Gary Lineker unveiled as FourFourTwo’s latest cover star – we sat down with the legend of football and broadcasting to discuss his future after BBC Match of the Day

When Gary Lineker announced he was standing down as host of BBC’s Match of the Day at the end of this season, FourFourTwo were keen to have a chat with the goalscorer turned presenter about his career in and on the box.

Following on from a glittering football career that saw him win European Cup Winners’ Cup, the FA Cup and a World Cup Golden Boot – Lineker became a mainstay on our television screens when he took over from Des Lynam in 1999.

So before Lineker bids farewell to the BBC’s flagship football highlights show in May, FourFourTwo caught up with the presenter in west London for a chat about his career on the pitch, on the box and his plans going forward.

Lineker talks about how playing football came naturally to him, and for that reason he is prouder of his broadcasting career.

But it was not always clever links and puns that the nation have come to enjoy and expect from Lineker, he reflects on his first MOTD appearance and how it didn’t go to plan and by his own admission he had ‘an absolute shocker’.

He also discusses talks with Sky over the years, but how he stayed loyal to the BBC.

In 2023 Lineker was briefly suspended by the BBC for tweeting that the government’s policy on asylum seekers was “immeasurably cruel, directed at the most vulnerable people, in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ’30s”.

Lineker reflects on that suspension and the subsequent internal review but says ‘I wasn’t concerned I’d done anything wrong – I stated a fact’

Lineker is not going anywhere, he will continue to present live football for the BBC up until the 2026 World Cup and he has his thriving production company Goalhanger who produce the very successful ‘The Rest Is…’ podcasts, including The Rest is Football fronted by Lineker with his Match of the Day colleagues Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Reflecting on football in 2025 and the role that television now plays in it, Lineker gives his view on the 3pm blackout in the UK and if it will remain for much longer.

After a successful career in and on the box, could it soon be ‘Sir’ Gary Lineker? The former striker says he is just focusing on standing up for what he believes in.

Read the full interview with Gary Lineker in the latest issue of FourFourTwo available in shops now or buy direct HERE from Magazines Direct.