Gary Lineker reveals he is set to become a grandfather for the first time

Gary Lineker has revealed he is expecting his first grandchild, disclosing the news during a conversation with TV chef Gordon Ramsay on the Netflix World Cup show version of The Rest Is Football podcast.

The 65-year-old former England striker told Ramsay: “We’ve got one other thing in common, we’re both about to be grandparents for the first time.” Ramsay, who described himself as “secretly petrified” of the milestone, replied: “How exciting is that?” Lineker offered a characteristically wry take on the prospect: “You’ve got little kids anyway, haven’t you, but it is different when you can give them back, I think.”

Lineker shares four sons — George, Harry, Tobias, and Angus — with his first wife Michelle Cockayne. He has not publicly identified which of his sons is expecting a child.

The announcement came in the same episode as Ramsay discussed his own impending grandparenthood. Last weekend, Ramsay’s daughter Holly Ramsay Peaty announced she is expecting a baby with her husband, Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, in an Instagram post.

Lineker has been a prominent presence at the 2026 World Cup, hosting a daily show for Netflix from Times Square. He also made a brief appearance on ITV’s coverage of Germany against Ivory Coast, where he quipped it was “another day, another game, another channel” before being interrupted by the programme’s lead presenter Laura Woods. The comment was widely read as a light-hearted reference to his departure from the BBC, where he had hosted Match of the Day for more than two decades.

Lineker stepped down from the BBC in May last year following prolonged controversy over his political views on social media, culminating in an Instagram post featuring a depiction of a rat — historically an antisemitic symbol — which he said he had not noticed before sharing. He apologised and said he did not believe anyone thought he would have posted it knowingly.

He is set to return to television presenting later this year with the ITV game show The Box.