Kelly Cates (née Dalglish; born 28 September 1975) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

presenter, currently working for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Early life

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Kelly is the eldest of four children of former

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

player and manager Sir Kenny Dalglish and his wife Marina. Kelly grew up in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. Her brother

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

also had a professional football career. She also has two younger sisters, Lynsey and Lauren.

Career

Television

Cates and Mike Wedderburn were the first-ever presenters on

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...

on 10 August 1998. She was part of the presenter lineup for

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

's new portal. Cates presented the news on ''The Biggest Breakfast Ever'', the eight-hour Millennium special of ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...

''. Cates interviewed managers and footballers as part of

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland and in Tbilisi, Georgia, broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and the Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Iris ...

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

coverage in 2007, and was a presenter on

Setanta Sports News Setanta Sports News was a television channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports. The channel launched on 29 November 2007.

. In the 2009–10 football season, she was part of the

team for their Premier League coverage and co-presented ''Talk of the Terrace'', alongside Mark Chapman and later

Nat Coombs Nathaniel George Terence Coombs (born August 1977) is a British television and radio presenter, podcaster, writer and founder of a London based media agency. Education Coombs was educated at the boys' independent school Dulwich College in Dulw ...

. In May 2010, she presented the sports news on

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

in the absence of regular host

Dan Lobb Daniel Jonathon Lobb (born 7 January 1972) is a British retired tennis player and television presenter, best known for co-presenting the ITV Breakfast programme '' Daybreak'' from 2010 until 2012. Between 2015 and 2016, he co-presented ''Cowbo ...

. Cates then worked as a reporter for ITV at the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

in South Africa, as well as for the 2011–2012 UEFA Champions League. In 2012, she presented the sports news on '' Daybreak'' in the absence of Gavin Ramjaun. She was part of the UK

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

presenting team for the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

. In the Autumn of 2012, Cates presented the six-part Scottish television series ''Coached Off the Couch'' for STV. From the 2015–16 football season, Cates hosted '' Football League Tonight'' on Channel 5 with George Riley, presenting weekly highlights from the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. On 3 August 2016, Sky Sports announced that Cates had rejoined them to present their live coverage of the Football League. From August 2017, Cates switched from the EFL to become the host of Premier League matches, notably ''Friday Night Football'' (FNF) and also on Saturday mornings (later Saturday evenings as a result of rights changes), on Sky Sports. Cates returned part time to

to cover Euro 2020. In December 2024, it was reported that she would be joining the BBC to co-host the long-running Saturday evening highlights show

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...

. On 15 January 2025, Cates was officially confirmed as one of the three co-hosts along with

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted '' Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She h ...

and Mark Chapman to replace

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

Radio

Cates was a regular presenter for national radio station

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

and hosted the Monday evening talk show between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM, alongside Jason Cundy. Cates has presented '' Fighting Talk'' on

, standing in for

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Colin Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. He has hosted the Channel 4 game show '' Countdown'' since 2022. Born and raised in Dundonald, east of Belfast, Murray first trained and wor ...

, and then presented on the station in Summer 2009. From August 2013 until 2018, she presented the Sunday edition of '' 606'', alongside pundit

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

. She also presents the midweek sports show, '' 5 Live Sport''; as of 2023, she predominantly hosts on Tuesdays. Cates has also presented from two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s for 5 Live, including the final in 2022.

Personal life

Cates married Tom Cates in Glasgow in 2007; they separated in 2021. The couple have two daughters.

References

External links

''606''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cates, Kelly Living people BBC Radio 5 Live presenters English people of Scottish descent People educated at Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Mass media people from Glasgow Scottish sports broadcasters Sky Sports presenters and reporters 1975 births