Gary Lineker was the BBC's £1.4m-a-year golden boy, modernised Match of the Day and presented in his pants... but 'virtue-signalling' and rows over impartiality and anti-Semitism made his notorious moments as memorable
Gary Lineker has stepped away from his long-standing association with the BBC following backlash over his recent views on social media.
Lineker was due to leave his role as a presenter with the BBC at the end of the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
However, his time with the broadcaster is will now come to an end with Sunday's season-ending Match of the Day programme.
It comes after Lineker was widely condemned for his now-deleted Instagram video story which featured a pro-Palestine video featuring an anti-Jewish rat slur.
Following backlash from sections of the Jewish community, the Match of the Day presenter insisting he would 'never knowingly share anything anti-Semitic'.
Here, Mail Sport takes a look back at Lineker's rollercoaster career at the BBC.
First Match of the Day
Lineker first hosted Match of the Day on 7 August 1999, following the departure of long-time presenter Des Lynam, who moved to ITV to cover their newly acquired Premier League highlights.
Lineker, a former England footballer and prominent BBC pundit, was chosen as Lynam's successor due to his growing broadcasting experience and public profile.
He had already been a regular on BBC sports coverage, including punditry for football and presenting roles for events like the 1998 World Cup.
The BBC saw Lineker as a natural fit to take over the iconic show, given his football expertise, charisma, and familiarity to viewers.
His appointment was announced in 1999, and he began hosting at the start of the 1999–2000 football season.
Presenting in his underwear
Lineker presented Match of the Day in his boxer shorts on August 13, 2016, at the start of the 2016–17 Premier League season.
This was in fulfillment of a promise he made on Twitter in December 2015, when he vowed to host the show in 'just my undies' if Leicester City, his boyhood club and a 5000/1 underdog, won the Premier League title.
Against all odds, Leicester City clinched the title in May 2016, marking one of the greatest upsets in football history.
True to his word, Lineker appeared on the show wearing white Leicester City-branded boxer shorts, joined by pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, who struggled to keep straight faces.
He remained in his boxers for about 30 minutes before changing into regular attire.
The stunt sparked mixed reactions, with some viewers praising his commitment and others criticizing the choice of 'shorts-like' boxers over skimpier briefs, leading Lineker to later confirm on Instagram that they were indeed boxer shorts.
Jaw-dropping salary
Lineker has been the top earner on £1.35million a year, having fronted the BBC's Premier League highlights since 1999.
The Daily Mail had been told a representative for the Match of the Day presenter made the overtures to ITV in the past 18 months.
Sources indicated the conversations were aimed at sounding out if they wanted the former England player as a sports anchor.
However, his agent, Jon Holmes, rejected the claims as 'rubbish' and insisted ITV had in fact been keen to recruit Lineker 'years ago' but were knocked back by the presenter.
Conservative comments
Lineker was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the then-government's new asylum policy.
The BBC's decision was sparked by the presenter's response on Twitter to a Home Office video in which Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiled the Government's plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats.
He said language she used was 'not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.'
Lineker wrote: 'There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.
'This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the '30s.'
The former England striker was briefly taken off air, and other sports journalists and presenters walked out in solidarity, before he returned to fronting MOTD.
Lineker also later said at Hay Festival in Powys in April 2024 that claims he was 'comparing to Nazis' were 'completely out of context to what I said - it was a distortion'.
He also said in April this year: 'I don't regret saying them publicly, because I was right – what I said, it was accurate – so not at all in that sense.
'Would I, in hindsight, do it again? No, I wouldn't, because of all the nonsense that came with it… It was a ridiculous overreaction that was just a reply to someone that was being very rude. And I wasn't particularly rude back.'
He added: 'But I wouldn't do it again because of all the kerfuffle that followed, and I love the BBC, and I didn't like the damage that it did to the BBC… But do I regret it and do I think it was the wrong thing to do? No.'
The presenter also said the BBC should 'have ignored it, and it would have been fine', and called the corporation 'silly' for its 'overreaction' in taking him off air.
