Refugee who lived with Gary Lineker at his £4m home shares heartfelt experience of his time with Match of the Day presenter

A refugee who Gary Lineker welcomed into his home has candidly shared his experience of living with the “friendly and open-minded” Match of the Day host.

Lineker recently made his sensational return to UK state broadcaster the BBC after a high-profile impartiality row over a tweet he sent criticising the Illegal Migration Bill.

The outspoken Match of the Day presenter hit out at Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s plans by ruthlessly slamming the “immeasurably cruel policy.”

Lineker also caused controversy with his tweet by claiming that the language used in the divisive policy was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ‘30s.”

The 62-year-old broadcaster has been a vocal champion for refugees and even provided a safe haven at his £4m Surrey home for one person who arrived from Pakistan.

Law student and human rights activist Rasheed Baluch came and lived with Lineker in 2020 thanks to the help of UK charity Refugees at Home.

Baluch was forced to leave his wife behind in Pakistan as he fled out of fear for his safety and was provided with a loving home by Lineker for 20 days while he studied his law course.

Speaking on his time with Lineker, Baluch revealed that the former England striker lived a “simple life” and “loved to listen” to him about his situation in his home country of Pakistan.

“He is friendly and open-minded. He loved to listen to me when I shared my story about the situation in my country and the plight of my people,” Baluch told The Daily Mirror.

“Gary was comfortable with my company and conversation. That’s why he listened to me attentively.

“Although Gary is a star, he leads a simple life. He is never proud of his status.

“He is a very sympathetic, caring and human-loving man. He gave me an Oyster card which contained £100 top-up for my transport to university.”

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• Gary Lineker’s first words as Match of the Day host are perfect ahead of BBC return
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Topics: Gary Lineker, Football

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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