Gary Lineker will leave his presenting role following the conclusion of Match of the Day for the 2024/25 season. He will not be part of the BBC’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup or next season’s FA Cup coverage. Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, said:

This isn’t Lineker’s first controversy. In 2023, the BBC said it had had a ‘frank conversation'” with the star after he criticized the government’s asylum policy, comparing the language to “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.”

Forty summers after Gary Lineker had become a national goalscoring hero with England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the 2026 finals in the same country — as well as co-hosts the U.S. and Canada — were to be his farewell to the BBC.

BBC reporter Sanchia Berg describes her investigation into the case of a newborn baby found abandoned in a London park. Her courtroom reporting eventually revealed that the baby had two siblings also abandoned in previous incidents.

Gary Lineker is set to bid farewell to Match of the Day this Saturday after an illustrious 26-year stint as the programme's presenter. The 64-year-old broadcaster's departure marks the end of an era for the BBC's flagship football show,