Gary Lineker will tonight act as a pundit on ITV’s coverage of the World Cup.
The former BBC presenter has been lined up as a guest for the group stage clash between Germany and Ivory Coast on Saturday.
It will mark Lineker’s return to traditional terrestrial television channels for the first time since leaving the BBC last year.
Lineker presented Match of the Day for the final time at the end of the 2024/25 season, after 26 years in the role, after a dispute over social media posts.
The agreement of his departure dictated he would return to the channel to front the World Cup coverage for the Beeb this summer.
However, an antisemitism row saw him cut ties with the corporation entirely. The former England striker apologised for sharing a post containing an antisemitic trope, insisting he had not knowingly done so.
Why is Gary Lineker on ITV's World Cup coverage?
While Lineker has stepped back from traditional media, he remains one of the most prominent figures in sports broadcasting and has been hosting his The Rest is Football podcast from New York, which is now broadcast on Netflix.
Lineker and co-hosts Alan Shearer and Micah Richards have been presenting a daily version of the show after signing a big-money deal with Netflix.
ITV’s coverage of the tournament is being hosted from a studio in New York overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, which is said to be very close to Lineker’s podcast base.
It remains to be seen how prominent Lineker’s role on ITV will be tonight, with reports ranging from a cameo to a full pundit stint throughout the match coverage.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
