BBC name Gary Lineker replacement for World Cup as Mark Chapman and Alex Scott snubbed | Football | Sport
The BBC have named Gary Lineker‘s replacement for the World Cup final with Mark Chapman and Alex Scott both being overlooked. Lineker won’t be in the BBC studio for this summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He left the broadcaster last summer after sharing a controversial post on Instagram, for which he later apologised.
Lineker will instead be covering the World Cup on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, having signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to stream it during the tournament. He will be replaced as the BBC‘s lead presenter by Gabby Logan, who is set to present live coverage of the World Cup final ahead of Match of the Day regular Chapman and outgoing Football Focus host Scott.
That’s according to the Daily Mail, who say that Logan will also host the BBC’s first match of the World Cup and England’s group stage clash with Ghana.
When she presents live coverage of the final, the 53-year-old will make history as the first female BBC anchor to host the biggest match in world football.
Chapman is believed to be out of the running because he will be covering The Open on Sky Sports, which is due to finish on the same day as the final.
The report adds that those who will miss out have been assured they will get the equivalent in future broadcasts, with everybody thought to be relaxed about the situation.
Lineker was initially scheduled for the leading role at the World Cup, having signed a one-year contract extension with the BBC to take him beyond the current football season.
However, the former England striker abruptly dropped his commitments last summer following the outbreak of an antisemitism row, which was sparked by a post on social media.
He shared a video about Zionism which featured an image of a rat, which has historically been used as an insult referring to language used by Nazi Germany about Jewish people.
In a statement, Lineker apologised for the post and insisted that he would never knowingly post offensive content directed at a particular group of people.
He said: “On Instagram I reposted material which I have since learned contained offensive references. I very much regret these references. I would never knowingly share anything antisemitic. It goes against everything I believe in.”
