Gary Lineker and Match of the Day (MotD) return to BBC One on Saturday 13 August, celebrating the start of a new Premier League season and a wealth of BBC football content available 24/7 across TV, radio and digital platforms.
- New for 2016/17, Gabby Logan presents The Premier League Show, a new mid-week magazine programme
- Gary Lineker returns to front new series of Match of the Day
- The FA Cup is back for another season with 16 live matches and highlights of every round across all platforms
- Radio 5 live to bring more commentaries than any other British broadcaster now with 144 Premier League games
- New presenting roles for Jermaine Jenas and Jason Mohammad on Radio 5 live
- Personalise BBC Football via BBC Sport’s digital service on the website and app and access exclusive behind the scenes content on social media accounts
Last season, host Lineker promised to present the season opener in his underwear if Leicester won the title...
With the Foxes going on to claim a shock win, will Gary be true to his word? Tune in this Saturday at 10.30pm on BBC One to find out*.
New for the 2016/17 season, Gabby Logan will present The Premier League Show, a mid-week magazine programme, featuring in depth interviews with the biggest Premier League stars from its home at the National Football Museum in Manchester. On a regular basis, Gary Lineker will front a standalone feature as part of the programme on football’s hottest topics. Starting on Thursday 25 August on BBC Two, Gabby is joined by former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright whilst Gary meets Liverpool’s charismatic German manager, Jürgen Klopp.
New Lead Executive for BBC Football, Steve Rudge says: “As excitement builds towards the new football season, we are delighted to announce our extensive offering which now includes the new mid-week magazine programme. Last season, 64 percent of fans followed the Premier League on the BBC only, highlighting our ability to unite the nation via our dedicated football service. This season will see the BBC deliver an unrivalled multiplatform offering which allows audiences to have the latest news and insight 24/7 wherever and whenever they wish. Fans will be led by a stellar cast of presenters, pundits and commentators who will bring them unique analysis and closer to the action than ever before across BBC TV, radio and enhanced digital platforms.”
TV
BBC’s flagship football programme MotD will continue to lead the weekend’s offering with the very best pundits in the business, providing analysis on all the day’s action alongside enhanced graphics and technological insight. Audiences are encouraged to join in the conversation via the MotD Facebook and Twitter accounts, providing their own thoughts and opinions and taking part in interactive votes including Goal of the Month. In addition, the MotD page on the BBC Sport website provides additional analysis and insight for those wanting to delve even deeper.
For the 2016/17 season, the BBC TV offering will consist of six programmes stripped across the weekend. In addition to MotD, the weekend’s action will include MOTD2 and MotD2 Extra presented by Mark Chapman, an extended hour long Football Focus with Dan Walker, Final Score with Jason Mohammad and The Premier League Show fronted by Gabby Logan. From Saturday 10 September, Football Focus will have a new start time of midday on BBC One*.
Expert analysis across all programmes will come from Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Jermaine Jenas, Danny Murphy, Kevin Kilbane, Trevor Sinclair, Ruud Gullit, Robbie Savage, Martin Keown, Jason Roberts, Mark Lawrenson, John Hartson, Dion Dublin, Garth Crooks, Danny Mills plus special guests throughout the season. Additional presentation comes from Manish Bhasin, Jacqui Oatley and Eilidh Barbour. The experienced line-up of MOTD commentators includes Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Simon Brotherton, Steve Bower and John Motson.
The FA Cup also returns to the BBC for a third season following an audience of 10.1m tuning in for the 2016 final between Manchester United v Crystal Palace and a total of 35m people watching the BBC’s coverage across the season. This season will see the return of 16 live matches and highlights of every round across all platforms.
Radio
New for 2016/17 on Radio 5 live, Jermaine Jenas presents The Friday Football Social alongside Darren Fletcher, previewing all fixtures and talking points ahead of an action packed weekend of football on 5 live. The first instalment kicks off on Friday 26 August.
Radio 5 live continues to bring more live radio commentaries than any other British broadcaster with an impressive portfolio that now includes 144 Premier League games (up from 128 last season), Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League, Home Nations’ internationals, Scottish Premiership and Championship, Football League and women’s football.
On Saturdays, Final Score presenter Jason Mohammad will hotfoot it to the 606 chair alongside Robbie Savage whilst Ian Wright and Kelly Cates will be at the helm to present Sundays edition.
