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Alan Hansen confirms plans to quit Match of the Day after 2014 World Cup

The pundit will leave the BBC after 22 years

Agency
Thursday 05 September 2013 06:12 EDT
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Television punditry has moved on, Hansen hasn't
Television punditry has moved on, Hansen hasn't (Getty Images)

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Alan Hansen has announced he will quit his role as a Match of the Day pundit after the 2014 World Cup.

The former Liverpool defender has been with the BBC since 1992 but has decided not to extend his contract which expires after next summer's showpiece in Brazil.

Hansen, 58, told The Telegraph: "I'm retiring from Match of the Day at the end of the season. I will have been there for 22 years and will be 59, so it's the right time for me.

"The guys at the BBC know me and I said, 'Look, this is categorical. I'm leaving and nothing will make me change my mind'. I am contracted to do the World Cup and I will do that as it will be a good way to go out, but I have had a great run.

"I've been in football for 41 years and I'm going out right at the top, just as I did at Liverpool. The plan was always that I would retire at 55. I kept going, but I finally decided to retire during Euro 2012.

"I had just signed a two-year contract and felt that, by the end of it, I would have had enough. But I have worked for a great organisation with wonderful people on the most fantastic programme."

PA

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