“We are all friends and we’ve known each other for a long time and that’s a really lovely part of it,” said Cates, who will also continue to work for Sky Sports.

“Not only is it a great role just on its own but I’m sharing it with two people I really admire, respect and genuinely like. It’s a great set-up.”

Logan, who first joined the BBC in 2007, has stood in for Lineker on Match of the Day and presented many huge sporting events for the BBC, including men’s and women’s World Cups and European Championships, the Six Nations and Olympics.

“I think what’s interesting is although we’re sharing the role, we won’t actually be working together on Match of the Day,” she said.

“It’s really great to share it because we bring different experiences and different interests within the game. We bring different ways of broadcasting and that will mean our pundits are kept on their toes and share different kinds of analysis.”

Chapman has been the main MOTD2 host since 2013 and works regularly on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“People might find this hard to believe but there’s absolutely no competition between the three of us,” he said.

“We’ll do a mix of everything that works for us all as individuals, and all of us are really keen that it’s fair.

“This isn’t about the three of us, it’s about the three of us plus our pundits, plus our editors, plus our analysts and stats people and production people and radio people and online.”