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However, he is now stepping down from his $1.8 million-a-year role prior to next year's tournament.

Last week, Lineker, 64, posted about Zionism in relation to the Israel and Palestine conflict on social media, which included an illustration of a rat, historically utilised as an antisemitic insult to depict Jews as vermin.

Upon learning about the symbolism of the image, Lineker expressed regret for the references and assured that he would never share anything antisemitic, subsequently deleting the post.



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Lineker hung up his microphone as co-host of the esteemed BBC Sports Personality of the Year last December, after helming the celebration of Britain's sports heroes and heroines, as voted by the public, for 23 memorable years.

Former England striker Lineker faced criticism after interacting with content from the group Palestine Lobby on Instagram, spurring Campaign Against Antisemitism to voice their intent to file a complaint.

Reflecting on the incident on his Instagram, Lineker stated, "Whilst I believe in the importance of speaking out on humanitarian issues, including the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, I also know how we do so matters," acknowledging his responsibility, adding, "I take full responsibility for this mistake

Just Gary Lineker's Instagram account sharing an anti-Israel video misrepresenting Zionism, complete with a rat emoji."

The group continued: "Not only does this video deliberately misrepresent Zionism - the belief that Jews have the same right to self-determination as everyone else - but it adds a rat emoji in doing so

Why is it that Gary Lineker keeps sharing content on social media that seems to cater to Jew-haters?".

BBC Director-General Tim Davie also weighed in on the controversy, saying: "The BBC's reputation is held by everyone and when someone makes a mistake, it costs us

And I think we absolutely need people to be the exemplars of BBC values and follow our social media policies, simple as that."