Match of the Day to last ‘just 20 minutes’ as boycott forces reduced programme

There will be no commentary as an extraordinary boycott forced the BBC to reduce the programme’s running time by an hour

Match of the Day will be shown tonight on BBC One but will last “just 20 minutes” - with no presenter, pundits, commentary or interviews - after the fallout from the decision to take Gary Lineker off air forced the BBC into a heavily limited highlights programme.

The BBC said on Friday night that Match of the Day would be shown “without studio presentation or punditry” after Ian Wright and Alan Shearer stepped down out of “solidarity” with Lineker, but the withdrawal of Match of the Day’s commentators forced producers into a further rethink.

The BBC earlier apologised for a “limited sport programming this weekend” after Football Focus and Final Score were axed from Saturday afternoon’s schedule and other sports content was disrupted.

Football Focus and Final Score were pulled after hosts Alex Scott and Jason Mohammed said they would not appear on air, with several other pundits, reporters and backroom staff joining the revolt.

It comes after the BBC ruled Lineker’s criticism of the government’s new asylum policy had breached their impartiality guidelines.

The BBC are reporting that Match of the Day will go ahead tonight but with a running time of around 20 minutes, an hour less than originally scheduled.

BBC Director General Tim Davies apologised for the disruption to sports programming. “We are working very hard to resolve this situation and make sure we get output on air," he told the BBC in Washington.

Match of the Day could be entirely silent tonight if the BBC have been unable to secure alternative commentary rights.

It was thought the BBC would be able to use the Premier League’s ‘World Feed’ to replace their own commentators, but match footage is now set to be played without sound.

Match of the Day is scheduled to begin at 10:20pm tonight.