BBC World Cup commentators: Full line-up of Qatar 2022 presenters and pundits, from Gary Lineker to Alex Scott
Gary Lineker is leading the BBC’s World Cup coverage once more as the tournament heads to Qatar and the Middle East for the first time.
The Match of the Day host has been part of the BBC’s broadcasting team for the competition since France ’98, and the main presenter since the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Lineker has plenty of World Cup pedigree from his playing days too, scoring 10 goals – an England record – in the 1986 and 1990 tournaments. He is one of only two Englishmen – along with Harry Kane in 2018 – to win a World Cup golden boot, doing so with six goals at the 1986 edition in Mexico.
He opened the BBC’s coverage by calling the tournament the “most controversial World Cup in history”, ahead of host nation Qatar’s 2-0 defeat against Ecuador in the opening game. “Stick to football, Fifa say, and we will… for a couple of minutes at least,” he said.
He will be helped out over the course of the 64-game tournament by a few of British sport’s most experienced and respected presenters in Gabby Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates.
Logan was the BBC’s lead anchor for last summer’s Uefa European Women’s Championship, which enjoyed record-breaking viewership in the UK.
Chapman is the regular host on the BBC’s Match of the Day Two and is synonymous with the corporation’s 5 Live coverage.
Cates fronts Sky Sports’ Friday and Saturday Night Football coverage of the Premier League.
Match of the Day regulars Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas are all part of the punditry line-up, which also includes two former World Cup winners in Jürgen Klinsmann and Gilberto Silva.
Here is the full list of BBC presenters, pundits, commentators and co-commentators in Qatar:
Presenters
Gary Lineker
Gabby Logan
Mark Chapman
Kelly Cates
Pundits
Alan Shearer
Captained England at the 1998 World Cup, scoring twice in four games against Tunisia in the group stage and Argentina in the last 16. A regular presence on Match of the Day.
Rio Ferdinand
The former Manchester United defender represented his country at two World Cups in 2002 and 2006 and is now a pundit on BT Sport for their Premier League and Champions League coverage.
Jermaine Jenas
Capped 21 times by England from 2003 until 2009 and was a non-playing member of the squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Now combines punditry roles with BBC and BT Sport and co-presents The One Show.
Micah Richards
Earned 13 international caps for England between 2006-2012, scoring one goal, and was also in the Team GB squad for the 2012 Olympics in London. Richards is a pundit for both Sky Sports and the BBC.
Alex Scott
Scott is the fourth-most capped player in England’s Women’s history, earning 140 over a 13-year international career and winning a bronze medal at the 2015 World Cup. Since retiring in 2018 she has been a consistent presence on UK television and has a degree in professional sports writing and broadcasting.
Danny Gabbidon
A former Wales international defender who earned 49 caps for his country across a 12-year international career. He has been part of BBC 5 Live’s coverage since retiring and is a regular guest on the BBC Welsh Football podcast.
Ian Rush
A Liverpool and Wales legend, Rush won 20 trophies with the former and was the all-time leading goalscorer for the latter before being surpassed by Gareth Bale.
Ashley Williams
Wales’s fifth-most capped player ever with 86. Williams captained his country at Euro 2016 and scored during the memorable victory against Belgium in the quarter-final. Retired in 2020 and now features on Match of the Day.
Vincent Kompany
Made 89 appearances for Belgium between 2004 and 2019 and was part of the squad that finished third in the 2018 World Cup. Won 12 major honours with Manchester City, including four Premier League titles, and is currently the manager of Burnley in the Championship.
Didier Drogba
Played a significant role as Ivory Coast qualified for its first-ever World Cup in 2006 and also featured in the 2010 and 2014 editions of the tournament. He is also his country’s top scorer with 42 goals. Won 14 major honours with Chelsea, including the Champions League in 2012.
Gary Lineker: Human rights abuses and homophobia in Qatar make me feel queasy
Gary Lineker spoke to i‘s northern football correspondent Mark Douglas about his thoughts about the World Cup before the tournament got under way:
“I haven’t felt quite the same about this one. I’m a little queasy about it. The human rights, the deaths building the stadiums, the homophobia in their laws, none of it sits right.
“But this is not a one-off, it has happened before. You go back to 1934 and Mussolini tried to use the World Cup to promote fascism. I remember the military junta in 1978 which was awful and a terrible backdrop to that World Cup. More recently in Brazil there were demonstrations with people saying we shouldn’t be spending this money on stadiums when our social care system is broken, and even in 2018 Russia had invaded Ukrainian Crimea before the tournament.
“What separates this one from the others is we know it’s corrupt, it has now been proven. Most of the Fifa committee are either in jail, have been banned from football or fined. But we’re stuck with it and the new Fifa incumbents – while they might make mistakes – I don’t think they’re corrupt.
“They’re stuck with it, it was too far down the road to change it and it’s the same for us. We’re going there to broadcast it, journalists are going too but we’re there to report on it not support it.
“We’re not cheerleaders for it and that’s an important thing.”
Capped 188 times by France’s Women’s team, helping her country win the She Believes Cup in 2017. Georges was part of an all-conquering Lyon side and also represented PSG prior to retiring in 2018. Currently the secretary general of the French Football Federation.
Jürgen Klinsmann
Won the World Cup with West Germany in 1990 and the European Championship with Germany in 1996. Managed his country to a semi-final place in the 2006 tournament on home soil.
Mark Schwarzer
Australia’s all-time most capped player with 109, spanning across a 20-year international career. Schwarzer, who played for Bradford, Middlesbrough, Fulham, Chelsea and Leicester in England, represented his country at two World Cups.
Gilberto Silva
A World Cup winner with Brazil and 2002 and member of Arsenal’s “Invincibles”, who won the Premier League title without losing a game in 2003-04.
Pablo Zabaleta
A former Argentina international and a World Cup runner-up after playing in the final defeat against Germany in 2014. Won six major honours with Manchester City, including two Premier League titles.
Commentators
Guy Mowbray
Steve Wilson
Jonathan Pearce
Steve Bower
Robyn Cowen
Alistair Bruce-Ball
Simon Davies
Ian Dennis
Pien Meulensteen
Conor McNamara
John Murray
Mark Scott
Vicki Sparks
Co-commentators
Karen Bardsley
Dion Dublin
James Collins
Maz Farookhi
Martin Keown
Jayne Ludlow
Clinton Morrison
Danny Murphy
Robbie Savage
Peter Schmeichel
Stephen Warnock
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