The BBC has been forced to deny “categorically untrue” claims that Rio Ferdinand was dropped from the channel’s coverage of the World Cup in Qatar.
The former Manchester United and England defender has been a regular feature on a panel of experts throughout the tournament alongside the likes of Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and more. However, recent reports from Mail Online have claimed that the channel were forced to drop the 44-year-old for the opening match of the tournament between Qatar and Ecuador.
It was claimed that due to Ferdinand’s close association with Saudi Arabia, the channel was worried about being accused of hypocrisy. Their coverage of the tournament opened up with Lineker and a video montage condemning the human rights issues and concerns in Qatar in favour of the opening ceremony.
Due to the same concerns being prevalent in Middle East neighbours Saudi Arabia, there were worries that Ferdinand featuring would have seen the channel met with ethical issues. The defender was previously a guest of the Ministry of Investment in the country last year to promote ‘investment opportunities within the kingdom’.
As a result of this, the BBC elected to replace Ferdinand with former Wales defender Ashley Williams. However, the channel has now responded by hitting out at the claims.
A BBC spokesperson said: “This is categorically untrue. It was important to represent the home nations within the opening show and these were the key considerations for the line-up chosen, any suggestion otherwise is completely false.”
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It remains to be seen what pundits will be present with both France and Argentina set to clash in the World Cup Final on Sunday. The match will be broadcast live on both BBC and ITV.
Ahead of the showpiece in Qatar, Ferdinand has also told Argentina how they could exploit France’s weakness to win their first World Cup since 1986. Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: "If you look at France’s weakness, and there aren’t many of them, but their left side is an area of the pitch I thought opponents have been targeting.
"You look at it, a third of the chances they’ve conceded have come from that side of the pitch. This is unfortunate - [Lucas] Hernandez obviously gets a serious injury on this side but it’s become a common thing throughout the World Cup.
"Against Denmark, they immediately go for that side of the pitch - and one of the things I looked at and thought maybe that could be the reason is you’ve got Mbappe on that side of the pitch, maybe that gives licence to stay higher up the pitch.
"But that puts pressure on that side of the pitch. Against England, [Bukayo] Saka and [Harry] Kane caused a mistake and this was the foul for the penalty that never was."
