Gary Lineker is set to leave his role presenting Match of the Day at the end of the season, according to BBC News.
The former England striker will then leave the BBC after fronting the corporation’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, The Sun reports.
The 63-year-old took over as host of Match of the Day in 1999, having started as a presenter on BBC Radio Five Live and Grandstand.
In March last year, Lineker briefly stepped away from presenting the programme after his tweet about the British government’s asylum policy sparked a row about BBC presenters expressing political views on social media.
In August 2016 he made good on an earlier promise to present the show in his underpants after his boyhood club Leicester won the Premier League.
Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott have immediately been installed as the front-runners to replace Lineker in the role. One prospective replacement, Jermaine Jenas, was axed by the BBC in September following an investigation into inappropriate behaviour.
Speculation had been mounting over Lineker’s future since an interview with BBC Breakfast in August in which he said he looked forward to “another year doing it, at least”.
Last week Lineker, who turns 64 at the end of November, admitted he would “have to slow down at some point”, and intimated to Esquire magazine that he may seek to focus full-time on his successful podcast business.
Lineker said: “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.”
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