, during a time of intense speculation about his future. Lineker introduced the programme saying: “Hello. Seven games on the way and it’s my final show … before the international break.”
He was nominated for a National Television award for his work on MOTD in 2017. Lineker is one of the corporation’s best-known presenters and has been its highest-paid on-air star for seven consecutive years, earning £1.35m a year.
He was taken off air by the BBC in March 2023 after writing on X that the language used by the government to launch a policy on small boat crossings was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
Lineker was reinstated after some of his colleagues pulled out of shows in solidarity.
