Gary Lineker has already confirmed he is leaving Match of the Day at the end of the season after 25 years in the role, but the legendary host teased his departure may come even sooner
Gary Lineker joked about exiting Match of the Day earlier than expected at the end of Saturday night’s show after Arsenal dropped more vital points in their title race with Liverpool.
The BBC presenter last year announced he is set to leave MOTD at the end of the season, putting an end to his 25-year tenure at the helm of the broadcaster’s flagship football highlights show.
Lineker, 64, was on duty for Saturday’s (January 4) show alongside pundits Danny Murphy and Micah Richards as they recapped yesterday’s seven Premier League games, including Arsenal’s 1-1 draw away to Brighton.
Mikel Arteta’s side dropped points for the third time in their last six fixtures as they lost further ground to Liverpool, who sit five points ahead with two games in hand still.
Given Liverpool’s lead and how imperious they’ve looked under new boss Arne Slot this season, the former England striker isn’t holding out much hope for the north London outfit to claw back an already sizeable deficit.
When signing off yesterday’s show, Lineker jokingly claimed: “Well, I was going to leave at the end of the season, but, the title race is done isn’t it? Goodbye.”
Despite Lineker’s lack of faith in anybody pipping Liverpool to the title, he’ll have a front-row seat to a race for the title that’ll most likely crown a champion not named Manchester City for the first time since Jurgen Klopp led the Merseysiders to their maiden Premier League crown in 2020.
While Lineker will leave MOTD at the end of the season, his agreement to a new 18-month contract with the BBC will see him remain on the channel until the end of the 2026 World Cup when he’ll permanently depart.
On top of fronting the coverage for the global tournament next year, Lineker will continue to present FA Cup games for the BBC in the 2025/26 campaign. He’ll also keep appearing on the MOTD Top Ten podcast while episodes of his The Rest is Football podcast will be available to listen to on BBC Sounds.
While his successor on MOTD has yet to be confirmed, Sky Sports’ Kelly Cates, BBC veteran Gabby Logan and Match of the Day 2 host Mark Chapman will reportedly co-host the show starting from next season.
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