Gary Winston Lineker OBE is a former English football player who used to feature prominently during the 1980s and 1990s. He used to play as a striker and is considered an English football legend. He was named by Pele in March 2004 as one of the 125 greatest living footballers and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Frame after retiring from football. He is currently a sports broadcaster for the BBC and Eredivisie Live.
Gary Lineker commenced his playing career at Leicester City in 1978 and went onto score 95 goals in 194 league matches for them between then and 1985. He finished as the First Division’s joint top goalscorer in the 1984-1985 season. In 1985 Lineker signed for the then defending league champions Everton for 800,000 pounds and scored 38 goals in 52 games, becoming the leading goalscorer with 30 goals.
Lineker was signed by Catalan powerhouse FC Barcelona for 2.2 million pounds and he was quite a success at Camp Nou, scoring 43 goals in 105 La Liga matches. He won the Copa del Rey with Barca in 1988 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1989.
Gary Lineker was signed by Tottenham Hotspur in 1989 and played for Spurs until 1992, scoring 67 goals in 105 league matches. He was the top scorer in the First Division in the 1989-1990 season and scored 24 goals. He won the FA Cup with Spurs in 1991 and was the second highest scorer in the league in the 1991-1992 season.
Lineker the moved to the J-League to play for Nagoya Grampus Eight and scored 9 goals in 23 league matches in two injury-ridden years.
Gary Lineker made his international debut for England in 1984 against Scotland. He featured at the 1986 World Cup and played five matches and topscored in the competition with six goals. He won the Golden Boot in that competition. He played n the 1988 European Championships and also played at the 1990 World Cup finals. Lineker played in 80 international matches for England and scored 48 goals.
Gary Lineker was also the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 1986 and was third in the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1990.
