Gary Lineker has said he thinks the BBC wanted him to step down from Match Of The Day while reflecting on the fallout from his controversial tweets.
The 64-year-old, who has presented the flagship football highlights show since 1999, will depart the corporation after fronting its coverage of the 2026 World Cup.
In an interview with the BBC's Amol Rajan, Lineker expressed a sense that his time was up, stating: "It’s time (to leave).
“I’ve done it for a long time, it’s been brilliant, it’s been great… Well, perhaps they want me to leave… There was a sense of that."
The announcement marks the end of an era for the former England striker's tenure on one of the BBC's most popular programmes.
“I always wanted one more contract. It was their preference that I didn’t do Match Of The Day for one more year so they could bring in new people, so it’s slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and the World Cup, but, to be honest, it’s a scenario that suits me perfectly.”
A trio of presenters – Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan – will replace him on MOTD.
Lineker was also grilled about the furore in March 2023 over his tweet comparing the then British government’s asylum policy with 1930s Germany.
The former England striker was briefly taken off air, and other sports journalists and presenters walked out in solidarity, before he returned to fronting MOTD.
Lineker said: “I don’t regret saying them publicly, because I was right – what I said, it was accurate – so not at all in that sense.
“Would I, in hindsight, do it again? No, I wouldn’t, because of all the nonsense that came with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was just a reply to someone that was being very rude. And I wasn’t particularly rude back.”
He added: “But I wouldn’t do it again because of all the kerfuffle that followed, and I love the BBC, and I didn’t like the damage that it did to the BBC… But do I regret it and do I think it was the wrong thing to do? No.”
The presenter also said the BBC should “have ignored it, and it would have been fine”, and called the corporation “silly” for its “overreaction” in taking him off air.
His tweets, which sparked a row about BBC presenters expressing political views on social media, led to enhanced rules for BBC flagship presenters, including a ban on making attacks on political parties.
Asked about the rules, Lineker questioned why he had to be “impartial”, saying he was a “freelancer”, and the rules were for “people in news and current affairs – they have subsequently changed”.
He added that this “left me, who always gave these honest opinions about things”, having to be impartial which, he said, “didn’t make any sense”, and called it a freedom of speech issue.
“I think this is the mistake… the BBC tries to appease the people that hate the BBC, the people that always go on about the licence fee, attack the BBC. They worry way too much about that, rather than worry about the people that love the BBC, which is the vast majority,” he said.
“Why shouldn’t I have an opinion on things? I’m a bloody footballer who’s turned into a sports presenter.”
Lineker ruled himself out of a career in politics, saying he has “never had a view”, before laughing.
“I think I’ll probably focus more on the podcast world, because it’s such a fun business and it’s just been so incredible,” he added.
His company, Goalhanger Podcasts, founded in 2019, has released popular podcasts such as The Rest Is Politics, The Rest Is Entertainment, and The Rest Is Football, which he co-hosts with MOTD colleagues Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
Lineker 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.
When he stepped down, it was reported that he was open to staying on at MOTD but was not offered a new deal for the show.
He will also host BBC Sport’s coverage of the FA Cup in the 2025-26 season, continue with the MOTD Top Ten podcast and the BBC will also host The Rest Is Football podcast, featuring Lineker, on BBC Sounds.
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