Match of the Day announce new pundit as Micah Richards set for ‘more prominent’ role

Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart will join the Match of the Day team for the new campaign after he retired at the end of last season.

Hart, 37, made 340 appearances in the Premier League helping Manchester City win two league titles, an FA Cup and the League Cup, twice.

He finished his career at Celtic with a Scottish Premiership and Cup double last season.

“I’m very excited, very proud, and looking forward to growing into an incredible role on something that I grew up watching,” said Hart, who also worked for the BBC at this summer’s European Championships.

“I want to try and give back as much as I can from the career I’ve had and keep learning. I’m thrilled to be in and around an incredible set up, learning first and foremost in a new part of my life.”

This year marks 60 years of Match of the Day and Hart will join host Gary Lineker and regular pundit Alan Shearer in the Salford studio, for the Saturday night show, while it is believed Hart’s former Manchester City teammate Micah Richards is set for a bigger role.

Richards is one of the most used pundits around, appearing as a regular on BBC, Sky Sports and CBS sports as well as appearing on the podcast, The Rest is Football with Lineker and Shearer.

Match of the Day returns on Saturday night with highlights of the first half of the fixtures from the opening weekend of the new season.

Highlights will include Ipswich’s first top-flight match since 2002, as they take on Liverpool, Arsenal’s opening game with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton’s trip to Newcastle, following their promotion via the Play-Off final back in May.

This isn’t the BBC’s only big change ahead of the new season, with the news that Troy Deeney has taken over Premier League Team of the Week duties from Garth Crooks.