Gary Lineker finally opens up about his surprising ITV appearance and explains why he really did it
Gary Lineker had a playful dig at his good friend Micah Richards after explaining why he made a surprise appearance on ITV’s World Cup coverage.
The 65-year-old was the face of BBC football for 26 years before leaving in May 2025. Since then, he’s mostly kept a low profile on TV, focusing on his podcast, The Rest Is Football.
But that changed over the weekend when Lineker appeared for a 20-minute segment before Saturday night’s Group E game between Germany and Ivory Coast.
“Thanks for joining us on ITV for this one. Another day, another game, another channel,” he joked at the start, before handing over to Laura Woods. She smiled and said, “Hey, Gary, that’s my job!”
Lineker couldn’t resist a few friendly jabs at the BBC too. He praised ITV’s World Cup studio, which had a stunning Manhattan skyline behind it—very different from the BBC’s setup in the UK. BBC presenters have been working from Media City in Salford instead of being at the tournament’s location.
“I’ve been doing a daily Netflix show in Times Square, but I really wanted to check out your studio,” Lineker said. “It’s amazing, and I can confirm it’s real. What a backdrop!”
Fans were curious why Lineker appeared for the Germany vs. Ivory Coast game and not an England match. ITV showed England’s 4-2 win over Croatia and will also air their final group game against Panama on June 27.
Lineker cleared things up on The Rest Is Football podcast, after a few playful jabs from Richards, who works as a BBC pundit.
“I was on to promote my new show, ‘The Box,’ which is coming to ITV in September,” Lineker explained. “And I wanted to see your studio and promote our Netflix show, which got two mentions. It was all professional!”
He described ‘The Box’ as a thrilling and unpredictable reality game show in a press release.
Richards wasn’t convinced. “Professional reasons? Come on, Gaz, you’re better than that!”
Lineker didn’t hold back and fired back with a grin, “Says the guy who works for almost every TV channel out there.”
Richards laughed, raised his hands, and said, “You got me!”
Richards is one of the most popular football pundits in the world, regularly appearing on BBC, Sky Sports, and CBS Sports Goalazo in the U.S.