Gary Lineker

England's third-highest goalscorer and 1986 World Cup Golden Boot winner, renowned for his clinical finishing and sportsmanship.

Gary Winston Lineker was born on 30 November 1960 in Leicester, England, to Barry and Margaret Lineker. His middle name honoured Winston Churchill, with whom he shares a birthday. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all greengrocers, running the Lineker family stall in Leicester Market, and young Gary regularly helped out there even after turning professional, working the stall during summer breaks from football. Lineker joined his hometown club Leicester City's academy in 1976 and turned professional in 1979, developing into a prolific, clinical striker despite lacking the physical power typical of forwards of his era — he relied instead on pace, anticipation, and composure in front of goal. He was the First Division's top scorer in 1984–85 while at Leicester, a feat he would go on to repeat at both Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, making him the only player to top-score in England's top flight for three different clubs. Lineker's finest hour came at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where he won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer with six goals, including a hat-trick against Poland — the only England player ever to win the award. That performance earned him a move to Barcelona, where he spent three productive seasons, winning the Copa del Rey and European Cup Winners' Cup, before returning to England with Tottenham, whom he helped win the 1991 FA Cup. Lineker scored 48 goals in 80 appearances for England, the third-highest total in the country's history, and remarkably never received a single yellow or red card across his entire professional career, earning him FIFA's Fair Play Award in 1990. After retiring in 1994 following two seasons in Japan, he built one of English broadcasting's most prominent second careers, presenting the BBC's Match of the Day for 26 years, from 1999 until 2025 — the longest tenure of any presenter in the show's history — before departing amid public disputes over his outspoken social media commentary on immigration policy and other political issues.

Clinical finisher with exceptional positioning and movement in the penalty area

One of England's greatest strikers and a respected football broadcaster

• FA Cup 1991
• Copa del Rey 1988
• Golden Boot 1986
• Primera División 1985

Club Career

Club	Period	Fee	Apps	Goals
Leicester City	1978–1985	—	194	95
Everton	1985–1986	—	41	30
Barcelona	1986–1989	£2.8m	103	42
Tottenham Hotspur	1989–1992	—	105	67
Nagoya Grampus	1992–1994	—	18	4
England	—	—	80	48