Gary Lineker will leave the BBC at the end of the season, announced a few days after he apologized for expanding online material with anti-Semitism.

The host is the BBC's highest-paid broadcasting star, which was originally scheduled to host the 2026 World Cup and the FA Cup for the company.

However, amid continued anger from BBC employees and executives over his social media posts, it was confirmed on Monday that he will end his performance in the final match of the weekend to end his role.

BBC Director General Tim Davie said: "Gary admitted he made a mistake. So we agree that he will step back in a further introduction after the season.

“Gary has been a decisive voice in the BBC’s football coverage for two decades. His passion and knowledge have shaped our sports journalism and won the respect of sports fans in the UK and beyond. We want to thank him for his contribution.”

"As long as I remember - football has always been the heart of my life in the courts and in the studio. I care so much about the game, and the work I have done with the BBC over the years. As I said, I will never consciously re-promote anything anti-Semitism - it doesn't match anything I represent.

"But I recognize the mistakes and frustrations I have caused and reiterated my regrets. Taking a step back feels like a responsible course of action."

It actually led to a decades-long relationship with the BBC, in which the company developed the former England striker into its leading sports host. His last game of the day will be 26 years after he took over Des Lynam.

Last week, the 64-year-old apologized after appearing, reposting a pro-Palestine video on social media, criticizing Zionism and including illustrations of rats. Lineker has 1.2 million followers on the platform.

The rat is an anti-Semitic telescope used in Nazi Germany to describe Jews as pests. Lineker said in a statement that he would “never intentionally share any anti-Semitic” and deleted “the post was deleted immediately once I realized the problem.”

But the anger of the BBC's top figure is obvious. Davide faced a call from Sack Lineker all week, who was paid £1.4 million by the BBC last year.

Lineker faces his action in a high-profile speech about the company's future in Salford. “The BBC reputation is held by everyone and when someone makes mistakes, it costs us,” he said. “I think we absolutely need people to be a model of BBC values ​​and follow our social media policies. It’s simple.”

The BBC will now begin a new era of reporting without Lineker. Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman will replace him in the day's match and they will share their roles for the next Premier League season.

In the relationship between Lineker and the BBC, this is after a few turbulent years. In March 2023, he was temporarily suspended for commenting on criticizing the Conservative government's asylum policy.

In February, he was also one of 500 high-profile cultural figures who called on the BBC to rebroadcast the documentary Gaza: How to Survive in the War Zone, calling it "an essential journalism."

The broadcaster removed the documentary from the BBC Iplayer because the 14-year-old narrator of the film is the son of the deputy agriculture minister of the Hamas government on the territory.

Danny Cohen, a former BBC TV director, has been a leading critic of Operation Lineker and the BBC's handling of the issue, saying he was right to leave. However, he said the incident was "a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself." He accused the BBC of other violations of justice, including Gaza documentaries.

“All of this has caused great pain to the Jewish community in the UK and has always undermined the BBC’s reputation,” he said. “The weak leadership of BBC executives has made racism towards Jews late in the organization.

Producer Leo Pearlman also accused the BBC of "weak and ineffective leadership" and said Lineker had no victory, "looked in his own way." He said: “After several months of burning British Jews, the BBC must now decide: Will it use its highest salary and the most visible exit of the provider of split speech, ultimately hate speech, worst hate speech, as a catalyst for change, or is it confirming that the Jewish concerns in Britain are still being ignored and ignored by our national propaganda station?”