PA News Agency understands Mark Chapman will announce the BBC’s first match for Saturday’s highlights programme this weekend.
Chapman presents the lineup of three alongside Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan.
PA understands that Chapman will be the first trio to host the flagship Saturday Night Show. It is understood that Cates will be holding a programme that will be comprised of UEFA Super Cup highlights and eyeing the new Premier League season on Wednesday, but Logan will be holding matches for this week’s Sunday Night programme.
On January 15, the BBC announced that Cates, Chapman and Logan will become the new presentation team. The news followed weeks of speculation about who will take over Lineker after he said he had resigned last year.
The 64-year-old had intended to present the highlights program last season’s final match on May 26th, but he had planned to stay ahead of the BBC’s FA Cup and live coverage of the 2026 World Cup.
However, he announced earlier that month that he had moved forward with his departure following a social media line. There, I shared a post about Zionism, which features a portrayal of mice historically used as anti-Semitic tropes.
Lineker, the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and the host of Match of the Day since 1999, apologized for the post, but said it would be “good for everyone involved.”
Kates, the daughter of former Liverpool forward and manager, Kenny Dalglish, has been a Sky Sports presenter and has been responsible for reporting for the Premier League since rejoining the station in 2016.
Cates continues her role in Sky Sports. Chapman has been airing for over 25 years and was a regular presenter of the previous BBC Sunday Night Match of the Day program.
Former gymnast Logan became one of the first female sports anchors to incorporate several Olympics, World Cups and Commonwealth Games into several Olympics during her time with the BBC.
She often announced the match of the day in the absence of linecars, and was also a key part of the BBC coverage of 2022 and the last two women of the summer, with England winning both occasions.
