Mark Chapman opened with a joke as he introduced the first Saturday night Match of the Day since Gary Lineker’s departure from the show. Chapman is one of three new presenters on the BBC’s Saturday night highlights show, rotating with Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan, and was first up in the chair at the start of the new season. Introducing the show, Chapman said: “The Premier League is back and Match of the Day is back. You may have seen and heard there’s a big change to the show this season, and that is that Wayne Rooney has joined is us as a regular pundit.
“Some things don’t change though, and Alan (Shearer) is still here.” Former England captain Rooney, 39, has joined the show after leaving his most recent spell in management at Plymouth back in December. Chapman, 51, has previously hosted Match of the Day when Lineker was unavailable, and was the regular host of the Sunday show, Match of the Day 2. From this season, the Sunday highlights, as well as the new Champions League highlights show, will all be known as Match of the Day. On Wednesday, Cates hosted a programme to preview the new Premier League season alongside Rooney, Danny Murphy and Julien Laurens. Logan is due to host Match of the Day’s Sunday night programme this week. Lineker’s final show came at the end of last season on 26 May in a long-planned move. The 64-year-old had planned to front the BBC’s live coverage of the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup, but brought forward his departure following a social media row in which he shared a post about Zionism featuring a depiction of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic trope. Lineker, the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and host of Match of the Day since 1999, apologised unreservedly for the post but said it was “best for all concerned” if he left completely.