Match of the Day host and England football legend Gary Lineker was in sparkling form at The Wharf in Teddington on Thursday night for the latest SporTedd fund-raising event, which raised over £5,000 for local sports causes across the Richmond borough.

The community based organisation hosts regular fundraisers with tennis favourite Tim Henman and former F1 champion Damon Hill amongst the previous stars to have attended.

SporTedd's latest offering, Lineker, who will be leading the BBC's coverage of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, told the sell-out dinner about his high hopes for Gareth Southgate's team in the tournament and his respect for 'world class' Spurs striker Harry Kane. He did however reveal that South American teams like Brazil and Argentina, with the 'best player in the world' Lionel Messi, would do well in Doha.

Alison Kervin OBE, the award-winning newspaper sports editor, questioned Gary about his broadcast career including his massive twitter following – 8.6 million followers, which is the population of Serbia - and the highlights of his footballing years.

The former Barcelona, Spurs and Leicester City striker also regaled the audience with hilarious stories of playing alongside Paul Gascoigne and playing in the World Cup under manager Bobby Robson, whilst also joking about never having received a yellow or red card in his 16-year career because he 'never tackled anyone.'

He also answered questions from the guests including whether he had considered signing up for reality TV shows like I'm a Celebrity and Strictly, and also revealed he was deeply involved in the business of producing podcasts including The Rest is Politics with Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell. 

Towards the end of the evening Lineker agreed to sign the two boxes of Walkers Crisps raffle prizes won by Simon Herrick and Jo Nash and a giant cardboard cut-out of himself for winner Elizabeth Cobb. The evening raised over £5,000.

SporTedd guest Gary Lineker had an emotional meeting with his cardboard cut-out.

Addressing those in attendance, SporTedd's Chair, Stuart Higgins, explained the organisation has donated over £53,000 to almost 50 sports-themed projects across the Richmond Borough and the fundraiser's next event to take place will be on February 7th 2023 which will feature former Wimbledon and Question of Sport presenter, Sue Barker.

If you are aware of a local sports organisation who could benefit from SporTedd's funding, or you would like to find out more regarding becoming a member, visit their site here.