Gary Lineker: Key events in career of footballer and presenter

Gary Lineker moved impressively from football hero to becoming one of the most famous and highly paid faces on the BBC.

The footballer’s ability to think on his feet carried him through stints at Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham and Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight.

He scored 48 goals in 80 appearances for England, playing in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, and captained the side for the last two years of his international career.

Famous for never being booked, sent off or the subject of any FA disciplinary proceedings, Lineker won the FA Cup, the Spanish Cup, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the Golden Boot for being top scorer at the Mexico World Cup in 1986.

Lineker, who is technically a freelancer rather than a BBC employee, has not always bitten his tongue and has, on occasion, caused corporation bosses a headache.

Here are some key events in his career:

– 1978

Lineker begins his debut season with home town club Leicester, where he makes his name, after leaving the local grammar school with just four O-levels and a final report that read: “Must devote less of his time to sport if he wants to be a success.”

He spent seven years at Filbert Street, firing home more than a century of goals and playing more than 200 games for the Foxes.

– 1985

The big clubs battled for Lineker’s signature and in the summer of 1985, after he had collected the Adidas Golden Boot award for being top scorer in the first division, Everton snapped him up for £800,000. He hit the target 40 times during the 1985/86 campaign, including a goal in the all-Merseyside FA Cup final (won by Liverpool).

– 1986

He won the Golden Boot at the Mexico World Cup and was voted Footballer of the Year after his performances for Everton and England.

– 1989-1992 – Lineker signed for Tottenham in June 1989 for a fee of £1.2 million.

He won his only piece of domestic silverware when Spurs triumphed in the 1991 FA Cup final.

– 1992

The striker was made an OBE.

– 1994

He retired in 1994 and his last club was J-League side Nagoya Grampus Eight.

– 1999

Lineker takes over as lead presenter of Match Of The Day (MOTD).

– 2016

In August Lineker appeared on screen at the start of the new season in his underpants as he kept a pledge to “do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies” if his former club Leicester won the Premier League. The Foxes won their first top-flight title by 10 points.

– 2018

Lineker posted a thread of tweets as Conservatives held a no-confidence vote in Theresa May, who was then prime minister, and indirectly criticised Labour’s leader at the time, Jeremy Corbyn.

A staunch opponent of Brexit, Lineker voiced support for a second referendum in 2018, and he also often tweeted about refugees and immigration policy.

In 2018, he was criticised by BBC colleague Jonathan Agnew, a mainstay of the broadcaster’s cricket coverage, after he posted a string of tweets about Brexit.

Agnew wrote: “Gary. You are the face of BBC Sport. Please observe BBC editorial guidelines and keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself.

“I’d be sacked if I followed your example. Thanks.”

– 2020

In October 2020, Lineker said he had spoken to the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie “quite a few times in recent weeks” and that Mr Davie was “perfectly happy” with his conduct on social media.

His comments came after new guidelines and training were announced by the BBC to “ensure the highest possible standards of impartiality” among staff at the broadcaster.

– 2022

Lineker posted a story on Twitter about the then-foreign secretary Liz Truss urging a boycott of the Champions League final in Russia. He asked: “And her party will hand back their donations from Russian donors?”

The incident led to the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) upholding a complaint and concluding that, as “one of the BBC’s highest-profile stars”, he did not meet the corporation’s editorial standards on impartiality.

The ECU judged the post was intended to highlight a “perceived inconsistency in the Conservative Party’s approach, at a time when relations between the UK and Russia were the subject of significant public debate”.

On the same day the BBC ruled Lineker had breached its impartiality rules, The Daily Mirror published an article in which he criticised the Home Office’s treatment of a refugee who he had hosted in his home.

Lineker said the then-26-year-old man had been caught up in a military coup and escaped 18 months of imprisonment and had then endured “hell” in the UK’s asylum system.

Later that month, Lineker criticised then-foreign secretary James Cleverly after he suggested LGBT football fans attending the World Cup in Qatar should be “respectful of the host nation”.

Mr Cleverly had urged fans to show “a little bit of flex and compromise” and to “respect the culture” of the host nation, where homosexuality remains a crime, prompting criticism from campaigners including Peter Tatchell.

Responding to his comments on Twitter, Lineker said: “Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message?”

– 2023

– March 8: The BBC said it was having a “frank conversation” with Lineker after he tweeted critically about the government’s asylum policy, saying the language in which the plan was set out was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

The presenter was asked to “step back” from MOTD and briefly taken off air, prompting a boycott by his fellow pundits and commentators on the popular football highlights show.

– March 10: Tensions mounted as then-prime minister Rishi Sunak defended the government’s policy as “the right approach” against criticism from Lineker which led to a high-profile impartiality row at the BBC.

– March 13: The BBC apologised after the impartiality row over Lineker’s tweet ended with the presenter being reinstated as MOTD host.

Mr Davie said he recognised “the potential confusion caused by the grey areas of the BBC’s social media guidance” following a “difficult period for staff, contributors, presenters, and most importantly, our audiences”.

Lineker thanked his fellow presenters and pundits for their “remarkable show of solidarity” after a number pulled out of BBC shows at the weekend when the former England striker was told to step back from hosting the show.

Confirming Lineker would return to Match Of The Day, Mr Davie said the presenter “will abide by the editorial guidelines” until a review of the BBC’s social media policy was complete.

– March 14: Lineker questions Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly Twitter, after a threatening message was sent to his son in the wake of the sports presenter’s row with the BBC.

The twice-divorced father of four reshared a private message which said his eldest son, George, should be “burned at the stake” for his public support of his father.

Lineker and other employees of the BBC received abuse online following his brief suspension as MOTD host.

– March 16: Lineker believed he had a “special agreement” with the BBC director-general to tweet about refugees and immigration, his agent Jon Holmes wrote in The New Statesman, saying the impartiality row resulting from Lineker’s online action had “collapsed into a shambles” despite his efforts to have everyone “calm down”.

He wrote: “Gary takes a passionate interest in refugees and immigration and, as he saw it, had a special agreement with Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, to tweet about these issues.”

Mr Holmes described the BBC guidelines on social media use for staff and freelancers as “a bit vague” but said that both he and Lineker believed in the “impartiality and independence” of the broadcaster.

– September 28: Flagship presenters, including Lineker, were banned from making attacks on political parties following a review into the corporation’s social media guidelines after the impartiality row.

Lineker described the updated rules as “all very sensible” in a post on X.

– December 11: Lineker and Succession star Brian Cox were among high-profile signatories to a letter calling for the government to scrap its Rwanda scheme and for political leaders to come up with a “fair new plan for refugees”.

– 2024

– June 18: The BBC said on-screen presenters and contributors are “regularly reminded of the guidelines in relation to clothing” after Lineker appeared to break rules by wearing outfits he advertises.

– July 23: Lineker, whose salary remained unchanged at between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999, topped the BBC pay list. It was the seventh consecutive year he had topped the list and he continued to be the only star paid more than £1 million.

– November 11: According to BBC News, Lineker was to leave his role presenting Match Of The Day at the end of the season.

The former England striker will then leave the BBC after fronting the corporation’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, The Sun reported.