Kelly Cates will be absent from Match of the Day hosting duties this weekend. The former Sky Sports presenter joined the BBC programme alongside Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan following Gary Lineker's exit in the summer of 2025.
The trio share hosting responsibilities on the programme, with Logan chosen to lead Saturday's broadcast, while Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy will provide punditry. Sunday will feature Chapman taking charge with Wayne Rooney and Toby Alderweireld on analysis.
Romance reports
This weekend's show will mark the first edition since reports emerged that Chapman, 52, and Cates, 51, are believed to be in a relationship. The romance is the first in several years for Cates, who is the daughter of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.
She was formerly married to television producer Tom Cates. The couple wed in 2007 and parted ways in 2021, having welcomed two children together. After her 14-year marriage ended, she spoke about re-entering the dating world in her mid-40s.
On Gabby Logan's The Mid Point podcast, she confessed to feeling "nervous" about being single and revealed she had a strong aversion to dating apps. She acknowledged that her self-assurance had also suffered. "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.
Previous relationship
Chapman had previously been in a relationship with Dubai-based property agent Clere Collier. This marked his first romantic involvement following the heartbreaking death of his wife Sara from cancer in 2020.
Nevertheless, after two years together, the relationship with Collier reportedly ended in April amid suggestions of his growing closeness to Cates. "Mark admitted the relationship but insisted there was no overlap between the two women and that he hadn't cheated on her. He told her that he had been a single man when he started spending time with Kelly," a source revealed to The Sun.
Someone close to the former pair commented: "Mark split with Clere out of the blue, without much explanation. They had been making plans for the future and their relationship had been going strong. They stayed in touch after the split, but Clere soon realised that Mark and Kelly were close and she accused Mark of dating Kelly."
Working together
Discussing her work alongside Chapman and Logan, Cates had previously remarked: "Being on a team with them is genuinely really exciting. I feel like I'm in a great little group."
She also spoke warmly about her new co-presenters upon their arrival at Match of the Day, saying: "The fact we're all the same age, we're at the same stage of our careers, we've all got other things outside of Match of the Day that we are all passionate about and really invested in, it means none of us are treading on each other and preying on each other's insecurities."
