Gary Lineker has received a payout of more than £1m after Goalhanger Podcasts, the company behind The Rest Is Football and The Rest Is History, more than doubled its annual profits.
The company reported a pre-tax profit of £9.8m for last year, up from £4.2m in 2024, according to its latest accounts filed at Companies House. It paid dividends of just over £5m to shareholders, compared with £36,000 for 2024.
Revenue rose to £37.8m, from £15.4m the year before. Cash in the business stood at almost £5m, broadly flat on the previous year.
In the accounts, Goalhanger said it had “exceeded its own expectations in audience reach, engagement and financial performance, establishing a strong foundation for future expansion”.
Advertising accounts for about two thirds of Goalhanger’s revenue, but the company has been growing its base of paying subscribers. That number more than doubled last year to 243,000, according to the accounts.
“The company’s partnerships with Spotify, YouTube and Apple have expanded our reach and we continue to work closely with platforms to understand how we can meet our audiences and advertisers where they are,” it said.
The company reported 667 million plays across audio and video last year from its 13 shows.
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Lineker with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, has more than seven million monthly streams, making it one of the most popular sports podcasts in the world. The Rest Is History, presented by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland, launched in 2020 and draws millions of downloads a month. The Rest Is Politics, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, launched in March 2022.
In December 2025, Goalhanger agreed a £14m deal with Netflix to stream a daily version of The Rest Is Football during this summer’s World Cup.
The arrangement has since been extended for two years to 2028, with new episodes running on Mondays and Fridays since August across the Premier League and Champions League seasons. The World Cup series, which ran for 40 days, appeared in Netflix’s daily top 10 chart every day of its run and reached number one in the UK.
The latest figures mark a further step up from the company’s earlier filings. In March 2025, Business Matters reported that Goalhanger had posted profits of £1.4m, with cash reserves then standing at £2.7m and staff numbers having risen from seven to 16. That report also noted that The Rest Is Football had recorded 19.6 million downloads during Euro 2024.
Companies House records show the company changed its accounting period, filing accounts for the year to 31 May 2024 and then for the period to 31 December 2024.
Lineker, 65, set up Goalhanger Podcasts in 2019 with Tony Pastor, the former ITV controller, and Jack Davenport, the former BBC executive.
Mminority stake in the business was sold to The Chernin Group, the American investment company, at the start of this year.
Lineker was the BBC’s highest-paid employee as presenter of Match of the Day until he left the programme in May last year.
