Gary Lineker ‘to leave the BBC this week’ after antisemitism row

Gary Lineker is anticipated to announce he’s leaving the BBC on Monday after apologising for amplifying on-line subject material with antisemitic connotations, the Guardian understands.

The Match of the Day host will reportedly no longer provide the 2026 World Cup or subsequent season’s FA Cup after “bowing out by mutual agreement” with the broadcaster.

He is anticipated to give his ultimate Match of the Day programme this Sunday, 26 years after he took over from Des Lynam.

Last week, the 64-year-old apologised after it emerged he had reposted a pro-Palestine video on social media that criticised Zionism and incorporated an indication of a rat.

A rat is an antisemitic trope that was once utilized in Nazi Germany to characterise Jews as vermin. Lineker mentioned in a remark that he would “never knowingly share anything antisemitic” and had deleted the submit “as soon as I became aware of the issue”.

The BBC director basic, Tim Davie, have been dealing with calls all week to sack Lineker, who was once paid £1.4m through the BBC ultimate yr.

“The BBC’s reputation is held by everyone and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us,” Davie mentioned when requested concerning the incident after giving a speech in Salford. “I think we absolutely need people to be exemplars of the BBC’s values and follow our social media policy. Simple as that.”

More than 10,000 other people signed a petition, backed through the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which suggested the BBC to “immediately remove Gary Lineker from his position”.

Lineker was once already because of go away his function on Match of the Day on the finish of the season, however was once anticipated to host the company’s protection of the FA Cup in 2025-26 and the World Cup subsequent summer season.

He will probably be changed on Match of the Day through Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman, who will percentage the presenting function from the following Premier League season.

A supply instructed the Sun: “Gary acknowledged his position at the BBC, anchoring the most prestigious tournament in world football, was untenable, and he will not be hosting the World Cup.

“He offered to step down at the end of the season, and did not want the BBC – an organisation he still holds in the highest of esteem – dragged into any further controversy.

“He remains absolutely devastated by the recent turn of events and is deeply regretful about how his post was interpreted. His last Match of the Day will air on Sunday now and he won’t be back.”

In March 2023, Lineker was once briefly suspended from the BBC over feedback he made criticising the Conservative executive’s asylum coverage.

In February this yr, he was once additionally amongst 500 high-profile cultural figures who known as at the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, calling it an “essential piece of journalism”. The broadcaster got rid of the documentary from BBC iPlayer after it emerged that the movie’s 14-year-old narrator was once the son of a deputy agriculture minister within the territory’s Hamas-run executive.

The BBC declined to remark when contacted through the Guardian.