Rio Ferdinand ‘Dropped By BBC’ For World Cup Clash As Pundit Replaced By Ashley Williams

Ferdinand has featured prominently for the BBC at the tournament and is now recognised as one of the recognisable British football pundits.

However, The Mail claim the BBC were forced to cut him from their coverage for the first game of the World Cup due to his links to Saudi Arabia amid fears they would be accused of hypocrisy when discussing Qatar’s human rights record.

The BBC’s coverage for the opener was dominated by political issues as Lineker shone a light on the ethical issues plaguing and overshadowing the tournament in the Middle East.

While the BBC reportedly deny Ferdinand was cut from their coverage, the report states that BBC executives decided to eliminate any chance of criticism by drafting in Williams in place of the former Manchester United centre-back.

Saudi Arabia is another country with a controversial human rights record and Ferdinand has spent time in the Middle Eastern nation as recently as last year.

He was a guest of the Ministry of Investment during the visit when he is understood to have attended a conference called Catalyse Saudi – designed to promote ‘investment opportunities in the kingdom’.

Ferdinand previously tweeted: “Just landed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia! The hospitality so far has been unreal! Just sorted a screening area for the England game later! #phew”

The BBC opted against showing the opening ceremony in Qatar, a call that was fiercely criticised by Piers Morgan amongst others.

He tweeted: “Outrageously disrespectful to Qatar that the BBC didn’t broadcast the World Cup opening ceremony and instead put out more virtue-signalling guff about how awful it is.

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“If they’re that appalled, they should bring home their vast army of employees & spare us this absurd hypocrisy.”

After the opening monologue, presenter Lineker later described the tournament as “the most controversial World Cup in history”.

The coverage also included a discussion centred around Qatar’s discriminatory LGBTQ+ laws.

Lineker later defended the BBC’s decision not to show the opening ceremony during their coverage following the backlash.

He tweeted: “It was shown live in its entirety on @BBCiplayer, BBC Sport website and red button. The timing of the opening ceremony was changed to an earlier time very recently and WSL was already confirmed on @bbcone. If you wanted to watch it, you could.”

A BBC statement later said: “Full build-up and coverage of the World Cup has been available across the BBC, including the opening ceremony on iPlayer.”

Argentina will face France or Morocco in Sunday’s final at the Lusail Stadium in Doha.