Reshmin Chowdhury's anger at BBC colleagues as she becomes contender for Gary Lineker's job

Reshmin Chowdhury has reportedly emerged as a contender to replace as host of .

Lineker will leave the role at the end of the 2024/25 season following more than a quarter-of-century as the face of the flagship football highlights show. News of his impending departure has prompted speculation as to who might step into his shoes next year, with the likes of , and all linked to the job.

It's also understood that TNT Sports anchor . The 46-year-old, who has also worked for beIN SPORTS, talkSPORT and Discovery Plus, has been part of the Sport team since 2010, and has even stood in as host of Match of the Day 2 in the past.

However, it was at the BBC where Chowdhury claims she was a victim of ethnic and gender prejudice. "Being British Asian... I think I had to convince a lot of people that I knew about ," she told in August.

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"That was the most frustrating part... I mean, is it a surprise? I started off working in news, no one questioned me then. I have a politics degree, so it was quite normal. But when you come into sport, people look at you and they are thinking: 'Does she know what she is really talking about?'"

Elaborating, Chowdhury recalled an incident in which two males colleagues asked her a niche question about , something she felt was a "test". She said: "I can remember when I was at the BBC a couple of guys asked me a question about a specific Real Madrid player.

"I knew they were testing me. And maybe this is the case for other women, and not just about colour - but they wouldn't do that to another guy."

Chowdhury got her big break after being named presenter of Real Madrid TV in 2008, and was the first journalist to interview after his then-world record move from in 2009. She's since gone on to work for some of the biggest broadcasters on the planet, and host some of sport's most prestigious events such as The Best FIFA awards.

In the past, she's spoken of how tough it was to break into the industry, and how she believes her ethnicity held her back. "It shouldn't be as hard as it was for me for someone getting into sports broadcasting now," she said.

"I believe it would have been 100 per cent easier if I had an 'in'. The barriers to entry were everywhere. I didn't have a famous sporting person in my family, or know anyone in TV. We need more representation [in the industry]... It's something I am passionate about. In the last five or six years, the doors have opened for women in sport. But that hasn't always been the case."

Chowdhury is of British and Bangladeshi origin, and was born and raised in London in an "open-minded, progressive Bengali Muslim" family. As such, she's become a role model for young British Asian girls trying to follow in her footsteps.

"I get Bengali parents who come up to me and tell me their daughters want to become sports journalists because they saw me," she said. "I can't tell you how much that means to me. Every time I hear that my heart skips a beat."

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