World Cup

Gary Lineker: 'Fawning over FIFA dignitaries made me uneasy'

By Mark Langshaw, Reporter | 10 June 2015

Former England striker Gary Lineker says that he felt like he needed "a good shower" after being asked to fawn over FIFA dignitaries.

Gary Lineker has admitted that taking part in England's 2018 World Cup bid made him feel uneasy because it involved fawning over FIFA dignitaries.

The Match of the Day host said that the experience left him feeling like he needed "a good shower" and reaffirmed his distaste for the administrative side of the game.

"I wasn't really involved in the bid, but the night before the two World Cup votes were announced, I was invited over at the last minute and asked to be nice, in a creepy sort of way, towards various dignitaries," PA quotes Lineker as saying.

"I don't like pretending to be nice and crawling up people's backsides, for the want of a better phrase - and we were the only ones doing it."

The finals were eventually awarded to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, but both decisions are now under investigation following the latest FIFA corruption scandal.

"I was sitting having a burger with David Beckham at the end of the night, and I said to him, 'Have you noticed we seem to be the only nation doing this? I've got the feeling it might already be done'," Lineker added.

"At the end, I had that sense of needing a good shower. I'm not a political animal, I don't really want to get involved in that side of the game."

A revote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup host nations is believed to be a possibility.