Sports broadcaster Gary Lineker has said his “marriage” with the BBC had started to “run out of love” by the time he left the corporation.
The former England footballer, 65, was the presenter of BBC’s Match Of The Day for 26 years until he stepped down in May last year following criticism over him airing his political opinions on social media.
His departure came after a row following an Instagram post he made about Zionism, which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult.
Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Lineker said the incident sped up his exit from the corporation, describing his relationship with the broadcaster as like a marriage that had run its course.
He said: “I was going anyway, but we just brought it forward. I thought it seemed to be the sensible thing to do.
“I think it’s like a marriage with the BBC. We’d been together for a long time and we were starting to run out of love for each other. I’ll always love the BBC. It’s an amazing, amazing corporation.”
The sports broadcaster apologised for the post, adding that he did not see the rat visual and that he did not think “anyone actually believes I would’ve posted that”.
He said: “Obviously, I learned about that pretty quickly after that. But that one I felt bad about because that was my mistake. That was my mistake because it was not with intent, but I could see why some people would be upset by that.”
The former Barcelona striker fronts The Rest Is Football podcast alongside former footballers Micah Richards and Alan Shearer with the series airing as a daily TV show on Netflix for the 2026 World Cup to cover events in the US, Canada and Mexico, where the tournament is being held.
Last week, Lineker’s media enterprise, Goalhanger, was named Britain’s fastest-growing company, highlighting a successful transition from traditional punditry to the burgeoning podcast industry.
Research for the annual Sunday Times 100 revealed the production firm generated £37.9 million in sales in 2025. This impressive figure reflects an average annual sales growth of approximately 321% over the last three years, positioning it as the top performer among all companies scrutinised.