LONDON: Former England football captain Gary Lineker will step down as host of the BBC’s flagship Match of the Day highlights show at the end of the season, the broadcaster confirmed on Tuesday. But the BBC said Lineker — the broadcaster’s highest-paid presenter earning £1.35 million ($1.7 million) a year — would remain at the corporation after both parties “agreed in principle to a contract extension through to the 2026 World Cup”.

“After 25 seasons Gary is stepping down from MOTD,” said Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport. “We want to thank him for everything he has done for the show, which continues to attract millions of viewers each week.

“He’ll be hugely missed on the show but we’re so happy he is staying with the BBC to present live football.” Lineker, who will have held the post for 26 years when he leaves at the end of the Premier League season in May 2025, said: “I’m delighted to continue my long association with BBC Sport and would like to thank all those who made this happen.”

Former BBC director general Greg Dyke told BBC radio that Lineker was “the outstanding sports presenter of his time”, but added: “Life moves on, presenters don’t stay forever.” The 63-year-old Lineker took over as host of the Saturday night programme in 1999.

In March last year, Lineker was briefly taken off air by bosses after comparing the language used to launch a British government asylum policy to the rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany on social media. In solidarity with Lineker, a number of fellow presenters and pundits including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright refused to appear on the programme, meaning an episode was reduced to 20 minutes and aired without its host, pundits and commentary.

Lineker was reinstated just over a week later. The BBC launched an independent review of its social medial guidelines, which recommended that high-profile presenters should be able to express views on political issues but should stop short of campaigning on party politics or for activist organizations. The former Leicester, Everton, Tottenham and Barcelona forward has hosted refugees in his home and has often criticized government policies, particularly on immigration.

Last week Lineker, who turns 64 at the end of November, admitted he would “have to slow down at some point”, and intimated to Esquire magazine that he may seek to focus full-time on his successful podcast business.

In August 2016, Lineker made good on an earlier promise to present the show in his underpants after his boyhood club Leicester won the Premier League. — AFP