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Football

19th Mar 2023

Gary Lineker replaced as presenter of BBC’s Sunday FA Cup coverage due to illness

SportsJOE

By Charlie Herbert.

The BBC has announced a ‘line-up change.’

Gary Lineker has been replaced as the presenter for the BBC’s FA Cup coverage on Sunday, with Alex Scott taking on hosting duties in his place.

Lineker made his return to BBC football coverage on Saturday evening as he presented coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley.

This was after he had been taken off air following an impartiality row with the BBC.

But he won’t be fronting the broadcaster’s coverage of Brighton vs Grimsby on Sunday afternoon due to illness.

In a tweet on Sunday morning, the BBC said: “Due to illness, we’ve got a line-up change for today’s live FA Cup coverage of Brighton v Grimsby on BBC One.

“As viewers will have noticed yesterday, Gary Lineker was struggling with his voice and unfortunately it has deteriorated overnight. Alex Scott will be hosting instead.”

On his return to the studio on Saturday, Lineker said: “Great to be here.”

Pundit Alan Shearer then told him: “I wanted to say how upset we were that audiences missed out on last weekend. It’s good to be talking football again.”

Lineker replied: “Absolutely echo those sentiments.”

This followed a tumultuous week for both Lineker and the BBC, which had seen the former footballer removed from his role as host of Match of the Day following comments he made regarding the government’s new immigration policy.

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