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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Bryant & Jacob Leeks

Gary Lineker shunned Vladimir Putin at World Cup draw and turned down Qatar invitation

Former England star Gary Lineker has revealed that he shunned Russian president Vladimir Putin at the draw for the 2018 World Cup.

That edition of the prestigious tournament was held in the eastern European country. Lineker was one of the conductors of the draw in Moscow in December 2017, with Cafu, Laurent Blanc and Fabio Cannavaro among the former stars who pulled the teams out of the hat.

As is usual for the draw for a World Cup, a number of dignitaries and politicians from the host country were in attendance. That included Putin, who has pushed through a range of laws targeting minorities in Russia, including the LGBT+ community.

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