<\/p>\n
Former England football captain Gary Lineker will leave the BBC at the end of the season, it was announced on Monday, days after he shared a social media post that contained antisemitic imagery.<\/p>\n
The corporation’s highest-paid presenter had been due to front coverage of the 2026 World Cup and next season’s FA Cup.<\/p>\n
But this Sunday’s Match of the Day, on the last day of the Premier League season, will be his final show.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Gary Lineker will leave his presenting role following the conclusion of Match of the Day for the 2024\/25 season,” the BBC said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“He will not be part of the BBC’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup or next season’s FA Cup coverage.”<\/p>\n
Last week Lineker shared an Instagram story about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic insult.<\/p>\n
He removed the post and apologised unreservedly, saying he would “never knowingly share anything antisemitic”.<\/p>\n
In a fresh statement on Monday, Lineker restated that he did not know about the post’s antisemitic connotations.<\/p>\n
“I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am,” he said. “Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”<\/p>\n
He added: “Football has been at the heart of my life for as long as I can remember — both on the pitch and in the studio.<\/p>\n
“I care deeply about the game, and about the work I’ve done with the BBC over many years. As I’ve said, I would never consciously repost anything antisemitic — it goes against everything I stand for.”<\/p>\n
– ‘Defining voice’ –<\/p>\n
Tim Davie, BBC director-general, said: “Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season.”<\/p>\n
Davie defined Lineker as a “defining voice in football coverage for the BBC for over two decades,” thanking him for his contribution.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lineker had already planned to end his 26-year stay as host of popular Premier League highlights programme Match of the Day at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
The 64-year-old earned \u00a31.35 million ($1.8 million) a year from the publicly funded broadcaster and he was one of their most recognisable faces.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But his outspoken views on social media have previously caused headaches for BBC bosses due to the corporation’s rules on impartiality.<\/p>\n
In March 2023, Lineker was briefly taken off air after comparing the language used to launch a British government asylum policy to the rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lineker was reinstated just over a week later — after a revolt by several of his colleagues in solidarity — but the BBC launched an independent review of its social media guidelines as a result of the incident.<\/p>\n
He was also among 500 other high-profile figures who signed an open letter in February urging the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: “How To Survive A Warzone,” to BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Before becoming a major figure in the British media industry, Lineker was a global football star, winning the World Cup Golden Boot for England in 1986.<\/p>\n
After a playing career at Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham and Japan’s Nagoya Grampus Eight, he retired in 1994.<\/p>\n
Lineker became a pundit for the BBC before taking over as the lead presenter for its football coverage in 1999.<\/p>\n
The former England striker is the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, makers of the popular The Rest Is History series and various spin-offs.<\/p>\n
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n
\n \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former England football captain Gary Lineker will leave the BBC at the end of the season, it was announced on Monday, days after he shared a social media post that contained antisemitic imagery. The corporation’s highest-paid presenter had been due to front coverage of the 2026 World Cup and next season’s FA Cup. But this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6505,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6503\/revisions\/6505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnewsusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}