Khaberni -Gary Lineker, a former football player and sports broadcaster, was born in 1960 in England and played for the national team for 8 years until 1992, and was a top scorer for Leicester City, Everton, and Tottenham.
After retiring from playing in 1994, he worked as a sports broadcaster, rising in the field until he became a prominent face on British television, and eventually becoming one of its highest-paid stars, before the BBC announced his dismissal for sharing a pro-Palestine post on his official Instagram account.
Birth and upbringing
Gary Lineker was born on November 30, 1960, in Leicester, central England, to a father named Winston who was a fruit and vegetable seller, and a mother named Margaret who dedicated her life to raising him and his younger brother.
He studied at Caldecott Road School in Leicester, central England, grew up there, then went to Leicester Boys' Secondary School in Evington village, and worked with his father selling fruits and vegetables in the city market.
Lineker left school at age 16 and joined Leicester City's youth academy in 1976.
He married twice, first in 1986 to Michelle Cockayne, and then in 2009 to Danielle Bux, whom he announced his separation from after 6 years of marriage.
He has four children, with his eldest surviving leukemia in 1991, which later led him to participate in promotional clips for cancer-fighting charities.
Sports career
Gary Lineker was fond of football and cricket since childhood, prompting him to join a nearby sports club in Leicester City.
At the age of 11, he led the cricket team at Leicester schools, but due to his stronger inclination towards football, he left the team and joined Aylestone Park Football Club.
He played football at a number of clubs but started his career with Leicester City after graduating from school in 1977, turning professional in November 1978.
He stayed with the club until 1985, playing in 194 matches and scoring 95 goals during that period.
Soon, his scoring prowess was recognized and he joined Everton Football Club on June 23, 1985, for 800,000 pounds sterling.
While at Everton, the team reached the FA Cup final for the third consecutive year, but they lost the final match against Liverpool.
He also won the Best Player of the Year award from the Professional Footballers' Association, and the Football Writers' Association in his first season.
Lineker often stated that Everton was "the best team he ever played with". Just one year after joining Everton, and after winning the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Lineker established himself as a major star and moved to Barcelona for 2.8 million pounds sterling.
He debuted with the team in the (1986-1987) season during the English League, scoring 20 goals in 40 matches, including a hat-trick against their traditional rival Real Madrid making him a hero in the eyes of many.
He finished the (1987-1988) season in the English League with only 16 goals in 35 matches, and his club ranked sixth.
With 42 goals in 103 league matches, Lineker became the highest-scoring British player in the history of the competition until Gareth Bale surpassed him in March 2016.
While with the club, Lineker won the King's Cup of Spain (1987-1988), and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989.
In July 1989, Lineker signed with Tottenham Hotspur for 1.1 million pounds sterling, and over three seasons, he scored 67 goals in 105 league matches and participated in the FA Cup with the club.
He finished the (1989-1990) season as the top scorer of the English Premier League, scoring 24 goals, with Tottenham ranking third, and winning the FA Cup in 1991, during which a goal of his was disallowed for offside.
In the (1991-1992) season, Lineker was the second top scorer in the English Premier League with 28 goals in 35 matches, behind Ian Wright who scored 29 goals in 42 matches.
He played his last match with Tottenham on May 2, 1992, and during his time with the club, he won the Football Writers' Association Player of the Year award for the second time and the FA Cup.
In November 1991, Lineker transferred to Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan, with a transfer fee of two million pounds sterling, scoring 9 goals in 23 matches he played during his two-year stint with the club.
Club achievements
Lineker successfully scored 165 goals in 328 matches played in his club career, and the English striker managed to win:
- The English League top scorer award 3 times in seasons (1984-1985), (1985-1986), and (1989-1990) with Leicester City, Everton, and Tottenham clubs.
- Top scorer of the second tier of the English League with Leicester City in the (1982-1983) season.
- The English Super Cup title 3 times, with Everton in 1985 and 1986, and Tottenham in 1992.
- FA Cup in 1991.
- European Cup Winners' Cup in the (1988-1989) season.
- Spanish Cup in the (1987-1988) season.
National team achievements
Lineker joined the England national team in 1984, successfully scoring 48 goals in 80 matches played, participating with the national team in two editions of the World Cup in 1986 and 1990, and twice in the European Nations' Cup in 1988 and 1992.
Lineker is considered the second all-time top scorer for the England national team with 48 goals, behind Bobby Charlton, who leads the top scorer list by just one goal.
He also won the top scorer award at the 1986 World Cup held in Mexico, after scoring 6 out of the 7 goals his national team scored in the tournament, surpassing Argentine Diego Maradona, Brazilian Careca, and Spaniard Emilio Butragueño who each scored 5 goals.
At the 1990 World Cup, Lineker won the title of all-time top scorer for the England national team, after scoring 4 goals, bringing his World Cup total to 10 goals.
Retirement from play
Lineker retired from playing at the age of 34 in September 1994, after 8 years in his international career during which he played 80 international matches and scored 48 goals, making him the second-best scorer in England after his retirement. Throughout his football career, he never received a yellow or red card, and he never won the Premier League title.
In 1990, he received the FIFA Fair Play Award, and after retiring from football, he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.
Media career
After retiring from the field, Lineker became a sports broadcaster at the British Broadcasting Corporation "BBC", appearing in 1995 on Radio 5 Live in a football analysis studio, and then presenting sports programs.
