The BBC has confirmed Match of the Day will use a trio of presenters for the first time, with Mark Chapman insisting there would be “absolutely no competition” between him, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates.

The corporation formally announced on Wednesday that Chapman, Logan and Cates would succeed Gary Lineker as the host of its flagship football programme from next season, and would split presenting duties for the Saturday night highlights show, its Sunday sister programme Match of the Day 2 and MotD: Champions League on Wednesdays.

It was also confirmed that Cates would continue in her role anchoring Sky Sports’ live coverage of Premier League football on the days she was not on BBC duty, and that Alan Shearer and Micah Richards would remain pundits for the corporation.

Telegraph Sport revealed in November that BBC director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski was considering a rota of new presenters to replace Lineker, with Cates identified as the outstanding external candidate, along with Logan and Chapman. That was after it was announced that Lineker – the corporation’s highest-paid presenter on £1.35 million a year who had become arguably its biggest headache – would leave at the end of the season after 26 years in the role. News then emerged last month that Chapman, Logan and Cates would share hosting duties.

None will earn anywhere near as much as Lineker for hosting the show, with the BBC’s most recent list of star salaries showing Chapman was paid between £260,000-£264,999 in 2023-24 for presenting Match of the Day 2, live Challenge Cup rugby league and Radio 5 Live Sport. Logan did not even appear on the same list the corporation is required to publish of those earning £178,000 or more in a given year. They and Cates face being paid less than Shearer, who was third on the 2023-24 list on £445,000-£449,999.

Chapman, Lineker’s long-time understudy and the main host of Match of the Day 2 since 2013, said: “People might find this hard to believe but there’s absolutely no competition between the three of us. We’ll do a mix of everything that works for us all as individuals, and all of us are really keen that it’s fair. This isn’t about the three of us, it’s about the three of us plus our pundits, plus our editors, plus our analysts and stats people and production people and radio people and online.”

Cates said: “We are all friends and we’ve known each other for a long time and that’s a really lovely part of it. Not only is it a great role just on its own but I’m sharing it with two people I really admire, respect and genuinely like. It’s a great set-up.”

She added: “It’s something that’s so well-loved and so well-respected you don’t want to be the person that goes in and breaks that. I’m just very excited, I can’t wait to get started. I keep thinking about that moment I’ll be sitting in the chair and the music starts, and I can’t wait for it to happen.”

Logan, who has stood in for Lineker on Match of the Day and has worked for the BBC on the likes of the Olympics, men’s and women’s World Cups and European Championships, and the Six Nations, said: “I think what’s interesting is although we’re sharing the role, we won’t actually be working together on Match of the Day. It’s really great to share it because we bring different experiences and different interests within the game. We bring different ways of broadcasting and that will mean our pundits are kept on their toes and share different kinds of analysis.”

In November, Lineker signed a new 18-month contract at the BBC that will see him continue to present its live FA Cup coverage and the next men’s World Cup in 2026 before what is expected to be his eventual departure from the corporation.

Kay-Jelski said: “I know viewers will love these three incredible broadcasters and journalists at the heart of our football coverage next season. They’re brilliant at what they do and MotD viewers can be sure they will be well looked after as the big football talking points are expertly analysed. Gary has done a phenomenal job at Match of the Day for the last 25 years, he’ll be missed greatly and we all still get to enjoy him on our screens across some of football’s greatest tournaments.”

Lineker’s days hosting Match of the Day appeared numbered after he plunged the BBC into one of its worst crises in 2023 by comparing the last Conservative Government’s rhetoric around its flagship Rwanda policy to that of Nazi Germany. He was suspended, sparking a staff walkout that forced the corporation to show Match of the Day minus commentary or punditry for the first time.

Lineker got the Match of the Day job in 1999 after Des Lynam quit for ITV. Lynam had been only the fourth lead presenter on the world’s longest-running football show after Kenneth Wolstenholme, David Coleman and Jimmy Hill, Des Lynam and Lineker. There had been fears prior to the appointment of Chapman, Logan and Cates that the BBC might turn to a younger and less experienced host in a bid to attract new viewers to the programme.

Fresh line-up forged in sporting royalty and down-to-earth approach

Mark Chapman

Chapman started work at the BBC way back in 1996, working across radio and television, before rising to the position of Match of the Day 2 presenter in 2013. He has since then previously covered for Gary Lineker on the main Saturday night show if the former England captain is absent.

Chapman, then, is very much the continuity candidate and was already regarded as Lineker’s most obvious heir. He was keen, though, to continue with his duties on Radio 5 Live, where he presents another iconic show in Sports Report as well as the Monday Night Club, and was also open to the idea of rotating Match of the Day presenters.

Like many broadcasters, Chapman has diversified in recent years to also include podcasting and work away from the BBC. He already jointly presents the Sports Agents podcast with Logan and he has been a presenter for Sky Sports’ live League Cup coverage since 2022.

A big fan also of the NFL and rugby league, Chapman is hugely admired from both within and outside the profession for his versatility and a down-to-earth approach that can combine a light touch with more serious journalism. He was voted Sports Presenter of the Year by the Sports Journalists’ Association for the second year in a row last March.

Gabby Logan

One of the most experienced and best known sports broadcasters in the country. Logan is a huge football fan – her father Terry Yorath was a distinguished player and manager – and she has reported extensively on the game for almost 30 years. She was an occasional presenter of ITV’s Premiership programme between 2001 and 2004 (when they had won the Saturday night highlights from the BBC) and has also covered for Lineker on Match of the Day.

Logan has also presented extensively across BBC Sport on the biggest events, notably the Olympic Games and World Cup, and will continue to front the corporation’s coverage of rugby union and athletics, as well as her various podcasts.

In an interview last year with Telegraph Sport, Logan, who is 51, spoke about how she was moving into a new phase of life with her twin children now flying the nest and remained as enthusiastic and open to new challenges as ever.

“It [the children leaving home] is hard but it does free me in lots of ways,” she said. “When I went to Berlin for the Euros, it was the first time I had not really written any schedule for anybody. I just walked out of the door and said goodbye.”

Kelly Cates

Although Cates has worked on radio for the BBC and will continue presenting live football for Sky Sports, she represents the one Match of the Day coup that feels most akin to a transfer.

Unlike Logan and Chapman, Cates has not been principally synonymous with the BBC during her career, but rather Sky Sports where she regularly referees the Sunday afternoon punditry jousts between Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards.

Like Logan, she comes from a football family – her dad is the Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish – and she also started out on Sky Sports News before reporting and presenting jobs with Setanta, ESPN, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five. She returned to Sky Sports in 2016, initially to work on their League Cup programmes, but was soon rightly established among their main roster of star hosts. Her style has something in common with Des Lynam for its relaxed but authoritative delivery that can seamlessly shift from irreverent and humorous to the more serious and cutting. Of Cates, Logan once said that she can also “disarm the likes of Roy Keane with a single eyebrow when she wants to shut him up”.