Kelly Cates ‘to replace Gary Lineker on BBC’s Match of the Day’ | Match of the Day

The soccer presenter Kelly Cates is known to be leaving Sky Sports activities to exchange Gary Lineker on the BBC’s Match of the Day.

Cates, a well-liked broadcaster and the daughter of the previous Liverpool footballer Kenny Dalglish, is known to be becoming a member of a brand new presenting group together with the Match of the Day 2 presenter Mark Chapman and the BBC sports activities broadcaster Gabby Logan for subsequent season.

When approached by the Guardian, the BBC mentioned it had a coverage to not “touch upon hypothesis”, whereas a spokesperson for Sky Sports activities famous that they’d seen experiences of Cates’ departure and had “nothing so as to add”.

The Day by day Mail reported that Sky bosses have been understood to be “deeply saddened” by the lack of Cates, 49, who has introduced the channel’s Premier League protection since 2017. She had been recognized by the BBC because the main exterior candidate to exchange Lineker.

It’s thought that Cates, who additionally usually presents for BBC Radio 5 Stay, will share rotating internet hosting duties for Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 with the opposite two presenters.

The trio will substitute Lineker, who will step down on the finish of the season. He has introduced Match of the Day since 1999, and can depart the BBC solely after the 2026 World Cup, which will likely be held within the USA, Mexico and Canada.

Lineker mentioned on his podcast, The Relaxation is Soccer, that he understood that executives have been “seeking to do Match of the Day barely in a different way”, and that it made sense to exchange him with one other presenter.

The present’s new path is anticipated to incorporate a extra digital focus, after the BBC signed a rights deal for 2025-26 that’s thought to incorporate permitting it to submit clips of all targets scored within the Premier League on the BBC web site.

Regardless of an more and more fragmented viewership, by which youthful followers trade pirated clips of matches on social media and watch highlights on YouTube minutes after the ultimate whistle is blown, high executives on the BBC are mentioned to see “untapped potential” in a revamped iteration of the model.

The brand new format can also be rumoured to comprise extra of a information ingredient, in addition to together with extra written content material and evaluation.

Regardless of broadcast TV figures plummeting by 26% since 2015, TV sports activities viewing has proved to be comparatively strong, falling by simply 3%.