Netflix keeps The Rest Is Football on the pitch for league season
Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards will front two weekly Netflix episodes during the coming Premier League campaign.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Netflix is keeping The Rest Is Football in its lineup after testing the Gary Lineker-fronted show as a daily World Cup vodcast.
Deadline reported that the streamer has ordered the football analysis show for a full Premier League season beginning next month. The new run is set to publish two episodes a week, with installments scheduled for Mondays and Fridays.
The move follows Netflix’s World Cup run with the Goalhanger Entertainment podcast, which the platform carried every day through the tournament. The World Cup ended last night with Spain winning the final, according to Deadline.
Lineker hosts The Rest Is Football with former players Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. The show has also featured guests, including Gordon Ramsay in a recent appearance, Deadline reported.
The podcast sits inside Goalhanger Entertainment’s wider “The Rest Is...” slate, alongside titles including The Rest Is Politics and The Rest Is History. Goalhanger was co-founded by Lineker.
From World Cup studio to Premier League schedule
For the World Cup, The Rest Is Football was filmed from a studio in Times Square, according to Deadline. The report said Lineker joked that the setup was one of the perks of moving on from the BBC, whose World Cup coverage came from Salford in the UK.
Lineker is a former host of the BBC’s Match of the Day. Deadline previously reported that he left the BBC after sharing an Instagram video that contained an antisemitic trope.
The Netflix pickup makes The Rest Is Football the streamer’s first daily sports show, according to Deadline, though the Premier League version will shift to a twice-weekly rhythm rather than the daily World Cup schedule.
Ratings picture was modest
Deadline reported that the World Cup episodes were well received on Netflix, but did not become a major ratings breakout. The outlet said Netflix executives had already signaled that the show was not expected to deliver blockbuster viewing figures.
The best-performing episode is currently 40th on Netflix’s most-watched list in the UK for the past seven days, with about 170,000 views, according to Deadline. That placed it behind the BBC’s Football Daily podcast in the same market, the report said.
The renewal comes as Netflix continues to add sports programming around its entertainment slate. Deadline reported that the platform recently released a batch of sports documentaries, including projects on Jose Mourinho, Tyson Fury and Jamie Vardy.
For football fans, the practical takeaway is clear: Lineker, Shearer and Richards will be back in Netflix’s lineup when the Premier League returns, with a Monday and Friday appointment across the season.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.