Gabby Logan opened up about her future role as co-presenter of Match of the Day alongside Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman as she spoke about how they came to an agreement over their new job
Gabby Logan has lifted the lid on the sheer amount of respect she shares with Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman as the trio navigate how their roles as co-presenters of Match of the Day will work.
The BBC show will be without host Gary Lineker next season for the first time in 25 years after the former England great announced his decision to leave last November. After speculation regarding who’d replace Lineker, it was revealed that Logan, Cates, and Chapman would share hosting duties starting this August.
With just months to go until the broadcasting trio take the helm of the football highlights show, Logan – who has worked for the BBC since 2007 – admitted that she had talked to her two co-hosts about how they’d schedule their MOTD duties given they have other commitments.
Alongside his upcoming new role for the 2025/26 season, Chapman is BBC Sports’ chief rugby league presenter, the host of MOTD 2 and of BBC 5 Live’s Sports Report, which is the world’s longest-running sports radio programme. Cates regularly hosts live Premier League football on Sky Sports, while Logan is one of BBC Sport’s main presenters, having undertaken hosting roles for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 2022 World Cup and the Sports Personality of the Year award.
During her appearance on Kate Thornton’s podcast, White Wine Question Time, Logan admitted that conversations with Chapman and Cates about their partnership went down smoothly as the trio showed respect and admiration for each other’s roles outside of MOTD.
“We had a kind of chat about this being potentially a job that could be shared and that made me feel so much more comfortable and happy with the decision, actually, because it’s a lot and we all have great passions in other areas,” the 51-year-old said.
“Mark would never want to give up his radio. And I love doing the rugby, but I also love doing things like the Olympics. And if you do football, it’s a lot of the year. So if you’re going to carry on doing the other things, you’re not going to have any time off. So I wanted to be able to keep doing the other sports that I love. So that felt like a perfect balance between us.”
Logan assured fans that the heart of the show will remain the same, despite the departure of Lineker. Speaking on the ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast, she said: “Nobody wants to throw the baby out with the bath water. It’s a football highlights show, we’ve got the same kind of pundits… and it’s all about the football.”
