Gary Lineker

Gary Winston Lineker (born 30 November 1960) is an English sports broadcaster and former professional footballer.

Lineker is the only player to have been the top goalscorer in England with three clubs: Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur.

He also played for Barcelona in Spain, and won 80 caps for England.

Gary Winston Lineker was born on 30 November 1960 in Leicester, the son of Margaret P. (Abbs) and Barry Lineker.

He was given his middle name in honour of Winston Churchill, with whom he shares a birthday.

He has one brother, Wayne, who is two years his junior.

Lineker grew up with his family in the city, playing football with Wayne.

Their father was a greengrocer, as were their grandfather William and great-grandfather George, in Leicester.

Barry Lineker ran Lineker's fruit and veg stall in Leicester Market, and as a child and a young player Gary regularly helped out on the stall.

Lineker, who is white, received racial abuse as a child for his dark features.

Lineker first attended Caldecote Road School (Caldecote Juniors), Braunstone in Leicester (east of the Meridian Centre).

He then went to the City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School (now City of Leicester College) on Downing Drive in Evington, owing to his preference for football rather than rugby, which was the main sport of most schools near his home.

Lineker 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.

He later stated on They Think It's All Over that as a teenager he idolised former England captain David Gower, who was playing for Leicestershire at the time.

During his youth he played for Aylestone Park Youth, later becoming the club's president.

Lineker left school with four O Levels.

One of his teachers wrote on his report card that he "concentrates too much on football" and that he would "never make a living at that".

He then joined the youth academy at Leicester City in 1976.

Lineker began his career at his hometown club Leicester City after leaving school in 1977, turning professional in the 1978–79 season and making his senior debut on New Year's Day 1979 in a 2–0 win at Filbert Street over Oldham Athletic in the Second Division.

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, before moving to Spanish club Barcelona.

He earned a Second Division title medal a year later with 19 appearances, but played just nine league games in 1980–81 as Leicester went straight back down.

Lineker made his England debut in 1984, earning 80 caps and scoring 48 goals over an eight-year international career, which made him England's second-highest international goalscorer on his retirement.

He remains England's fourth-highest scorer, behind Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton, and his international goals-to-games ratio remains one of the best for the country.

Lineker placed 2nd in the 1986 Ballon d’Or for his performances at Everton after transferring to Barcelona.

His six goals in the 1986 FIFA World Cup made him the tournament's top scorer, receiving the Golden Boot.

With the Spanish side, he won the 1987–88 Copa del Rey and the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup.

He joined Tottenham Hotspur in 1989, and won his second FWA Footballer of the Year and won the FA Cup, his first and only major trophy in English football.

His media career began with the BBC, where he has presented the flagship football programme Match of the Day since the late 1990s, the longest tenure of any MOTD presenter.

Lineker is also the BBC's lead presenter for live football matches, including coverage of international tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup.

He has also worked for Al Jazeera Sports, Eredivisie Live, NBC Sports Network, and BT Sport's coverage of the UEFA Champions League.

Lineker was again integral to England's progress to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup, scoring another four goals.

He still holds England's record for goals in the FIFA World Cup.

Lineker never received a yellow or red card during his career, and he also never won a top-flight league title.

He was honoured in 1990 with the FIFA Fair Play Award.

In a senior career which spanned 16 years and 654 competitive games, Lineker scored a total of 331 goals, including 283 goals at club level.

After his retirement from football he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

Lineker's final club was Nagoya Grampus Eight; he retired in 1994 after two seasons at the Japanese side.

A keen supporter of Leicester City, he led a consortium in 2002 that invested in his old club, saving it from bankruptcy, and was appointed honorary vice-president.