Gary Lineker said hosting Match Of The Day for more than two decades has been “an absolute joy and privilege” but that the “time is right” for him to leave and “someone else to take the helm” as the BBC looks to make changes to the program.

The sports broadcaster will stop hosting football highlights at the end of the season but will continue to present coverage of the 2025/26 FA Cup and the 2026 World Cup, the BBC previously confirmed.

“It’s been an absolute joy and a privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC, but it all has to come to an end,” Lineker said on his podcast, The Rest Is Football.

“It got to a point where the BBC and Match Of The Day, they have the rights for another three years, the cycle starts from next season so it felt like if I only did one more year it would be a bit strange.”

The 63-year-old former England striker later added: “I bowed out in my football career when I felt it was the right time. I feel it is the right time now.

“I think the next contract they want to do Match Of The Day a little bit differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.”

Lineker refused to speculate on who would take his place as rumors swirled around Mark Chapman, the regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter, Football Focus host Alex Scott and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.

“Obviously I don’t know who it will be, and I would never publicly say what I prefer, I don’t think that would be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself,” he said.

“I had to fill the enormous shoes of a certain Des Lynam.

“…I would say just be yourself and enjoy it, it’s a wonderful program to be a part of. It was brilliant before I took over, and it’s going to be brilliant after I leave.”

Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999 and will have presented the program for more than a quarter of a century when he leaves in May 2025.

“I look back and it’s been a great experience, and I feel incredibly lucky,” he said, before confirming he will still be watching Match Of The Day.

Lineker said it was nice to leave the show in “really good shape”, describing the ratings as “still really competitive on a Saturday night”.

“I bowed out in my football career when I felt it was the right time. I feel it is the right time now.

“It’s the BBC’s flagship sports programme, hopefully it always will be.”

Last year, Lineker was suspended from hosting Match Of The Day after his tweet about the UK government’s asylum policy sparked a row about the company’s presenters expressing political views on social media.

“I’ve had a lot of turmoil over the last few years in a lot of ways,” Lineker joked, saying he was on “first-name terms with some of the people standing outside my front door”.

He added that he was surprised by the “amount of love” he has received since the news of his departure broke, which he described as “a bit cheesy”.

“I didn’t think it would be the big thing that it was – it’s just a guy who’s been doing a TV show for a long time, it’s nothing but,” he said.

Lineker will continue with the MOTD Top Ten podcast alongside his The Rest Is Football podcast, which also features BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Richards described it as a “sad day” to hear Lineker was leaving Match Of The Day.

“You’ve been in the game for 25 years at the highest level, people don’t do that, and you’ve been doing it for 25 years,” he said on the podcast.

“It’s a sad day, not just for us, but for people who have seen you over the years, because you’re a great broadcast.

“Well, you’re not leaving yet, but as far as Match Of The Day is concerned, I just want to thank you so much for everything you’ve done, not just for me, but for everyone associated and watching you over the years.”

Shearer described Lineker as an “incredible player, who played at the highest level for years and years and years” and an “incredible presenter for years and years and years”.

Lineker has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven years running and was estimated to have earned £1.35m in 2023/24, according to the company’s annual report published in July.

The BBC said future plans for Match Of The Day would be “announced in due course”.