03/06/2026
Had it not been for an Instagram post sent in haste and viewed by millions, Gary Lineker‘s plans for the World Cup would be very different.
Cast your mind back a year ago and the plan was for this summer’s tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada to be Lineker’s BBC “victory lap”, the final in New Jersey next month bringing the curtain down on a stellar but sometimes controversial career with the corporation. It was the perfect script for their star presenter.
But an ill-fated pro-Palestine post – which featured a rat emoji widely understood to be an anti-Semitic trope that Lineker hadn’t noticed – put an end to that and perhaps prevented further fireworks down the line.
Released from “walking on eggshells” at the BBC after the furore last year, Lineker will be fronting a daily Netflix version of his The Rest Is Football podcast in Manhattan’s Times Square, immersing himself in the World Cup atmosphere and delivering some straight-talking analysis.
Read the full interview here ➡️: https://trib.al/sLfM6Ca
