Match of the Day line-up confirmed for first show since Gary Lineker's BBC exit
Match of the Day is set to return this weekend with a brand-new line up, with Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer set to play pivotal roles. The BBC programme returns to screens on Saturday to coincide with the start of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign.
And while the highlights show retains its hugely popular format, it's set to look very different. Long-serving host Gary Lineker departed at the end of last season, bringing to an end a near three-decade stint at the helm.
The BBC confirmed who would be taking the reins from the England icon shortly afterwards. MOTD2 host Mark Chapman is set to share the role alongside Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates.
And it's now been revealed who will be fronting coverage this weekend. Chapman will reportedly lead the first show of the new campaign having presented the show's Sunday spin-off since 2013.
Chapman will be supported by former strikers Shearer and Rooney, who have been pencilled in for punditry roles, according to The Sun. The Newcastle icon has been a regular guest on the programme, while Rooney now appears to be focusing on his punditry career after his disastrous spell with Plymouth Argyle was ended in December last year.
Away from the flagship show, Cates' Match of the Day debut has been planned for this Wednesday. She will lead coverage of the highlights of Tottenham Hotspur's UEFA Super Cup clash with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
The BBC announced on January 15 that Cates, Chapman and Logan would be the new presenting team. The news came following weeks of speculation about who would take over from Lineker after he said last year that he was stepping down.
The 64-year-old had long intended the final Match of the Day of last season, on May 26, to be the last time he would present the highlights programme but he was planning to stay on to front the BBC's live coverage of the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup.
Earlier in the month however he announced he was bringing forward his departure following a social media row in which he shared a post about Zionism featuring a depiction of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic trope.
Lineker, the BBC's highest-paid presenter and host of Match of the Day since 1999, apologised unreservedly for the post but said it was 'best for all concerned' if he left completely.
Cates has been a presenter with Sky Sports since 2016, fronting coverage of the Premier League. She will continue her role with Sky. Elsewhere, Logan has long been with the BBC having already presented Match of the Day in Lineker's absence on a host of occasions.
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