Netflix shocked the sports world when they won the rights to televise the 2027 and 20231 Women’s World Cup tournaments in the US. They may not be televising the men’s World Cup in 2026, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be an active participant in the world’s biggest sporting event. And they are bringing in a huge name in the soccer world to lead their coverage in Gary Lineker.
The former England striker is an accomplished player, analyst, and host who has spent decades in the sport. After a career that saw him star at Leicester, Everton, and Barcelona, and Tottenham he became a media icon in the UK and abroad. His biggest role was as the host of BBC’s Match of the Day, but he also presented the Olympics and many other sporting events.
However, Lineker’s BBC career ended in controversy as he resigned after posting an antisemitic picture on social media. Although he has been a consistent critic of the Israeli government and their war on Gaza, Lineker apologized for the post and claimed ignorance about using a picture of a rat emoji linked to Zionism.
Since leaving the BBC, Lineker has done what most former athletes and media personalities do after losing a television job – he started a podcast. And that’s where Netflix is coming in.
The streaming giant will partner with Lineker to bring his The Rest is Football podcast with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards to the platform for daily coverage of the 2026 World Cup. The podcast currently airs three times a week but will move to a daily show for the World Cup. It will also air from a New York studio with the tournament taking place across North America. Already, the podcast has 450,000 subscribers on YouTube and has proven to be a hit thanks to his star power and notoriety.
It’s yet another dive into the podcast realm from Netflix. Earlier this year, they partnered with The Ringer to bring several video podcasts to their platform in a new kind of deal to expand their sports portfolio. The deal with Gary Lineker and The Rest is Football makes sense not just because it will obviously have global appeal during the World Cup and provides a consistent presence for Netflix during the tournament. But it will also serve as a reminder to soccer fans (at least in the US) that they’ll be able to find the 2027 women’s tournament on the same platform. Given this partnership, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Lineker be involved the following summer with Netflix as well.
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