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Gary Lineker reveals he can remember ‘hardly any’ of his career goals, and admits his memory loss ‘worries me a little bit’ amid recent evidence linking dementia with heading the ball in football
- Gary Lineker was a prolific goalscorer for club and country during his career
- He has now revealed that he cannot remember many of the goals he scored
- Lineker has admitted he is worried about forgetting the goals he netted
- His comments come amid evidence linking dementia with heading the ball
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Gary Lineker has claimed that he can hardly remember any of the goals he scored during his playing career, and has admitted that he is concerned by his memory loss.
The Match of the Day presenter was a prolific goalscorer throughout his 16-year career, and his total of 48 international goals puts him fourth on the all-time list for England’s men’s team.
However, Lineker has revealed that he has trouble with reflecting on the goals that he scored.
Gary Lineker has said he has difficulty with remembering many of the goals from his career
When asked how many goals he remembered during An Evening with Gary Lineker at London’s Design Museum, the former Barcelona and Tottenham striker said: ‘Hardly any’.
He added that the issue had made him ask himself: ‘What’s wrong with me?’
Having scored almost 300 goals for club and country, some fans may find it hard to believe that Lineker struggles to remember any of them.
Yet the 61-year-old provided an example to prove his point during the event in the capital on Saturday night.
‘I’m not joking. I’m genuine and it worries me a little bit,’ Lineker continued.
‘But I’ve always been like that. I was at Atletico Madrid’s ground recently.
‘Someone said, “Did you score here?”
‘I went “I don’t think so”, and he went, “You scored five goals in this ground.”
‘I was deeply worried. What’s wrong with me? This has been the same for 20-odd years.’
The Match of the Day presenter admits he is ‘deeply worried’ by his memory loss
Lineker’s revelation comes following research which revealed that ex-footballers are over three times more likely to get dementia than members of the general public.
It is believed that this is likely caused by regularly heading the ball.
Sportsmail launched a campaign last November calling for greater care to be given to former footballers with dementia.
The FA have since moved to reduce heading in football at a young age. The governing body announced a trial last month to stop children under 12 heading the ball.
If the trial is successful, heading could be banned completely for Under-12s in the next two years.