Gary Lineker wiped away tears after hosting Match of the Day for the final time and bringing his BBC career to an end on Sunday evening.
The former England striker stepped down from presenting duties at the corporation after the airing of the highlights programme on the final day of the Premier League season.
The 64-year-old had long intended Sunday’s show to be his last Match of the Day but he was planning to stay on to front the BBC’s live coverage of the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup.
He announced last Monday 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.
He appeared to allude to this as he opened Sunday’s programme, which featured the final games in the race for top-five places in the Premier League, with a joke at his own expense.
Lineker said: “It wasn’t meant to end this way… but with the title race over and the relegation places confirmed, the Champions League was all we had left to talk about about.”
The programme was preceded with a montage of Lineker’s on-field footballing highlights, and an archive clip of him as a presenter saying “the end of an era”, before the regular opening credits.
The show concluded with a lengthy tribute to Lineker’s successful careers in both football and broadcasting, featuring punditry colleagues past and present including Alan Shearer, Micah Richards, Alan Hansen and Ian Wright.
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There were also comments from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Claudio Ranieri, who guided Lineker’s hometown Leicester to Premier League glory in 2016 – prompting Lineker to deliver on a promise to present the show in his underpants.
Paul Gascoigne, Alan Smith and Peter Shilton were among the former team-mates to feature, as well as members of his family.
Lineker was teary after the tribute, but composed himself to wrap up the programme by thanking team members involved in the “iconic show”, describing them as “the very best”.
He said: “Rather like my football career, everyone else did all the hard work and I got the plaudits.
“It’s been an absolute privilege to host Match of the Day for a quarter of a century. It’s been utterly joyous.”
He went on to say his Match of the Day replacements Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates, who will share presenting duties from next season, will ensure “the programme is in the best of hands”.
There was also a congratulatory message during the programme from Liverpool manager Arne Slot, whom Lineker interviewed about his side’s title success.
Lineker moved into the media after a playing career that included stints at Leicester, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham. He also scored 48 goals in 80 appearances for England.
As well as football, he also hosted coverage of other major sporting events including the 2012 London Olympics.
In March 2023 he was temporarily suspended from BBC duties amid an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the then-government’s new asylum policy.
The latest controversy brought renewed pressure on his position and he decided to leave the BBC completely after Sunday’s Match of the Day.
