50 years of Match Of The Day

• MOTD first broadcast Saturday 22 August 1964 and has grown to be an iconic television institution
• Ruud Gullit, Philip Neville and Rio Ferdinand join the team for 2014/15 alongside Alan Shearer, Robbie Savage and Danny Murphy
• BBC One documentary – MOTD at 50, Friday 22 August, BBC One & HD celebrating the 50 years

As the new football season kicks off this August, the television institution that is Match Of The Day celebrates 50 years since it was first aired. The occasion is marked by a special documentary (MOTD at 50, BBC One & HD, 22 August, 10.35pm), which charts the history of this iconic programme and highlights its long-ingrained place at the heart of Saturday night television.

Gary Lineker once again takes the helm for the 2014/15 season which gets underway on Saturday 16 August, 10.30pm, BBC One & HD with the eagerly awaited new Premier League start. We’re very pleased to announce that World Cup pundits Ruud Gullit, Philip Neville and Rio Ferdinand will be joining the MOTD line-up. They add to an impressive team of regular pundits, including Alan Shearer, Robbie Savage and Danny Murphy. The programme will continue to use current Premier League players and managers as guests throughout the season.

The anniversary season will feature a new title sequence, taking the audience on a journey through the last five decades of television football coverage. There will also be a few extra touches of nostalgia on the anniversary weekend itself on Saturday 23 August.

Mark Cole, BBC Lead Exec, Football, says: “This season we aim to blend the old with the new. There will be archive sequences to celebrate 50 years of coverage, but we will continue to lead the way with our award-winning augmented reality graphics, detailed Opta statistics, live social media votes and Gary Lineker's popular post-match interviews.

“After 22 years, Alan Hansen will no longer be with the show, but the World Cup really showcased the strength of the new BBC punditry team. We will continue to evolve the Saturday night panel and feel we have a really good blend of regular studio guests. Alan Shearer has established himself as one of the top pundits in the UK, while Danny Murphy and Philip Neville will regularly provide added tactical analysis. There will be strong opinions from Ruud Gullit and Robbie Savage, while Rio Ferdinand will also make occasional appearances, subject to his commitments with QPR, and with BT Sport.

"We will continue to mix our team of regular analysts with current players and managers, which featured Roy Hodgson, Thierry Henry, Vincent Kompany and Roberto Martinez last season. We are confident we have put together a varied team full of insight and opinion, led by Gary Lineker, who has consistently proved to be amongst the best presenters in the UK."

Commentators for the new season are Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Simon Brotherton, Steve Bower and John Motson, who has been with the programme for over 40 of the 50 years.

MOTD first broadcast on Saturday 22 August 1964, with highlights of Liverpool v Arsenal at Anfield and the programme quickly grew to be essential weekly viewing during the season. It is now a must for all football fans, with regular audiences of up to 6 million across the weekend, watching extended highlights of every Premier League game.

Innovations have also seen the programme family grow with Sunday’s MOTD2, now presented by Mark Chapman, introduced in 2004, and the ground-breaking cross-platform MOTD2 Extra which was introduced last year. The Sunday lunchtime chat show is the first genuinely multiplatform sports programme and broadcasts live simultaneously on BBC One, BBC One HD, Radio 5 live and via the BBC Sport website. Players, pundits, managers, journalists and commentators all have their say on the weekend’s talking points to audiences in excess of one million across the three platforms.

In addition MOTD3 runs online every Monday at bbc.co.uk/sport/football, while MOTD Kickabout is a weekly preview show for younger fans every Friday on CBBC.

MOTD2 starts this year on 17 August, 10.25pm, BBC One & HD. Mark will be joined across the season by Alan Shearer, Philip Neville, Danny Murphy, Mark Lawrenson, Martin Keown, Jason Roberts, Kevin Kilbane, Neil Lennon, John Hartson, Les Ferdinand and Dion Dublin.

MOTD2 Extra starts from Sunday 17 August (12.15pm BBC One) after a successful inaugural season. The programme discusses the best of Saturday’s action and previews all Sunday's key games with an intriguing dynamic, with fans able to interact through social media with pundits, commentators and leading sports journalists.

Once again from midnight on Monday night, the latest episode of Match Of The Day will be available to view on BBC iPlayer, and MOTD2 will be available from midnight on Tuesday.

Archive and current images available at bbcpictures.co.uk

Documentary programme information

Match of the Day at 50 - Friday 22 August, BBC One & BBC One HD, 10.35pm-11.35pm

As the new football season kicks off this August, the television institution that is Match of the Day celebrates 50 years since it was first aired. This definitive documentary charts the history of this iconic programme and highlights its long-ingrained place at the heart of Saturday night television.

We discover why Match of the Day holds such a special place in the nation’s affections with classic archive featuring George Best, Brian Clough, Sir Bobby Robson, David Coleman and Jimmy Hill and brand new contributions from Jose Mourinho, Sergio Aguero, Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Gary Lineker, Wayne Rooney, Des Lynam, Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Michael Owen, Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer, John Motson and stars from the England women’s football team.

We also hear from fans of the show including Sir Alan Sugar, Sue Johnston, Piers Morgan and Russell Brand. Barry Stoller, who composed the iconic Match of the Day music, talks for the very first time about how the tune became the most recognised theme tune on television beating EastEnders and Dr Who! There are also special performances of the music by Lethal Bizzle and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The show looks at how MOTD has evolved over the years, remaining the main place for football viewers to watch action. We also remember how the programme dealt with tragedy, when 96 Liverpool fans Iost their life at Hillsborough. We take a look at the elements of the show that have become synonymous with the MOTD brand like Goal of the Month and we track down a serial winner of the award who became a cult hero in the ‘90s. And Sergio Aguero takes us back to the very spot he scored the most famous of last-minute MOTD goals.

