Former striker-turned-presenter Gary Lineker shocked the nation on Monday as it was revealed he would be stepping down from his role as Match of the Day presenter at the end of the season.
The presenter, who ranked at No.45 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest Barcelona players of all time, will bring an end to a 26-year stint as the face of Britain's favourite football show and will leave the BBC entirely after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
According to BBC News, Lineker was eager to stay with the BBC ahead of contract negotiations in October before failing to come to an agreement, leading to a departure has now been confirmed.
Next MOTD presenter odds
Lineker's departure will open the door for one of the country's most coveted presenting roles with a host of sports media titans being linked with filling the vacancy.
Regular fixtures on the BBC are amongst the most heavily-linked names early on, with MOTD 2 presenter Mark Chapman and Football Focus lead Alex Scott expected to be the leading candidates.
According to Oddschecker, Chapman currently leads the way with the bookmakers' odds, with value settling around 6/4 for him to be announced as the next full-time presenter.
Sky Sports presenter Kelly Cates comes in at 2nd spot, valued at 4/1, having become the face of Sky's Friday Night Football show in recent years, having racked up almost two decades of presenting experience in her career.
The aforementioned Alex Scott shares the third spot with fellow BBC stalwart Gabby Logan, both coming in at 6/1, with bookies seemingly expecting the BBC to explore options to appoint MOTD's first-ever female full-time presenter.
Another BBC old-timer and long-standing Final Score host Jason Mohammed has also been heavily included in other lists of potential replacements.
The BBC will have until the end of the season to appoint a new host, while Lineker, now aged 63, admitted it was time to 'slow down' in a recent interview with Esquire.
The pundit is a co-host of the highly successful 'The Rest is Football' podcast alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, which is produced by his own production company, Goalhanger.
