Gary Lineker makes BBC comeback after England’s historic World Cup win
The former England captain, and BBC man, barged into BBC Sport’s coverage and interrupted Micah Richards’ segment in an uncomfortable cameo appearance after his much publicised exit
Lineker hijacked Micah’s segment(Image: BBC)
Gary Lineker made a shock and unexpected return to the BBC to hijack the coverage following England’s historic 2-1 win over Norway,
The former England captain, and BBC man, barged into BBC Sport’s coverage and interrupted Micah Richards’ segment in an uncomfortable cameo appearance after his exit from the channel. Lineker concluded his 26-year tenure as the host of Match of the Day on the final day of the 2024-25 Premier League season by “mutual consent”.
BBC Sport were live on air covering Thomas Tuchel’s team securing their World Cup semi-final place, after a gutsy performance in the quarters, which ITV held the TV rights for. Lineker has been fronting up much of the ITV and Netflix coverage into the tournament so far.
But he went back to his BBC ways, hijacking their live coverage which saw former England striker Wayne Rooney accompanied by Ellen White to analysis of the extra-time triumph with Richards dialling in from New York, but it was halfway through this bit that Lineker barged in and disrupted proceedings.
The pundits were debating England’s penalty after it was reversed by ref Clement Turpin when Richards was sharing his thoughts on the French official’s decision to overturn.
Lineker suddenly leapt into frame clad in his England gear and gave his input: “Definitely a penalty,” he said, leaving Richards taken aback, as he added: “Come on England. Nice to see you all there.”
The 65-year-old then swiftly left while Rooney delivered a parting jibe, remarking: “Kit looks a bit snug there, Waz,” in jest.
The group laughed and then carried on with proceedings.
Lineker seemed in a better mood than when he was hosting ITV’s coverage of the Argentina vs Egypt game, when the Argies won 3-2 win after more involvement from VAR.
Egypt then looked to have doubled their 1-0 lead early into the second-half of their round of 16 clash, but VAR spotted what they believed to be a foul on Lisandro Martinez in the process of play, and disallowed the goal to keep the score at 1-0. It was a decision unpopular with Lineker, as he hit out at VAR.
He said: “The problem is we will never, ever get consistency from VAR because they change their tune. They weren’t involved much at the start of the tournament, then they want to get involved, now they’re being more involved, now they’ll probably be less involved because there’ll be a bit of a stink about this one.
“The problem is not necessarily all of the people doing VAR, the problem is VAR itself.”
