Gary Lineker has weighed in on who he thinks should replace him on Match of the Day (MOTD) after revealing he would step down from the BBC show.

After more than two decades on MOTD, the former England footballer, turned sports broadcaster, will step away from the programme at the end of the season.

However, Lineker will continue to present coverage of the FA Cup in 2025/26 and the World Cup in 2026, the BBC confirmed.

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

Gary Linker says it was "the right time" to step down from MOTD

Lineker said hosting MOTD had been “an absolute joy and privilege”, but that it was “the right time” for him to exit and “someone else to take the helm” as the BBC looks to make changes to the programme.

Speaking on his podcast - The Rest Is Football, he said: "It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC, but all things have to come to an end.

“It came at a point where really the BBC and Match Of The Day, they’ve got the rights for another three years, the cycle starts from next season so it felt like if I just do one more year it would be a bit weird.”

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

“I think the next contract they’re looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.”

Who will replace Gary Lineker on Match of the Day?

Lineker refused to speculate on who would replace him on MOTD.

If rumours are to be believed, the front runners are regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter Mark Chapman, Football Focus host Alex Scott, and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.

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Linker said: "Obviously I don’t know who it’ll be, and I would never tell publicly my preference, I don’t think that’d be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself.

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

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

"It's been amazing": Gary Lineker looks back at his time on MOTD

Linker - who played 80 games for England, kicking 48 goals - also reflected on his time on MOTD saying it has been an "amazing experience".

He said: "I look back and it’s been an amazing experience, and I feel incredibly fortunate."

Linker added it was nice to be leaving the show in “really good shape”, describing the viewing figures as “still really competitive on a Saturday night”.

“It’s the flagship BBC Sports programme, hopefully, it always will be," he added.

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

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

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

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Lineker - who during his career played for the likes of Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham - continued: "I didn’t think it would be quite the big deal that it was – it’s just a guy that has done a TV show for a long time, it’s nothing more than."

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.

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