Alan Shearer returns to BBC punditry for England vs Argentina World Cup semi-final

Alan Shearer will be part of the BBC punditry team when England take on Argentina in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final, reuniting the Newcastle icon with a fixture that defined one of the most dramatic nights of his playing career.

Shearer, 55, earned 63 caps for England and was on the pitch at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in 1998 when the two nations last met at a World Cup. He scored an equalising penalty in the ninth minute of that round-of-16 tie — a match ultimately remembered for Michael Owen’s solo goal, David Beckham’s red card, and a disallowed Sol Campbell golden goal in extra time. Shearer himself was at the centre of that controversy, with the referee ruling he had fouled Roberto Sensini before Campbell’s effort was chalked off.

Now, 28 years on, Shearer will be watching from the commentary box as England attempt to reach a first World Cup final since 1966, this time against the reigning world champions.

Off the pitch, Shearer has been married to Lainya since 1991, having met her during his time at Southampton. She has largely stayed out of the public eye throughout his career, though Shearer has shared the occasional candid glimpse into their domestic life. On the podcast The Rest Is Football, he recalled Lainya’s reaction when the couple arrived at their new home in Lancashire after his £3.6m move to Blackburn Rovers in 1992 — she was eight months pregnant at the time. “She was eight months pregnant and looked at me in the car and said, ‘What the f*** have you done?’” he recounted.

Shearer’s eldest daughter, Chloe, is in a relationship with Micky Young, a former scrum-half who played for Newcastle Falcons before retiring in 2023. The pundit has not always been entirely diplomatic about his daughter’s partner, once labelling him an “idiot” on the same podcast after Young made a significant travel error that left him stranded far from his intended destination.