Wayne Rooney lands Match of the Day job - are Wayne and Coleen Rooney the next big TV power couple?
Wayne Rooney has landed himself a new punditry job on Match of the Day in a new deal with the BBC.
The former player and manager has signed a new contract with the BBC that will see him provide analysis and insight on some of the biggest matches on the flagship sports programme, according to The Sun. Wayne, 39, will join Match of the Day later this month and is also expected to be part of the BBC’s punditry team for the 2026 World Cup.
If successful, the BBC could trigger a two-year extension to his contract. The England legend will join rotating hosts Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman in the studio, who replace Gary Lineker after the MOTD veteran left the show after 26 years. It comes after his departure as Plymouth Argyle manager in December 2024.
Wayne’s big TV move comes only a short time after it was confirmed that he and wife Coleen, who share four children together, would be starring in their very own fly-on-the-wall reality documentary series on Disney+ titled ‘The Rooneys’. The 10-part series was commissioned following the success of Disney+ documentary ‘Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story’, which followed her court battle with fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy.
The Rooneys, who wed in 2008, were one of the biggest headline-grabbing football couples in the 2000s, with Coleen joining the likes of Victoria Beckham in the A-list England WAG circle. While the couple’s star-status faded slightly following in the latter half of the 2010s, the recent announcements prove that they are back on the up and poised to become TV’s next power couple.
Coleen had a huge breakthrough to the mainstream again when she famously and very publicly outed Rebekah Vardy as the source of a leak within her private Instagram followers in 2019. In a post often quoted around the country that led to the creation of the nickname ‘Wagatha Christie’, she revealed she had set up a plot to catch the leak in the act, iconically writing on social media: “It’s.... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
The ensuing legal battle and public spat between the two women led to a sharp rise in popularity for Coleen, who won her argument in court after Rebekah, who claimed her account had been hacked, tried to sue her for libel. Rebekah, who is married to former Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, has since been ordered to pay more than £1.4 million to cover Coleen’s legal costs.
Coleen joined I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here in 2024 and endeared herself to fans with her down-to-earth personality. She eventually placed runner-up in the series behind McFly’s Danny Jones.