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.
He has been the BBC’s highest paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years and was estimated to have earned £1.35 million in the year 2023/24, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July.
It comes after Lineker joked about leaving the BBC earlier this year during an episode of Match Of The Day, which came after the corporation denied an announcement was pending about the former footballer.
Lineker introduced the show saying: “Hello. Seven games on the way and it’s my final show.”
After pausing with perfect timing, he added: “Before the international break.”
In March last year, Lineker was stood down from presenting the programme after a tweet comparing the British government’s asylum policy with 1930s Germany sparked a row about BBC presenters expressing political views on social media.
Following the incident, a number of sports presenters boycotted the show in solidarity with Lineker, including pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer.
Former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy, who has served as a pundit on Match Of The Day, told talkSPORT: “I didn’t know.
“I knew the contract was up at the end of the season. So there’s been a lot of talk about it. I am a little bit surprised.
“Gary’s a friend of mine and he’s been phenomenal to me since the day I walked in the building. And a warm, charismatic, intelligent man who knows his football and has become part of everybody’s furniture, if you like, on a Saturday evening.
“And I’ll never forget how he treated me and how welcome he made me, how good he made me feel.
“He’s getting on a bit, just because he looks good for his age doesn’t mean he isn’t old. He’s getting tired in his old age, probably wants to just cook his Sunday roast.”
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.
Lineker has recently found success with Goalhanger Podcasts, the company he founded in 2019, releasing podcasts such as The Rest Is Politics, The Rest Is Entertainment, and The Rest Is Football, which he co-hosts with Match Of The Day colleagues Shearer and Micah Richards.
As a footballer, Lineker is England’s all-time top goalscorer at World Cups, and also never received a yellow or red card during his career playing for clubs including Everton, Barcelona and Leicester City.