Soccer - Lineker keeps promise by baring almost all on TV

LONDON (Reuters) - Former England striker Gary Lineker kept a long-standing promise to present BBC's Match of the Day programme in his underpants on Saturday. With co-presenters Alan Shearer and Ian Wright giggling in the background, a straight-faced Lineker introduced the first show of the new Premier League season sporting only a pair of white boxer shorts emblazoned with the club badge of Leicester City. The 55-year-old had vowed on Twitter to shed most of his clothes for the show if Leicester, the team he supports, won the league title last season. Claudio Ranieri's 5,000-1 outsiders went on to finish 10 points clear of second-placed Arsenal. "It is a one-off and a sporting miracle that has landed me in my underwear," Lineker told www.bbc.co.uk "When I tweeted that silly bet back in December, I categorically knew there was zero chance of Leicester winning the league. Zero chance. It happened but it was magical, it was great." The new season did not start quite so well for Ranieri's men on Saturday as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at promoted Hull City. Cheeky Lineker stayed in his underwear as Shearer and Wright analysed Leicester's opening-day defeat but as the programme moved on to the second match, he told viewers: "Enough of this nonsense, I'm going to get dressed". Lineker scored 95 goals in 187 league starts for Leicester between 1978 and 1985 before leaving his first club for spells at Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur. The prolific marksman also netted 48 times in 80 appearances for England. (Writing by Tony Jimenez, editing by Susanna Twidale)