Gary Lineker breaks his silence after QUITTING Match of The Day & leaving BBC after 2026 World Cup
GARY Lineker has broken his silence after quitting Match of the Day.
The pundit – who has hosted the hit BBC show for 25 years – will step down at the end of this season.
And he will quit the BBC after anchoring the Corporation’s 2025/26 FA Cup coverage and the next World Cup.
In a statement confirming he’s stepping down, Lineker said: “I’m delighted to continue my long association with BBC Sport and would like to thank all those who made this happen.”
It comes after The Sun revealed he was set to quit the BBC following the 2026 World Cup.
Now, the Beeb have officially confirmed that Lineker will quit the hit show but lead coverage of the 2026 World Cup, and host BBC Sport’s coverage of the FA Cup in the 2025/26 season.
Lineker, who will take a substantial pay cut, will have hosted MOTD for 25 years when he steps down.
He broke cover today for the first time since the announcement and was seen going for a walk with his dog.
The ex-Three Lions bagsman donned a thick scarf as he headed out.
Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, said in a statement today: “Gary is a world-class presenter, and 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.
“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.”
But, as part of an 18-month contract extension the 63-year-old will stay on to anchor the Corporation’s 2025/26 FA Cup coverage and the next World Cup.
The former England striker is understood to be on new terms which which will see his salary reduced significantly.
He currently receives £1.35million, making him the highest paid broadcaster at the BBC.
Over the past two months there has been frenzied speculation that the star was leaving the BBC’s flagship football programme.
A BBC source said: “Gary absolutely adores Match of the Day, and has been incredibly happy at the BBC.
“But he has been at the helm since 1999, and by the time he leaves, he will have been at the Beeb for 30 years.
“He wants to leave on a high – and if England win the World Cup, it doesn’t get much higher.
“It’s one of the industry’s worst kept secrets that the new BBC Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski and Gary aren’t exactly close.
“The former is very keen to make his mark by bringing in new faces, and slashing wage bills.
“Negotiations have been ongoing for the past six weeks and finally a deal has been struck that everyone is pleased with.”
The source paid a touching tribute to Lineker, adding: “Gary is incredibly popular with both players and viewers, and news of his departure will send shock-waves around the Corporation.
“In other words, no-one is immune from change.
They added: “Gary will be 65 when he leaves; frankly, he isn’t getting younger. and just feels the time is right to focus solely on his mogul interests outside the BBC – namely his Goalhanger podcasting business which is becoming huge Stateside.
“BBC execs, meanwhile, will be giving Match of the Day a reboot to keep it fresh in the wake of such a huge departure.”
Thanks for the matchday memories, Gary
By Joshua Jones, Sports Reporter
FOR as long as I can remember, Gary Lineker has been the No1 football presenter.
Born a few years after his retirement as a player, I have no memories of my own of Lineker on the pitch – for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham or England.
Instead, I grew up with him as a regular in our lounge on a Saturday night, hosting Match of the Day.
For more than two decades, it has been Lineker, the increasingly silver fox, who provided a sense of continuity and stability, an ever-present regardless of which pundits joined him in the studio and which teams made up the Premier League season after season.
An astute understanding of the game, his charming persona and his consistency over the years have made him a firm favourite.
It is telling that MOTD continues to be such a success and must-watch viewing for so many in an era when all the goals and incidents from Premier League matches are available well before 10.30pm on a Saturday night.
He always seemed to hit the right note, too – whether he was required to make a sombre, serious announcement live on air or signing off the show with one of his trademark quips.
In recent years, he has not been afraid to speak his mind more and more, thanks in part to his platform as the top-paid BBC presenter and his huge profile outside of the MOTD studio – namely on social media and on his own podcast.
His long run in the Match of the Day hot seat means, for many football fans of my era, our whole football journey has been accompanied by Lineker – from the heights of Premier League title wins and FA Cup upsets to the depths of relegation and, of course, heartbreak with England.
Because while the bread and butter Match of the Day is the Saturday night highlights, Lineker has also been the main man for the Three Lions’ major tournaments, having to console millions of BBC viewers after gut-wrenching defeats to Croatia, Italy, France and Spain in recent years while he himself, as big a football fan as any of us, mourned another missed opportunity.
There is one Lineker moment that stands out above the rest, though.
Of course, Lineker Road in my hometown of Leicester beside the old Filbert Street stadium got its name thanks to his goalscoring exploits for his beloved Foxes.
But he deserved a far greater honour for what he did on August 13, 2016, famously presenting MOTD in his (very baggy!) pants, coming good on a promise he vowed should Leicester win the title. And somehow he kept a straight face through it all.
Ironically, the biggest compliment many people can pay Lineker as MOTD host is that they didn’t know he was a footballer – he is not just an ex-pro who has made a smooth transition from the stadium to the studio but is instead a brilliant TV presenter in his own right, regardless of his status in football.
That is proven by the very fact Lineker succeeded the iconic Des Lynam in 1999 as MOTD host so successfully.
It will require another fine presenter and plenty of time to follow in his footsteps as a new era begins.
They may well succeed, too, but no one will ever really replace Lineker – what he means to so many football fans and the role he plays in countless memories over the last 25 years.
Thank you for everything, Gary.
Lineker’s pay cut, in part, is because he will no longer be fronting MOTD – and stand alone payments for the World Cup and FA Cups won’t compensate for this financially.
Last month a reported leaked email suggested he could be quitting the long-running series mid-season – promoting Gary to joke on air it was his “last game”- before clarifying he meant before the international break.
In a recent interview with Esquire Magazine, the ex Spurs star was asked if he would be stepping down from the Match of the Day hotseat.
He replied: “I could do.
“Whether that will be the case I don’t know.
“At some point, I have to slow down somewhere… I’m getting old.”
The Sun previously revealed Lineker – who took over from Des Lynam in 1999 – was keen to stay on MOTD and had offered to take a pay cut.
While Gary has previously landed himself in hot water over his controversial Tweets, he has since struck a deal with the Director General Tim Davie over what he can and can’t post.
Last season he was even taken off air for an episode in the wake of a Tweet comparing the then-government’s asylum policy to Nazi Germany.
But his co-stars, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, refused to go on air without him. The BBC also failed to find a stand-in host to take over in his wake and was forced to air a truncated version of the show.
Gary has also come under fire in the wake of launching his hugely successful podcasting empire.
The Sun understands that the BBC is now planning a number of shake-ups to revive the format once Lineker leaves.
One proposed change includes a series of presenters with Mark Chapman, currently host of MOTD2, one of the anchors likely to be rotated.