Overview
- Lineker left the BBC in May 2025 after apologising for inadvertently reposting a social‑media message that contained an antisemitic trope and stepping down from Match of the Day.
- He will take his Goalhanger‑produced brand The Rest Is Football to Netflix for a daily TV show during the 2026 World Cup, hosted from Manhattan with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
- In June 2026 interviews Lineker said he does not miss the BBC and that the Netflix arrangement gives him greater freedom to express opinions outside the broadcaster’s impartiality rules.
- Reporting on commercial terms has widely cited a roughly £14 million fee for the deal and said Lineker forfeited severance from the BBC, but those financial details have not been independently confirmed in the recent coverage.
- Lineker has criticised the BBC’s plan to keep most presenters in the UK until late in the tournament and has voiced concern about geopolitical risks at the event, including actions by President Donald Trump and tensions involving Iran, drawing on his past disputes over presenter social‑media guidance and a 2023 suspension.