In 1999, he moved to work as a football news anchor at the "BBC", and also worked as a presenter on the program "Match of the Day".
In 2005, he presented the "BBC" coverage of golf, which subjected him to several criticisms, as well as covering the London Olympics in 2012.
In 2013, he moved to work with the NBCSN channel to cover the English Premier League, and participated in the American version of the program "Match of the Day", and in June 2015, he presented the UEFA Champions League coverage on the channel "BT Sport".
As of July 2022, Lineker was the highest-paid program presenter at the "BBC", and remained so for several years; between 2016 and 2020 he received between 1.75 million and 1.76 million pounds sterling annually, and about 1.35 million pounds sterling annually in the period from 2020 to 2021.
He faced sharp criticism over these amounts, prompting the "BBC" to say "This salary is justified by the value of the analysis for the viewing audience".
Lineker also appeared in several television shows, films, and series, notably in the late 1990s when he participated in advertisements for a snack company, ranking his adverts ninth in Channel Four's poll of the top one hundred TV commercials in 2000.
He participated in 1987 in the charity television program "Knockout Championship", and in 1991 in the play "An Evening with Gary Lineker", as well as presenting a six-part television series for the "BBC" in 1998 titled "Golden Shoes".
In December 2008, he participated in the program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" on the ITV 1 channel, and he and another player won 50,000 pounds sterling.
In May 2014, he founded the audio production company Goalhanger, and presented several short video clips on the YouTube website, as well as participating in a documentary film about his football career.
Political Views
Lineker is well-known for his provocative political opinions that he shares on social media platforms, which in recent years have become a headache for the "BBC", which has strict rules regarding neutrality.
On October 18, 2016, Lineker criticized statements by British MP David Davis, who had suggested that refugees entering the United Kingdom undergo dental exams to verify their ages, prompting The Sun newspaper to call for his dismissal from Match of the Day, accusing him of violating the principles of neutrality at the "BBC".
In 2017, during the general elections in Britain, which saw Theresa May leading the Conservative Party and Jeremy Corbyn leading the Labour Party, Lineker wrote on the X site "Everything seems to be either far-right or far-left, is there something moderate and reasonable that appeals to me?"
In 2018, he opposed Britain's exit from the European Union and called for a second referendum to vote anew on whether to leave or not.
In October 2022, the "BBC" supported a complaint against a tweet from Lineker that mentioned donations to the Conservative Party, justifying this by saying "The tweet violated social media usage guidelines and failed to meet the editorial standards for integrity".
On March 23, 2023, the top scorer of the 1986 World Cup was temporarily suspended from working at the "BBC" after he compared statements by then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman regarding immigration to the language of the Nazis in Germany, leading his colleagues to sympathize with him and refuse to present the sports program which remained without commentators.
In September of the same year, the "BBC" reached an agreement allowing the former English international to express positions on policies and issues without using platforms to support political campaigns.
Solidarity with Gaza
In January 2024, the English star retweeted a tweet calling for a ban on Israel's participation in international football matches due to its aggression against the Gaza Strip, which subjected him to fierce criticism and calls for his dismissal from the "BBC" channel.
The British newspaper "The Times" noted that Lineker faced a wave of criticism from leaders of the anti-Semitism campaign, and MPs because he retweeted a tweet from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BDS), which included a statement issued by the Palestinian Football Association calling on FIFA and the International Olympic Committee to join the international sports bodies that imposed sanctions on Israel.
The "Daily Telegraph" quoted the Jewish Conservative MP Andrew Percy saying that "Lineker is an ignorant commentator and has no information about the Middle East", and added that "BDS is a racist and anti-Semitic campaign, and no one who receives taxpayer money and works at the BBC should endorse its anti-Jewish campaign".
On May 11, 2024, Lineker expressed his solidarity with Gaza and criticized the pressures exerted on British personalities to remain silent about what is happening there, and said in statements carried by the British newspaper "Daily Mail" "What is happening in Gaza is the worst thing I have seen in my life, and there is a lot of pressure on personalities in Britain to keep quiet".
He added "There is intense pressure practiced against people who speak out against Israel, but I can speak because I am somewhat safe and cannot remain silent".
In February 2025, Lineker was among 500 prominent figures who signed an open letter urging the "BBC" to rebroadcast a documentary titled "Gaza.. How to survive in a war zone" through the "BBC iPlayer" platform.
On May 19, 2025, the "BBC" announced the dismissal of Lineker's services due to his participation in a post from a pro-Palestine group on his official Instagram account, which included an image of a rat, historically used as an anti-Semitic insult, before he deleted it and later apologized for it, leading to accusations against the English star of anti-Semitism.
The general manager of the "BBC" Tim Davie said "Gary acknowledged the mistake he made, so we agreed together not to present more programs after the end of the current season, after being a prominent voice for the network over more than two decades, and we would like to thank him for his contribution".
In response, Lineker said in an official statement, "Football was the foundation of my life whether inside the stadium or in analysis studios, and I cared a lot about it and my work with the BBC over many long years, and I will not repeat what I did by posting anything anti-Semitic, because it is contrary to my principles".
He also added "I reiterate my deep apology and regret once again, and recognize the mistake I made and the discomfort I caused".
