Gary Lineker will be front and centre of the BBC’s World Cup coverage in Qatar (Picture: PA Images Contributor/Press Association Images)

Gary Lineker was in cheerful spirits as he touched down in Qatar this weekend alongside his BBC co-presenters ahead of the World Cup. 

The Match of the Day host will be leading the BBC’s coverage of the football tournament, which has been plagued in controversy over Qatar’s human rights issues. 

However, Lineker, 63, clearly isn’t letting the mounting criticism dampen his spirits as he was all smiles while posing with his colleagues outside the stadium on Sunday, hours before the opening ceremony was due to take place. 

In a photo shared to his Twitter account, Gary is seen flashing a wide toothy smile with former Arsenal footballer Scott showing the peace sign in the background alongside an equally smiley Shearer and Williams. 

He captioned the post: ‘The clowns arriving at the stadium. @alanshearer @AlexScott Ashley Williams,’ alongside the clown emoji. 

Lineker recently questioned the foreign secretary who urged members of the LGBTQ+ community visiting Qatar for the World Cup to be ‘respectful’ to the host country. 

The BBC’s core team were all smiles as they arrived at the stadium (Picture: @garylineker, Twitter)

Lineker recently defended his choice to work on this year’s World Cup (Picture: ITV, Rex)

Former Arsenal footballer Alex Scott flashed a peace sign as she arrived for work (Picture: Getty Images)

Alan Shearer, who famously played for England, will be among the pundits this World Cup (Picture: Getty Images)

Former Everton footballer Ashley Williams has also flown over to Qatar (Picture: BBC)

Qatar has received immense criticism with human rights groups scrutinising the treatment of local workers and the country’s criminalisation of same-sex marriage. 

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly came under fire for advising LGBTQ+ football fans to show ‘a little bit of flex and compromise’ and to ‘respect the culture’ of Qatar while visiting for the sporting event. 

Lineker retweeted a post about Mr Cleverly’s comments and wrote: ‘Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message?’ 

When one of Linker’s followers commented: ‘The message is to respect Gary.. is it that hard to understand what’s wrong with ppl here,’ the former footballer replied: ‘By doing what?’ 

However, Lineker has since defended his choice to work at this year’s event, stating: ‘This is our job to come and report it and show people what it’s about at home and hopefully in a fair way.’

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They’ll be leading the BBC’s coverage alongside Alan Shearer and Ashley Williams.