Gary Lineker will leave the BBC in 2025 after more than 20 years as the face of the long-running show Match of the Day, appearing on ITV’s World Cup coverage.
Gary Lineker appears as pundit on ITV’s World Cup coverage
Gary Lineker took mere seconds to sneakily go after his former employer the BBC, claiming ITV’s setup was “absolutely brilliant” in contrast to the BBC’s remote setup. Lineker made a brief guest appearance on ITV during the World Cup match between Germany and Ivory Coast (9pm kick-off).
The former Match of the Day presenter was following the tournament from New York and was broadcasting daily episodes of The Rest Is Football on Netflix. Lineker was originally scheduled to continue working on the BBC’s World Cup coverage after leaving Match of the Day, but it was announced in May last year that he would be severing ties with the broadcaster completely.
His appearance on ITV comes just over a year after his departure for the BBC’s direct rival. As ITV began broadcasting live on Saturday night, Lineker said: “Thank you for joining ITV, whether it’s this time, another day, another match, another channel…”
Presenter Laura Woods then interjected: “Wow, wow, wow, Gary, that’s my job,” to which Lineker added: “Sorry, sorry, old habits, Laura. Old habits.”
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Woods continued: “As you may be aware, Gary Lineker is our very special guest and is England’s top scorer along with Harry Kane. Gary, all jokes aside, welcome to New York and welcome to the ITV family. We have a new show and we’ll talk about that in a minute.”
Lineker said, “I do a Netflix show every day in Times Square and I really wanted to come see your set. I think it’s really amazing and I can be sure it’s authentic.”
“What a background. And obviously I wanted to be on TV, but I haven’t been in a while.”
Brooklyn Bridge can be seen behind Lineker in the background on ITV
Mr Lineker’s subtle tirade against the BBC comes amid criticism of its World Cup structure, whose studios are based in Salford, Manchester, rather than on site in the US. ITV, by contrast, broadcasts from a rooftop studio overlooking the New York and Brooklyn skylines.
BBC sports director Alex Kay Jelski explained that the decision not to base the set in the US was due to economic reasons.
“From a financial and sustainability standpoint, I don’t think the answer is that everyone can participate,” he told reporters at an event. “That doesn’t seem like a very smart use of license fees to me.
“I don’t think the actual end product that people are getting at home is that different.” Mr Lineker will return to ITV screens in early September when his game show The Box airs.
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