His tweets, which sparked a row about BBC presenters expressing political views on social media, led to enhanced rules for BBC flagship presenters, including a ban on making attacks on political parties.
Attacking England team
BBC staff at Euro 2024 in Germany were reportedly unhappy about Lineker's apparent criticisms of the England team at Euro 2024 on his podcast, The Rest is Football.
Despite maintaining their unbeaten start to the tournament, England came under fire for lacking an attacking impetus in their draw with Denmark.
Lineker was one of several prominent media figures to criticise the showing, branding the performance as 's***' on 'The Rest is Football', a podcast he hosts.
Following Lineker's comment, captain Harry Kane hit out at pundits and commentators over their assessments, saying: 'I would never want to be disrespectful to any player, especially a player who has worn the shirt and knows what it is like to play for England.
'But what ex-players who are pundits now have got to realise it is very hard not to listen to it now, especially for some players who are not used to it or some players who are new to the environment.
'I always feel like they have a responsibility – I know they have got to be honest and give their opinion but also they have a responsibility of being an ex-England player.
'The bottom line is we haven't won anything as a nation for a long, long time and a lot of these players were part of that as well and they know how tough it is.'
'Virtue-signalling' at the Qatar World Cup
Viewers of the first World Cup match accused the BBC of brazen 'hypocrisy' and 'virtue signalling' after pundits launched into a segment about controversies and human rights issues in Qatar while broadcasting live from a stadium in Doha.
Gary Lineker's opening monologue for the corporation's coverage of the tournament addressed the human rights record in the host nation immediately. The controversial competition kicked off with Qatar facing Ecuador in Group A, with the game shown live on the BBC.
He had previously been criticised, along with other football commentators and journalists, for agreeing to attend and be paid for the tournament in Qatar given its deeply conservative stance on issues such as gay rights.
One social media user said: 'Gary Lineker on BBC News talking about the lack of human rights in Qatar. All while he's sitting there and taking the money. The hypocrisy of the guy knows no bounds!'
In excess of 6,500 migrant workers are said to have died while building Qatar's football stations for the tournament, and homosexuality is still illegal and sometimes punishable by death.
The BBC team came under fire from those watching who complained they had tuned in to watch the football, not to hear a 'political segment' - and others who pointed out the team had agreed to fly out to the country and were being paid to work there.
Among those to raise criticism was Piers Morgan, who told his Twitter followers the broadcasters were 'putting out more virtual-signalling guff': 'Outrageously disrespectful to Qatar that the BBC didn't broadcast the World Cup opening ceremony, and instead put out more virtue-signalling guff about how awful it is.
'If they're that appalled, they should bring home their vast army of employees and spare us this absurd hypocrisy.
SPOTY Gaffe
Back in 2019, Lineker was accused of 'giving the game away' after introducing Ben Stokes as the 'main award winner' at that year's Sports Personality of the Year show - an hour before the cricketer was crowned and before voting had even started.
The presenter apologised for his gaffe, drawing laughs from the Aberdeen crowd, and clarified that Stokes was a contender and not the winner.
Stokes, 28, was the bookie's favourite to win the award, which is voted for by the public, after a stellar year which saw him lead England to World Cup glory.
Stokes was later crowed Sports Personality of the Year, coming ahead of second-placed Lewis Hamilton and third-placed Dina Asher-Smith.
And Gary Lineker took to Twitter to admit he had 'f***ed up'.
Antisemitic Instagram post
The latest row saw Lineker come under significant criticism after he shared, then deleted, a post on his Instagram account from the group, Palestine Lobby, illustrated with a picture of a rat, titled: 'Zionism explained in two minutes.'
Rats, linked to disease and dirt, have been used to represent Jews in antisemitic propaganda throughout history, including by the Nazis in 1930s Germany.
Lineker later 'apologised unreservedly' for the social media re-post, saying he would 'never knowingly share anything antisemitic'.
His agent said the presenter immediately deleted the post when he learned about the image's symbolism, which he had previously not appreciated.
But the Campaign Against Antisemitism called for him to be sacked, saying: 'The BBC has turned a blind eye for too long, it is long past time for him to go, and he must go now.'
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