Gary Lineker bid an emotional goodbye as he signed off hosting Match Of The Day after 26 years, saying it had been an “absolute privilege” and “utterly joyous” to front the show. The player-turned-pundit’s early departure from the broadcaster follows a social media row after the 64-year-old shared a post about Zionism, which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult. He presented his final episode alongside fellow pundits, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, with whom he also hosts podcast The Rest Is Football, which is produced by his company Goalhanger Podcasts. In his final message, Lineker said: “Rather like my football career, everyone else did all the hard work and I got the plaudits. It’s been an absolute privilege to host Match Of The Day for a quarter of a century. “It’s been utterly joyous.” Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman will replace the Leicester-born star and share the presenting role on Match Of The Day from the next Premier League season, and Lineker wished the trio “all the very best when they sit in this chair. The programme is in the best of hands.” Lineker, the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, issued an unreserved apology as it was confirmed he would leave his presenting role at the BBC early and will no longer front the corporation’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup or the FA Cup next season. He ended his on-air thank you saying: “And my final thank you goes to all of you. Thank you for watching, thank you for all your love and support over the years. It has been so special, and I am sorry that your team was always on last. Time to say goodbye. Goodbye.” The former Barcelona, Tottenham and Everton striker wiped away tears after being played a video montage which featured messages from pundits past and present including Richards, Shearer and Scottish pundit Alan Hansen, former footballer Danny Murphy and former Match Of The Day pundit, Ian Wright. In the video montage, Shearer said: “Gary, you’ve been a great friend. You are a great friend. You’ve been amazing to me, and you’ve been unbelievable to Match Of The Day. So whatever you choose to do on Saturdays, good luck, and we’ll miss you.” There were also words from Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and former Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri and former team-mates Alan Smith, Paul Gascoigne and Peter Shilton, as well as Lineker’s sons. Near the end of the episode Lineker quipped: “It had to be Leicester last”, following him appearing on Match Of The Day in just his underpants in August 2016, having stuck to a promise to appear half-naked if Leicester won the Premier League. He wore white and blue Leicester shorts for the first 30 minutes of the show, then appeared back on screen fully dressed. Leicester is Lineker’s boyhood club, and he scored 94 goals in 194 matches for the Foxes. During the episode, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot also featured, telling Lineker: “Thank you for being such a great presenter of a BBC show that I have watched many times when I lived in Holland, and now still. It’s great what you did.” The programme was preceded with a montage of Lineker’s on-field footballing highlights, and an archive clip of him as a presenter saying “the end of an era”, before the regular opening credits and theme tune played. Lineker has presented Match Of The Day since 1999 and has also fronted the BBC’s coverage of other major sporting events, including the 2012 London Olympics. He opened the final episode saying: “It wasn’t meant to end this way… but with the title race over and the relegation places confirmed, the Champions League was all we had left to talk about.” Match Of The Day is one of the BBC’s top-performing programmes, and the corporation retains the rights to continue showing Premier League highlights until the end of the 2028-29 season.