Full of fantastic anecdotes and the finest footballing moments of the past 50 years this documentary celebrates Match of the Day notching up its half century while continuing to set the footballing agenda among viewers.

Match Of The Day 50th anniversary – facts and figures

• First presenter, Kenneth Wolstenholme opened the first programme, 22 August 1964 with the words, “Welcome to Match Of The Day, the first of a weekly series coming to you every Saturday on BBC Two. As you can hear we’re in Beatleville for this Liverpool versus Arsenal match.”
• BBC Two was only available in London at the time
• It started on BBC Two where it remained until 1966 when it moved to BBC One
• Manchester United were the Champions the first season MOTD was on air
• In 1968, Grandstand presenter, David Coleman, also joins Kenneth Wolstenholme as a regular MOTD presenter
• Match Of The Day was first broadcast in Technicolor on 15 November, 1969
• From 1969, the programme becomes live and studio based, rather than being pre-recorded at the ground of the featured match, and there were now two games seen each week
• 1970 season saw the current Match of the Day theme tune make its debut. The theme tune was written by Barry Stoller
• 1970 saw the introduction of the Goal of the Month competition, which led to thousands of postcards being sent to the BBC. Coventry’s Ernie Hunt was the first Goal of the Season winner at the end of the 1970-71 season
• John Motson made his debut as a ‘Match of the Day’ commentator on 9 October 1971. He is still the programme’s longest serving commentator
• Jimmy Hill joins as new presenter in 1973
• 1977 – MOTD celebrates its 500th edition
• 1980 –after 16 seasons in the Saturday night slot, MOTD moves to Sunday afternoons
• The show returns to Saturday nights for the 1980/81 season
• 1983/84 season, the Saturday night highlights show is supplemented by live matches on Friday evenings
• 1983 – MOTD is off air from 15 October to 19 November due to BBC strike action
• 1986/87 - With highlights out of fashion there were only fourteen editions of ‘Match of the Day’ all season and the only League action came in the seven live games on Sunday afternoons
• On August 8 1987 the League Chairmen voted to sell all their matches exclusively to ITV from 1988 leaving the BBC and BSB with the FA Cup and England Internationals
• The 1987/88 season was also Jimmy Hill’s final season as presenter after a record fifteen years in charge of the show
• For the 1988-89 season Des Lynam becomes presenter
• From the 1988-89 season Match Of The Day became ‘Match Of The Day – Road to Wembley’ as for the first time since its inception it couldn’t broadcast any League football. Instead, the team settled into the four-year contract with the intention of breathing new life into the FA Cup
• In May 1992 the TV rights for the new FA Premier League were decided and each club had one vote. BSkyB were awarded live matches on Sundays and Mondays and the BBC gained the Saturday night highlights as part of a five-year deal
• For the 1992-93 season a new show was born, fronted by Des Lynam. Des was joined by new regular pundits, Alan Hansen and Trevor Brooking and the show reverted to the classic format of extended highlights from three main games. Now, however, as well as all the extra analysis, viewers were also able to see the goals from all the other matches as well
• 1995 – opening day of the season – Alan Hansen uttered the infamous’ you can’t win anything with kids’ in reference to Alex Ferguson’s young Manchester United side. The team went onto win the League
• Gary Lineker and Ray Stubbs regularly stood in for Des Lynam during the 1998/89 season
• Gary became the show’s new regular presenter from the 1999-2000 season
• 2001/02 – ITV win back rights to show Premier League highlights. Match of the Day continued on BBC but now showing live FA Cup and European games
• In August 2003, it is announced that the BBC have won back the right to show Premier League highlights from 2004
• 15 August 2004 - MOTD2 is first broadcast, presented by Adrian Chiles
• 21 April 2007 - Jacqui Oatley becomes Match of the Day’s first female commentator – the game was Fulham v Blackburn. Celina Hinchcliffe became the first female presenter in February 2005 and Gabby Logan has since become a regular replacement for Gary Lineker
• In May 2010, PRS for Music revealed that the Match of the Day theme tune is the most recognisable in the UK
• Saturday 8 January 2011 - MOTD Kickabout, a weekly preview show for younger fans, launches on CBBC
• The highest peak audience in most recent years was 6.2m achieved on 5 Feb 2011. A day that saw a record 41 goals in eight Premier League matches – it's still a record for a single day
• In November 2011 the program moved to Salford from London to a brand new studio as part of the BBC's relocation north
• 22 September 2013 - cross-platform Sunday lunchtime chat show MOTD2 Extra airs for the first time
• MOTD was available on the iPlayer for the first time for the 2013/14 season
• Last season’s peak audience was 5.5m achieved on 22nd March 2014 when comedian Russell Brand took to the pundits chair as part of Sport Relief
• Match of the Day regularly attracts audiences of over 7m across the weekend, including iplayer viewings
• More than 1 million people regularly tune in weekly to MOTD2 Extra via BBC One, Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website
• One of John Motson’s famous sheepskin coats takes pride of place in the National Football Museum in Manchester
• 43 years and counting - John Motson’s time as a commentator – he has commentated on approx. 2000 games for MOTD
• 22 years - Alan Hansen’s stint as a pundit. His first MOTD appearance was in 1992 and his last on 11 May 2014

Main presenters 

• Kenneth Wolstenholme – 1964 – 1969
• David Coleman – 1968-1973
• Jimmy Hill – 1973 – 1988
• Des Lynam – 1988 – 1999
• Gary Lineker – 1999 – present

Occasional presenters now include Ray Stubbs, Gabby Logan, Mark Pougatch, Dan Walker, Mark Chapman.