Gary Lineker is ready to make a shock look for ITV as a part of their 2026 World Cup protection on Saturday.
The Unbiased understands the previous Match Of The Day host might be an ITV pundit for the Group E conflict between Germany and Ivory Coast. Protection of the sport will begin at 8pm BST with kick-off in Toronto an hour later.
Netflix seemed to be Lineker’s house for this summer time’s World Cup, who’s believed to have paid an eye-watering £14m to deal with The Relaxation Is Soccer podcast, produced by his firm Goalhanger Podcasts, throughout the match. Lineker has been internet hosting day by day episodes alongside Micah Richards and Alan Shearer within the coronary heart of New York Metropolis, recording in an condo that overlooks Instances Sq..
However Lineker just isn’t tied all the way down to the streaming large and can hop throughout East River to characteristic on ITV’s World Cup protection, which immediately rivals his former employers on the BBC.
ITV has been contacted for remark.
Lineker was as a result of see out his tenure with the BBC at this yr’s match, presenting his seventh World Cup for the broadcaster with whom he was aligned with for 26 years.
Nevertheless, the resolution to chop ties completely with the BBC was expedited in Could final yr, which adopted important criticism relating to his political commentary on social media, notably a controversial Instagram publish regarding Zionism that featured an outline of a rat, a picture traditionally related to antisemitic tropes.
The previous England captain “apologised unreservedly” for the publish however confirmed he was to stop the BBC after the conclusion of the 2024/25 season’s Match Of The Day, tearing up plans for him to entrance protection of the next season’s FA Cup and the 2026 World Cup.
The 65-year-old, who left the BBC as their highest-earning on-air expertise of all time, was not amongst these named on ITV’s checklist of pundits for the match, which included stalwarts resembling Roy Keane and Ian Wright alongside newer faces like Juan Mata and Ange Postecoglou, however will shake issues up by showing for the broadcaster in a punditry capability, relatively than as a presenter.
It acts as the newest blow to the BBC, who has been criticised for presenting the World Cup from their MediaCity studios in Salford relatively than on website in america, with ITV comparatively staging their protection from a lavish set in Brooklyn that reveals off the Manhattan skyline.
ITV additionally beat the BBC within the rankings following the primary week of motion, broadcasting 4 of the highest 5 most-viewed video games, together with England’s 4-2 opening win over Croatia which drew in a peak viewers of 15.4 million and averaged 10 million.
