Lineker is also the BBC's lead presenter for live football matches, including coverage of international tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup.

[13] Lineker began his career at his hometown club Leicester City after leaving school in 1977, turning professional in the 1978–79 season and making his senior debut on New Year's Day 1979 in a 2–0 win at Filbert Street over Oldham Athletic in the Second Division.

While at Everton, they reached the FA Cup final for the third consecutive year but lost 3–1 to Liverpool, despite Lineker giving them an early lead when he outpaced Alan Hansen to score.

[citation needed] Lineker's Golden Boot-winning performance at the World Cup generated much anticipation of success at the Camp Nou, and he scored 21 goals in 41 games during his first season, including a hat-trick in a 3–2 win over archrivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff decided to play Lineker on the right of the midfield and he was eventually no longer an automatic choice in the team.

[citation needed] With 42 goals in 103 La Liga appearances, Lineker became the highest scoring British player in the competition's history, but was later surpassed by Gareth Bale in March 2016.

He officially joined Nagoya Grampus Eight after playing his final game for Spurs on 2 May 1992, when he scored the consolation goal in a 3–1 defeat by Manchester United on the last day of the season.

He played five games in the 1986 World Cup and was top scorer of the tournament with six goals, winning the Golden Boot, making him the first English player to have done so.

He also presented Grandstand in the London studio while then-presenter Desmond Lynam was in Aintree when the Grand National was abandoned because of a bomb alert at the racecourse in 1997.

[43] In May 2010, Lineker resigned from his role as columnist for The Mail on Sunday in protest over the sting operation against Lord Triesman that reportedly jeopardised England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Triesman resigned as chairman of the bid and the FA on 16 May 2010 after the publication of a secret recording of a conversation between the peer and a former ministerial aide, during which he claimed that Spain and Russia were planning to bribe referees at the World Cup in South Africa.

[44] Lineker then began working as an anchor for the English language football coverage for Al Jazeera Sport, which is broadcast throughout most of the Middle East.

[citation needed] In 2013, Lineker began working for NBCSN as part of their Premier League coverage and contributing to the US version of Match of the Day.

[46] Believing it would simply not happen, he had promised in a tweet from December 2015[47] that if Leicester City won the Premier League, he would "present Match of the Day in just my undies".

[50] His pay has been criticised by Julian Knight, chair of the parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee,[51] and Dame Esther Rantzen.

[53] In March 2023, Lineker was required to step back from presenting on the BBC for three days due to a controversy over his criticism of the British government's immigration policy on Twitter.

[54][55][56][57] On 11 November 2024, Lineker who was hosting Match of the Day since 1999 announced that he would be stepping down from presenting the program, following the conclusion of the 2024–25 Premier League season in May 2025.

In May 2006, Cockayne filed for divorce on the grounds of her husband's alleged "unreasonable behaviour", with documents submitted to the court claiming that Lineker's actions in their marriage had caused her "stress and anxiety".

[73] In November 1991, Lineker's eldest son survived a rare form of leukaemia whilst he was a baby, and was treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

[8] Lineker now supports children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent and has appeared in promotional clips encouraging people to give blood.

[78][79] In October 2002, Lineker backed a £5 million bid to rescue his former club Leicester City, which had recently gone into administration, describing his involvement as "charity" rather than an "ego trip".

[84] In November 2017, Lineker was named in the Paradise Papers in connection with a tax avoidance scheme relating to property owned in Barbados and a company set up in the British Virgin Islands.

In December 2016, he was described by Angus Harrison of Vice News as "the British Left's Loudest Voice" for being "both staunchly liberal and resolutely unafraid of making his views known".

"[99] In October 2022, a complaint about a tweet from Lineker that referred to donations to the Conservative Party was upheld by the BBC, on the grounds that it breached social media use guidelines and failed to meet editorial standards of impartiality.

[100][101] During the 2022 World Cup, Qatari lawyer Hassan Al-Thawadi criticised Lineker for covering human rights violations in Qatar by stating that he did not talk about such issues with other host countries.

[104][105][106] The comments received condemnation from some Conservative politicians, including Braverman herself,[105][106] and a spokesperson for Labour leader Keir Starmer said comparisons with 1930s Germany "aren't always the best way" to make an argument.

[105][109] On 10 March, the BBC said Lineker would step back from his job on Match of the Day because it considered "his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines".

[55][106][110][111] Lineker's BBC Sport colleagues Ian Wright, Alan Shearer,[111][55][112] Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Cowen, Steven Wyeth,[113] Alex Scott, Jason Mohammad, Mark Chapman, Jermaine Jenas, Dion Dublin and Jermain Defoe all pulled out of their respective roles in BBC programmes in the next hours in solidarity with him.

[121] Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson, and Jonathan Gullis accused him of violating impartiality and lodged a complaint with the BBC.

[125] Leicester City Everton Barcelona Tottenham Hotspur Individual Lineker is a Visiting Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, appointed 2020.