Match of the Day may have been running since 1964, but news broke of a first on the show on Sunday when it was reported that co-hosts Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman have started dating.
Cates, 51, and Chapman, 52, have been stars of the BBC show’s three-person presenter panel alongside Gabby Logan since the start of last season following Gary Lineker’s departure.
The pair have become public figures on our TV screens over recent years – but have now grown close in private, much to the apparent disgruntlement of Chapman’s ex-partner.
Chapman has only recently split with estate agent Clere Collier, who accused him of starting the relationship with Cates while they were still together, an allegation he denies.
On salaries of £335,000-£340,000 and £215,000-£220,000 per year respectively, Chapman and Cates are two of the BBC’s highest-paid employees.
Chapman was previously married to wife Sara for 19 years until she tragically died aged 44 in 2020 after a battle with cancer. They had three kids together and lived in Hale, an affluent and desirable village in Greater Manchester.
Match of the Day co-hosts Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates are reportedly dating each other
Cates and Chapman have been on the three-person presenter panel since Gary Lineker’s exit
Clere Collier accused Chapman of starting the relationship with Cates while they were together
Despite the devastating blow, the 52-year-old has gone from strength to strength professionally over recent years and it was revealed in 2024 that he had started dating again after entering a relationship with estate agent and socialite Collier.
They appeared to be in a good place, with Collier, who is based in Dubai, regularly making trips over to the UK to visit Chapman – and they were even pictured walking hand-in-hand through the streets of Altrincham together.
She shared several gushing social media tributes towards Chapman, including one that labelled him as her ‘one love’ and ‘devilishly handsome’ after he turned 51, before they split in April this year.
Meanwhile, Cates, daughter of Liverpool icon Sir Kenny Dalglish, was married to TV producer Tom Cates from 2007 until their divorce in 2021.
The pair have two children together and lived in Chiswick in south-west London.
News of Cates’ relationship with Chapman is in stark contrast to her comments on Gabby Logan’s The Mid Point podcast in March 2021 when she spoke about the struggles of dating and her own insecurities.
‘I don’t have a picture in my head of why a middle-aged, slightly overweight mother of two could possibly be attractive,’ she said.
‘I can’t get my head round that. It’s not that I’m putting myself down and it’s not a lack of confidence or a low self-esteem. It’s just I don’t know what that would look like.
Cates was previously married to TV producer Tom for 14 years until they split in 2021
As recently as January Chapman and Collier were seen window shopping for a new home
‘The thought of going on a date, spending an evening with someone and at the end of it thinking, “Well, I don’t really like you”, I would be so resentful of them taking up my time.
‘Obviously it’s vice versa, too, but I’m not really bothered about it from their perspective.’
Cates candidly added: ‘Bearing in mind I don’t get to see the people I do like quite often, but I do know unless I want to spend the rest of my life alone… and I’ve got no real thoughts about long term relationships or anything like that.
‘Imagine sitting there and halfway through you think, “God this guy’s an idiot.” You’ve just wasted a babysitter.’
But Chapman, who appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox with Cates in July, has appeared to change her perspective, although his position has reportedly been shrouded by claims from his former partner Collier.
Collier was said to have accused Chapman of dating Cates while they were still together after a report in The Sun said that he split suddenly with her in April.
However, he insists there was no overlap between the relationships and that he had remained faithful.
As recently as January Chapman and Collier were seen window shopping for a new home in property agents’ windows in Altrincham, Greater Manchester.
Mother-of-two Clere, who uses her contacts in the Emirates to invest in London’s property market, was making regular UK trips for work and to spend time with Chapman in Manchester, where he is based. She was previously married to husband James for three years before they split – and was once linked with pop star Dane Bowers.
Cates, Chapman and Logan pose together at their BBC Match of the Day unveiling
News broke of the relationship between the hugely popular presenters on Sunday evening
Cates and Chapman are yet to publicly comment on the reports.
The news comes as BBC Sport faces mutiny over their latest restructuring.
Strike action is now said to be ‘inevitable’ amid the latest redundancy plans, with staff left furious at a view that while dozens of rank and file jobs will go, well-remunerated senior leadership appears to be ‘untouched’.
Daily Mail Sport revealed that a series of job cuts were to be announced ahead of a ‘savings’ call with all staff.
On the summit, workers were told that 41 roles would be culled, with five new posts created as director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski continues to ring the changes with a series of controversial moves some believe are aimed at chasing clicks, rather than serving all of the licence-paying audience.
‘Everyone is furious,’ explained one insider. ‘The TV sports news department in particular will be decimated. And yet those at the top, unsurprisingly, are untouched. The feeling is that strike action is inevitable.’
Daily Mail Sport understands that while nobody in a senior leadership role is at risk, it would be wrong to suggest that management itself is not impacted and that the highest percentage of the 41 job losses comes from management level.