In addition to live commentary the network brings all the football action and news throughout the week on 5 live Sport with Mark Chapman, Eleanor Oldroyd, Mark Pougatch and Kelly Cates alongside Caroline Barker and George Riley.
Football correspondent, John Murray leads the Radio 5 live team with commentary from Alan Green and Ian Dennis alongside pundits Danny Mills, Robbie Savage, Mark Lawrenson, Martin Keown, Kevin Kilbane, John Hartson, Pat Nevin, Steve Claridge, Danny Murphy, Jermaine Jenas, Chris Waddle, Chris Sutton and Jimmy Armfield.
BBC Local Radio Stations across England will once again provide in depth coverage of their League and Non-League football teams. Their experienced and passionate commentators deliver unrivalled coverage on every game they cover from the Premier League right through to the National League, from Manchester City through to Eastleigh FC. The teams cover around 1,500 matches during the season along with daily sports news bulletins, preview shows and post-match phone-ins.
Digital
This season BBC Sport’s digital service will be the most personal and interactive to date. New features include, predictor games allowing audiences to create personalised leagues, a Football League live service and news alerts building on the existing scores alert service for over 150 teams in the English and Sottish Leagues. The Team Selector tool, first used in the Euros attracting over 2 million team selections, will allow fans to pick their team of the week and compare it with Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week feature on the BBC Sport website.
The return of daily football updates across BBC Sport’s digital service and social channels will include breaking news and analysis and popular features such as Sportsday Live, Lawro’s Predictions, the Gossip Column and MotD2 analysis along with innovative use of video.
The BBC Sport website and app will deliver a live page for every Premier League match with integrated 5 live commentaries. While our FA Cup coverage will feature live video streaming of the BBC’s 16 televised games, alongside video highlights. There will also be live text commentary for Home Nation internationals, including 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Champions League, FA Cup, Scottish Premiership, Championship and women’s football matches.
Last season BBC Sport were the first broadcaster to deliver a Facebook Live video outside the United States on the Match of the Day page. This season will see a greater wealth of content and programme engagement via a range of social media platforms, which now have a combined audience across BBC Sport of 29 million fans and followers.
Between 10 June - 10 July 2016, over 41 million unique UK browsers visited BBC Sport’s Euro 2016 coverage on the BBC Sport website.
Women’s Football
The BBC continues to bring a wealth of women’s football to audience throughout the 2016/17 season. England women face Estonia in a live Euro 2017 qualifier on BBC Two on 15 September at 19:00. The Lionesses have already qualified for next year's tournament in Holland but will want to top their group. The Women's Football Show returns to BBC Two on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August when Manchester City will continue their bid to be crowned FA Women's Super League champions and Women’s Super League 2 Yeovil look to promotion.
There's live match commentaries on The WSL Show on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, including the final of The Continental Tyres Cup in October. In addition, The Women's Football Social on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport Interactive women's football page brings you original journalism and features around the women's game.
News
BBC Sports News will bring all the results, stories and interviews of the season across TV and radio.
Audiences on the BBC World Service will continue to enjoy the most comprehensive coverage of the Premier League available worldwide. Each weekend we bring our listeners commentary of two Premier League games on Sportsworld with Lee James and Sarah Mulkerrins. There is also extensive coverage of the Champions League and the FA Cup and the latest news and gossip. Each week Alan Green presents World Football bringing the biggest football stories from around the world to our global audiences.
Get Inspired
Encouraging participation remains a priority for BBC Sport. As part of its investment in this, its ‘Get Inspired’ project will continue to deliver football initiatives working with both the FA and the Premier League to support participation at all levels and abilities, including the People’s Cup, recruiting volunteers and supporting coaching schemes.
Notes to Editors
- Pictures from the opening MotD of the season on Saturday 13 August will be available during TX via www.bbcpictures.co.uk from 10.35pm
- The new predictor games feature with personalised leagues will be available to audiences in England and Scotland
- Football Focus is broadcast on Saturday at 12.10pm on BBC One until Saturday 10 September when it will have a new start time of midday on BBC One. The programme has been extended to 60” for the 2016/17 season - time and channel subject to change
- Final Score will be broadcast on BBC Two at 4pm on 13 and 20 August. The programmes regular broadcast slot is Saturday at 4pm on BBC One - time and channel subject to change
- Starting on Saturday 27 August, MotD2 Extra is broadcast on Sunday’s at 12.15pm on BBC One - time and channel subject to change
- MotD2 is broadcast on Sunday at 10.30am on BBC One – time and channel subject to change
