Champions League role puts Mark Chapman in line to succeed Gary Lineker (original) (raw)

Mark Chapman has landed the prized role as the main presenter of the BBC’s new Champions League highlights show — an appointment that should mean that he is in pole position to succeed Gary Lineker on Match of the Day.

Chapman, 50, has become a hugely popular figure across TV and radio and on Wednesday he will take the helm of the BBC’s highlights show of the revamped Champions League.

The BBC is paying about £20million for three years’ of highlights rights. It is the first time the broadcaster has had any rights to the Champions League and Uefa was keen to have a terrestrial TV broadcast partner to increase the reach of Europe’s top club competition.

Chapman’s new role fronting Champions League highlights will put him in a strong position when the BBC looks for a successor to Lineker

Chapman’s new role fronting Champions League highlights will put him in a strong position when the BBC looks for a successor to Lineker

GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES

The role means that “Chappers”, as he is nicknamed, should be at the front of the queue when it comes to the BBC deciding on a successor to Lineker, whose £1.35million-a-year contract expires at the end of the season. That is especially the case after the BBC parted company last month with Jermaine Jenas, who had been seen as Lineker’s heir apparent.

Taking on MotD would mean Chapman giving up his Saturday radio slot but it would be a hard one to refuse given that it is the most high-profile of the BBC’s sports presenting roles.

The BBC might also take comfort from the fact that it would not run into any of the social media issues that it has experienced with Lineker — Chapman has not posted on X for almost four years.

Former players including Frank Lampard are expected on the BBC’s Champions League highlights show. Lineker’s usual MotD sidekick Alan Shearer is working for Amazon for its live games — it has a match every Tuesday — while TNT Sports has the live rights to all the other games.

Pay demands of City’s top barrister ‘on par with Haaland’

It is ten years since Manchester City’s legal chief Simon Cliff sent an email, which was later leaked, about possible Uefa action on financial rules which stated that “Khaldoon [Al Mubarak, the City chairman] said he would rather spend £30million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next ten years.”

According to reports, Pannick often charges £5,000 an hour but has been known to request up to £10,000 an hour

According to reports, Pannick often charges £5,000 an hour but has been known to request up to £10,000 an hour

AARON CHOWN/PA

City may be facing a bill that is rather more than that over the hearing into 115 alleged breaches of Premier League rules, due to start on Monday and last ten weeks.

The Lawyer magazine has reported that City’s leading barrister, Lord Pannick KC, often charges £5,000 an hour but has been known to request up to £10,000 an hour — putting him on the same kind of money as City’s star striker Erling Haaland.

ITV extends Premiership Rugby TV deal for two seasons

ITV has extended its deal to show seven live Premiership Rugby matches — including the final — for the next two seasons.

The first live game on ITV will be the derby between Bath and Bristol Bears at The Rec on Saturday, October 5. All other Premiership matches are being shown live on TNT Sports.

Bach’s ‘ABC’ principle – anyone but Coe

The IOC is insisting rules that could prevent Lord Coe running for the presidency next year are not new and have always been in place — but it is an open secret in sporting circles that the incumbent Thomas Bach is operating on the ABC principle for his successor: “anyone but Coe”.

Coe, left, has been a thorn in Bach’s side in his role as World Athletics president

Coe, left, has been a thorn in Bach’s side in his role as World Athletics president

WILL OLIVER/EPA

In fact, when this column stated more than three years ago that Coe was a front-runner to be the next president, an Olympic official close to Bach sent an email saying: “Do you want to bet on that?”

As World Athletics president, Coe has been a thorn in Bach’s side, showing up the IOC for its weak position on Russian doping and war-mongering.

Benazzi boost for Robinson in World Rugby race

Abdelatif Benazzi, the former captain of France and Morocco, has entered the race to be the next chairman of World Rugby, which could play into the hands of the Australian candidate Brett Robinson.

Benazzi has joined Scotland’s John Jeffrey and Italy’s Andrea Rinaldo in the running to succeed Sir Bill Beaumont, who is coming to the end of his eight-year term. Benazzi, 56, should be a strong candidate in his own right but his entry could further split the European vote.