Fifty-two years. That is how long Football Focus has been part of the British football weekend — and on Sunday it ends. The BBC confirmed this week that the longest-running football magazine show in the world will air its final episode on 25 May 2025, broadcast from 12:00 BST on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

Launched in 1974, the lunchtime programme became as much a ritual for supporters as the match itself. Before social media, before rolling news channels, Football Focus was where fans went to get the build-up, the team news and the stories behind the stories. It outlasted dozens of rivals and several reinventions of the broadcast landscape.

To mark the occasion, the BBC has asked viewers to vote on which single moment from the archive should be replayed in the closing programme. The shortlist spans almost five decades and, taken together, reads like an accidental documentary of how English football changed.

The shortlist

  • Brian Clough v John Motson (1 March 1979). A 26-year-old Motson travelled to interview Nottingham Forest's manager and received the kind of bruising treatment Clough reserved for people he considered insufficiently reverential. It remains a masterclass in awkward television.
  • Gascoigne goes fishing (13 February 1988). The show joined a teenage Paul Gascoigne on the banks of a Northumberland river. The contrast between his natural surroundings and the chaos that would define his career gives the clip an almost poignant quality in retrospect.
  • Bigger goals — April Fools' Day (1 April 1995). Crystal Palace were roped into a gag involving a supposed directive to make goals two feet wider and two feet taller. The segment worked because several people appeared to believe it.
  • McGowan impersonates Lawro (22 April 2000). Impressionist Alistair McGowan stood in as regular pundit Mark Lawrenson, doing so with sufficient accuracy that the joke landed across an entire programme rather than just a sketch.
  • The mannequin challenge (12 November 2016). The Focus production team froze in place for the opening of the show, leaning into a viral trend that had consumed the internet that autumn. A reminder of just how much the media landscape had shifted by the mid-2010s.
  • Noel Gallagher meets Mario Balotelli (10 March 2012). Oasis frontman and Manchester City supporter Noel Gallagher sat down with then-City striker Mario Balotelli at the height of City's title-winning season. Balotelli spent much of the interview dismantling myths that had built up around him — calmly, and with decent humour.
  • Shearer interviews Haaland (6 August 2022). Alan Shearer — still the Premier League's all-time leading scorer — sat down with Erling Haaland days after the Norwegian's arrival at Manchester City to discuss the specific mechanics of scoring goals. Two of the game's most clinical finishers, in one room, talking shop.

Why it matters

The show's longevity was not accidental. Football Focus understood that the hours before kick-off carry a particular emotional charge — anticipation rather than result — and built a tone around that. Interviews were unhurried. Features took their time. The format trusted that fans wanted context alongside highlights.

Whether Sunday's final broadcast will lean elegiac or celebratory probably depends on which clip the public selects. The Clough segment would deliver gravitas. The April Fools' goal piece would deliver comedy. The Haaland-Shearer sit-down would deliver a clean, forward-looking note to go out on.

Voting is open on the BBC Sport website. The result — and the clip — will be revealed when Football Focus airs for the last time this Sunday at noon.

Frequently asked

When is the last ever Football Focus on BBC?
The final episode of Football Focus airs on Sunday 25 May 2025 at 12:00 BST on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.
Why is Football Focus ending?
The BBC has not detailed the specific reasons in publicly available statements, but the show is concluding after 52 years on air, having launched in 1974 as a Saturday lunchtime football magazine programme.
How long has Football Focus been running?
Football Focus has been running since 1974 — 52 years in total — making it the longest-running football magazine show in the world according to the BBC.