Lineker will bow out after the occasion in the US, Mexico and Canada, which is able to deliver to an finish a stint that has lasted for greater than 25 years.
Whereas his elevated political exercise has courted some controversy in recent times, Lineker has been a much-loved face on British tv and will likely be missed by many.
Here’s a take a look at his life and profession.
Lineker performs for Spurs in 1991
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Who’s Gary Lineker and why is he leaving Match of the Day?
What occurred throughout Gary Lineker’s soccer profession?
Born in Leicester to a household of greengrocers, Lineker made his debut as a young person for his native group Leicester Metropolis in 1979 and went on to change into a membership legend – ending because the First Division’s high scorer in 1984-85.
His type led to an England call-up, and he completed the 1986 World Cup as the highest scorer. After one season with Everton, he signed for Barcelona and loved blended successes earlier than returning to England to play for Tottenham Hotspur in 1989.
He once more led England’s cost on the 1990 World Cup and scored 4 objectives because the Three Lions made it to the semi-finals – solely to lose to West Germany, the place Lineker scored however was finest remembered for comforting a desolate Paul Gascoigne.
After falling painfully shy of the all-time objectives file for England, Lineker retired from internationals in 1992 and performed on for 2 extra years in Japan earlier than winding down his profession in 1994.
He holds a uncommon distinction in by no means being booked or despatched off in his complete profession.
Lineker in his Tottenham days
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When did he transfer into presenting?
Lineker moved into presenting roughly proper after his retirement from soccer and appeared on sports activities collection They Assume It’s All Over from 1995 to 2003 on BBC Radio 5 Reside.
After working as a pundit and co-presenter for the BBC, notably asserting that Ronaldo wouldn’t after which can be enjoying within the 1998 World Cup ultimate, Lineker changed Des Lynam because the BBC’s most important anchor for soccer in 1999.
He presided over some memorable moments within the studio – maybe most famously making good on a promise to current Match of the Day in his pants if Leicester gained the Premier League, which they did in 2016.
He has additionally offered golf for the BBC and was a part of the primary presenter line-up for the 2012 Olympics. As well as, Lineker has offered for BT Sport and Al Jazeera alongside his tenure on the Beeb. He has additionally been behind the profitable Goalhanger Podcasts which have spawned The Relaxation is Politics, The Relaxation is Leisure and lots of others.
Why is he leaving Match of the Day?
Lineker mentioned on this newest interview that it “was time” to go, though he’ll current for an additional season – simply not on Match of the Day. As a substitute, Lineker will simply be on the helm for the FA Cup protection and the 2026 World Cup.
He added that the BBC “didn’t just like the injury” carried out by his controversial tweeting.
This got here to a head in March 2023 when he in contrast the British authorities’s asylum coverage with Thirties Germany.
He was briefly taken off air, and different sports activities journalists and presenters walked out in solidarity, earlier than he returned to fronting MOTD.
Lineker in 2023
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Lineker mentioned: “I don’t remorse saying them publicly, as a result of I used to be proper – what I mentioned, it was correct – so under no circumstances in that sense.
“Would I, in hindsight, do it once more? No, I wouldn’t, due to all of the nonsense that got here with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was only a reply to somebody that was being very impolite. And I wasn’t significantly impolite again.”
His tweets, which sparked a row about BBC presenters expressing political beliefs on social media, led to enhanced guidelines for BBC flagship presenters, together with a ban on making assaults on political events.
He added: “However I wouldn’t do it once more due to all of the kerfuffle that adopted, and I really like the BBC, and I didn’t just like the injury that it did to the BBC… However do I remorse it and do I believe it was the mistaken factor to do? No.”
Lineker will likely be changed by Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan at Match of the Day.
Lineker along with his second spouse Danielle
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Who’s Gary Lineker’s spouse and what are his earlier relationships?
Lineker has 4 sons along with his first spouse Michelle Cockayne, whom he married in 1986.
They had been collectively for 20 years earlier than she divorced him in 2006, claiming “unreasonable behaviour” and that he had prompted her “stress and nervousness”.
He married for the second time in 2009, wedding ceremony Welsh mannequin Danielle Bux in Italy however they too break up in 2016 with Lineker not desirous to have extra kids.
