Gary Lineker to host Have I Got News For You amid Fifa scandal
The Match of the Day presenter couldn't have timed his debut appearance on the BBC panel show better...
Gary Lineker is set to make his debut appearance on Have I Got News For You slap bang in the middle of one of the biggest football scandals ever. Talk about good timing.
The Match of the Day presenter is hosting this Friday's episode of the BBC panel show, and won't be short of things to talk about following the arrests of seven Fifa officials during dawn raids on a luxury Switzerland hotel.
The irony hasn't been lost on Lineker, who tweeted to say he was "a little nervous" about making his debut appearance alongside regular team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.
Lineker has strongly condemned world football's governing body both on Twitter and on BBC News, saying he finds it "completely nauseating" to be involved in football under the current organisation.
"In any other corporation, if there was so many things that were found to be corrupt, then the man at the top would go - but that doesn't seem to be the case with Fifa," he said of Blatter's position, referring to the Fifa president on social media as "our mistrusted leader".
He also said he couldn't see how the decision to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar could be upheld given recent revelations.
"There are now major investigations not just concerning Fifa and corruption but also the two bids - World Cups 2018 and 2022 - so a lot will depend on how rotten it was and how corrupt the voting process was," Lineker said.
"If it is substantial enough then I don't think they will have any option but to rethink and revote. It is a mess, it is a huge mess, but it is something that needs to happen and the sooner the better."
Have I Got News For You hosted by Gary Lineker will be recorded this Thursday evening, and will air on BBC1 at 9pm tomorrow (Friday 29 May).
