Gary Lineker has been the face of the BBC’s Match of the Day since 1999 and has also been the corporation’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years
Gary Lineker has been the face of the BBC’s Match of the Day since 1999 and has also been the corporation’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years
Gary Lineker has acknowledged that he might need to “have to slow down at some point”, amidst ongoing rumours about his tenure on Match Of The Day. Lineker, who will be 64 come the end of November, is currently the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and his contract is set to expire at the conclusion of this football season.
Last month, the BBC refuted claims that an announcement about his future was imminent. Lineker had previously made light of such rumours, quipping that the early October edition of Match of the Day would be his last – swiftly clarifying it was only “before the international break”.
The 63 year old also runs a thriving podcast business, including the hit show The Rest Is Football, which he co-hosts with fellow Match Of The Day analysts Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. In a comprehensive interview with Esquire magazine for their winter issue, conducted in early August, Lineker discussed his Goalhanger Podcasts venture.
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When questioned about potentially leaving the BBC to concentrate on his podcasting enterprise, possibly in the United States, Lineker responded: “I could do. Whether that will be the case I don’t know. At some point, I have to slow down somewhere… I’m getting old.”
The ex-England, Tottenham, and Barcelona forward took the reins of the BBC’s premier football highlights programme in 1999, succeeding Des Lynam who moved to ITV.
Lineker has topped the list as the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven years running, with an estimated earnings of £1.35million in the year 2023/24, as per the corporation’s annual report released in July.