Gary Lineker‘s podcast is going global on Netflix.
The former BBC presenter will host a daily version of the show, alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, during the FIFA World Cup in North America next year.
The Rest Is Football will be anchored from a studio in New York and feature analysis and reporting from World Cup games, as well as special guests.
Netflix and The Rest Is Football do not hold U.S. or UK rights to World Cup live games or highlights, so the show is unlikely to feature on-field action. Fox will screen games in America, while the BBC and ITV share rights in the UK.
The Rest Is Football launched in 2023 and is part of the Goalhanger stable of podcasts, which also includes The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Entertainment.
The show, which has 7M monthly streams, originally launched in partnership with the BBC, but new episodes stopped streaming on BBC Sounds after Lineker left the broadcaster after 30 years in May.
Lineker was due to present the World Cup for the BBC, but left abruptly after sharing a now-deleted Instagram video from the Palestine Lobby account that overlaid a cartoon rat emoji on top of an explainer about the Israel-Gaza war and Zionism. Rats have historically been used as an antisemitic trope. Lineker apologized for the post.
Commenting on the Netflix deal, Lineker said: “We can’t wait to bring The Rest Is Football to Netflix for the 2026 World Cup. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the three of us to do what we love — talk football every day — but on a truly global stage. Expect all the usual analysis, honesty and plenty of laughs… just with a few more cameras pointed at us, all from the Big Apple.”
WME represented Goalhanger in brokering the Netflix deal.
