The has named Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott to lead its 2026 FIFA World Cup coverage from North America, ending Gary Lineker’s long run at the front of the broadcaster’s tournament output. For the first time this century, the ’s World Cup presentation will not be built around him.
The move matters because the and ITV will screen every game from the tournament in the UK, and the people fronting the coverage will shape how a huge audience experiences it. Cates, Chapman, Logan and Scott have already been sharing the Match of the Day presenting duties over the past season, and Scott recently presented the last ever edition of Football Focus, making this shift feel less like a gamble than a formal handover.
Lineker left the corporation at the end of the 2024/25 season after being a fixture of football coverage since France 98. The new quartet now steps into the same role for a tournament that will be watched across North America and carried in full to British viewers, a setting that puts pressure on the to make its new face of World Cup coverage feel established from the first broadcast.
The rest of the operation underlines how broad the ’s offer will be. Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards are among the pundits, with Joe Hart, Steph Houghton, Danny Murphy, Paul Robinson and Ellen White among the England voices. Scott Brown, Rachel Corsie and James McFadden will represent Scotland, while Ashley Williams completes the line-up of former internationals from the home nations. César Azpilicueta, Gaël Clichy, Thomas Frank, Benni McCarthy and Olivier Giroud will add an international edge, with Giroud bringing the perspective of a 2018 FIFA World Cup winner.
There is also a deep bench behind the presenters. Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Steve Bower, Jonathan Pearce, Robyn Cowen and Steven Wyeth will lead TV commentary, Liam McLeod will cover Scotland’s matches, and Radio 5 Live commentaries will be carried on selected televised fixtures. Darren Cann will provide analysis from a match official’s perspective, and an audio description service will be available on all live games. Kelly Somers will report from the England camp, while Eilidh Barbour will be embedded with the Scotland squad. That breadth suggests the is not just replacing a familiar frontman; it is trying to reset the shape of its entire World Cup operation for a tournament where every match will be under the same spotlight.
