Gary Lineker to appear on ITV during World Cup broadcast

Gary Lineker is set to appear on Britain's ITV World Cup broadcast in what will be his first appearance on a rival channel to his former employers the BBC. Lineker is expected to make a guest appearance during the broadcast of the Group E match between Germany and Ivory Coast. The ITV World Cup studio is located in Brooklyn, New York, while the match will take place at BMO Field in Toronto, Canada.

Lineker, 65, spent 26 years at the BBC, presenting Premier League highlights show Match of the Day, before leaving the company in May 2025. During the World Cup, Lineker is hosting The Rest is Football podcast from New York with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, after Lineker's production company Goalhanger struck a £14 million ($18.9 million) deal with Netflix for daily versions of the show.

The BBC confirmed last year that Lineker would leave the corporation. It comes after the former England striker was criticized and subsequently "unreservedly apologised" for posting a rat emoji on social media. The post was from the Palestine Lobby group and captioned “Zionism in two minutes.” Rat was often used as an anti-Semitic slur. "I care deeply about the game and the work I've done with the BBC over the years," Lineker said in May last year. "As I have said, I would never knowingly repost anything anti-Semitic - it goes against everything I stand for. However, I acknowledge the mistake and upset I have caused and reiterate how sorry I am," he added.

Earlier this month, Lineker was asked by The Athletic if there was a rivalry between The Rest is Football and Stick to Football, the podcast hosted by Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott, to which Lineker pointed to the relationship between the BBC and ITV. "It's like BBC and ITV at the World Cup," he said. "I used to care about who got the biggest numbers. The BBC always wins the live shows, but you could see who got the biggest audiences in exclusive tournament matches. But in recent tournaments I just thought it was absurd. It's not a sport. You're just trying to make really good television and some might prefer the other side and it doesn't matter."

Lineker, who played for Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur and Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight, made 12 caps for England at the World Cup and holds the record for the most goals scored by an English player at the tournament with 10.

Lineker won't be the first to appear on both channels. White was already a pundit for the BBC during World Cup coverage and appears regularly on Match of the Day, but is working for ITV this summer. Richards, who is part of the BBC's line-up for the tournament, also appeared on both channels. Karen Carney also worked on both channels, while Lee Dixon commentated on Match of the Day before moving to ITV, where he now works as a commentator.