Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates dating as Match of the Day duo begin romance

Match of the Day hosts Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates have started dating. The BBC duo are understood to have began their relationship earlier this year.

It comes after Chapman, 52, broke up with Dubai-based estate agent Clere Collier after three years together. The pair split in April 'out of the blue' and it's reported that Collier, 43, confronted the presenter with her suspicions that he'd become close with Cates and they were dating.

According to The Sun, Chapman admitted that they were in a relationship but insisted that he hadn't cheated on Collier, nor was there an overlap between the two women. Collier, a mum of two, regularly travelled to the UK to visit Chapman, with the pair spotted house-hunting last year.

But now the 52-year-old has started a romance with Cates, the daughter of Scotland and Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish and a fellow prominent figure in sports broadcasting. Cates, 51, split from TV producer husband Tom five years ago, having married in 2007 and had two daughters together.

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In 2020, Chapman tragically lost his wife, Sara, to cancer when she was just 44. They'd been married for 19 years and had three children.

He found love again with Collier while his career continued on the up. Ahead of the 2025-26 Premier League season, the BBC confirmed that Chapman and Cates - alongside Gabby Logan - would be the new co-presenters of Match of the Day following Gary Lineker's exit.

Chapman also hosts a podcast, The Sports Agents, with Logan. He and Cates, meanwhile, made an appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox over the summer.

Cates has also appeared on Logan's podcast, The Mid Point. The broadcaster, who also works for Sky Sports, opened up on navigating the dating scene following her divorce in 2021.

"The thought of going on a date, spending an evening with someone and at the end of it thinking, 'Well, I don't really like you', I would be so resentful of them taking up my time," Cates said.

"Obviously it's vice versa, too, but I'm not really bothered about it from their perspective - bearing in mind I don't get to see the people I do like very often."

She added: "I've got no real kind of thoughts about long-term relationships or anything like that. Imagine going out with somebody and you sit there half way through and think, 'God, this guy is an idiot'."