Gary Lineker

Gary Lineker

Gary Winston Lineker OBE is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as one of the greatest English strikers of all time. In a senior career which spanned 16 years and 567 competitive games, Lineker scored a total of 330 goals, including 282 goals at club level. His six goals in the 1986 FIFA World Cup made him the tournament’s top scorer, receiving the Golden Boot. After his retirement from football he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

About Gary Lineker in brief

Summary Gary LinekerGary Winston Lineker OBE is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as one of the greatest English strikers. Lineker began his football career at Leicester City in 1978, and finished as the First Division’s joint top goalscorer in 1984–85. He then moved to league champions Everton where he won both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the year awards in his debut season. In 1989, he joined Tottenham Hotspur and won the FA Cup, his first and only major trophy in English football. He retired in 1994 after two seasons at the Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight. In a senior career which spanned 16 years and 567 competitive games, Lineker scored a total of 330 goals, including 282 goals at club level. His six goals in the 1986 FIFA World Cup made him the tournament’s top scorer, receiving the Golden Boot, the only time an Englishman had done so until Harry Kane in the 2018 World Cup. After his retirement from football he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. A keen supporter of Leicester City, he led a consortium that invested in his old club, saving it from bankruptcy, and was appointed honorary vice-president. He has also worked for Al Jazeera Sports, Eredivisie Live, NBC Sports Network and currently hosts BT Sport’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League. During his youth he played for Aylestone Park Youth, later becoming the club’s president.

He was equally talented at both football and cricket. From the ages of 11 to 16 he captained the Leicestershire Schools cricket team, and had felt that he had a higher chance of succeeding at it rather than football. As a teenager he idolised former England captain David Gower, who was playing for Leicstershire at the time. He later stated on They Think It’s All Over that as a teenager, he idolise former England skipper David Gowers. He still holds England’s record for goals scored in the FIFA World World Cup, scoring four in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and six in the quarter-final of the 1994 edition. He left school with four O Levels, and one of his teachers wrote on his report card that he would “never make a living at that too much on football” He began his career at his home town Leicester City and making his senior debut in the New Year’s Day of 1977. He joined the youth academy at the club in 1976, and made his professional debut after leaving school in 1977. Although he missed out on promotion, he became a regular player in 1981–82, scoring 19 goals in all competitions in that season. He earned a Second Division title at Filbert Street Athletic Athletic. However he went back down down as Leicester went straight back down to the Second Division and clinched a promotion year later that year. He also played for Leicester City again in 1980–81, but played just nine league games in 1982–83.