Questions are being asked over Gary Lineker’s long-term future at the BBC after a report claims that the Match of the Day host will not present the broadcaster’s Champions League highlights programme next season.
The BBC will be showing Champions League football for the first time in September, as they begin a three-year deal to show highlights, which will see 16 weekly shows on a Wednesday evening.
Having presented BT Sport’s Champions League coverage, MOTD host Gary Lineker would have been an obvious choice to host this new show, but The Telegraph report that Gabby Logan will instead be at the helm.
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They add that talks were held between Lineker and the BBC, but no formal offer was made, citing Lineker’s other commitments such as his hugely successful The Rest is Football podcast and the 62-year-old’s reluctance to travel to the BBC’s Salford base from his home in west London for the midweek shows.
Lineker, who began hosting MOTD on 1999, is about to enter the final 12 months of his £1.35million-per-year contract with the BBC, meaning his future with the corporation is currently unclear. The BBC recently sealed a new four-year deal for MOTD that will run until 2029.
The former England striker has been the subject of controversy in recent times and was suspended for a week by the BBC last year for his criticism of the Government’s language around asylum policy. This led to a groundswell of support for Lineker, with commentators and pundits pulling out of MOTD, which was subsequently broadcast with just crowd noise.
Lineker also hit the headlines this summer when his criticism of England’s performance against Denmark at Euro 2024 drew the ire of members of Gareth Southgate’s squad and officials inside the FA.
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