Ahead of the start of the BBC’s coverage of the World Cup later this week Gabby Logan has spoken about her career to date and how broadcasting has changed for women
BBC presenter and former international gymnast Gabby Logan has jokingly requested a change as part of her OBE ceremony.
Gabby, who will be the BBC’s first female World Cup anchor when coverage of the tournament starts later this month, spoke about how she has had to delay receiving the major honour because of other commitments.
Gabby is so busy she has in the past twice declined invitations to collect her OBE, given to her in the 2026 New Year’s Honours list. Gabby, who was awarded it for broadcasting, said one of the reasons was the World Cup.
She told Hello!: “Unfortunately, the date they sent me was the date of my first match in the World Cup, so I obviously had to turn that one down. We’ve agreed that I’ll go in the autumn at some point.”
Gabby’s OBE comes six years after she was made an MBE by the now Prince of Wales, Prince William. In response to who she would like to award her MBE, Gabby joked: “I had Prince William last time, so a change would be nice. If it’s him, it’s fine.”
Gabby’s comments about her MBE come as she addresses how the landscape for women has changed in sports broadcasting.
She told the Mirror: “Sports TV generally is definitely a much more inclusive-looking place to work. It has definitely changed, but society still has problems in the way women are treated. The political landscape has shown that even in the last week.
“Football coverage can’t solve that, but hopefully we can show the power of men and women working together, the power of female sporting role models, and then to a younger generation, it should be the norm.”
Gabby has also spoken about the logistics of the BBC’s World Cup coverage after the organisation came under fire after it was reported that most of its coverage of the US-based tournament would be from the UK.
Gabby, who has worked as a sports broadcaster for decades and is one of the most respected voices in the space, has defended the decision. That defence has included highlighting the financial and environmental benefits of having UK-based coverage.
The BBC is primarily funded by the licence fee, something the majority of the public pays, which means there is much greater scrutiny over how much is spent.
The Independent reported that she said: “I think there are many, many good reasons why you would stay in one place in the UK, in terms of sustainability of the event.
“It doesn’t cost as much – we have to think about that, and the belt is being tightened all the time with the licence fee. Our coverage has been exceptional in those tournaments – and award-winning in the case of last week’s BAFTA – so I don’t think it’s harmed our coverage to not be there for the whole tournament.”
