(ANSA) – ROME, NOV 12 – The former England centre-forward, today one of the best-known personalities on British TV, Gary Lineker has announced his farewell to the BBC. Protagonist of numerous controversies in recent years due to his progressive positions, mainly on issues related to immigration, Lineker will leave the host of Match of the Day, Beep’s flagship sports broadcast, next May, definitively interrupting all commitments with the British national network when his current contract expires after the 2026 World Cup.
The former director general of the BBC Greg Dyke – who on more than one occasion had entered into a collision course with Lineker for his frequent comments, even of a political nature, entrusted to his social channels – commented on the exit of the TV star like a physiological change, after 26 years of running one of the most followed programmes. Lineker has been working on TV since 1999, immediately after hanging up his boots, at the end of a career which led him to wear, among others, the shirt of Leicester, Tottenham, Barcelona, before an experience also in Japan. He soon became, thanks to his acute English humor and profound knowledge of the game, one of the most popular commentators on public television, earning almost two million euros a year.
This would also explain the renunciation of the BBC, which however has always experienced with great embarrassment the activism of Lineker who, despite his role in public television and the internal code of duty to impartiality, has never given up taking a position on issues of political nature. Among the memorable moments of his TV career, his hosting of Match of the Day in his underwear, after his beloved Leicester won the Premier League, following a lost bet. (HANDLE).