Betfair has launched a new World Cup fan engagement initiative featuring former England captain Alan Shearer.
The campaign, called Alan Shearer’s Hot Take Hotline, allows football fans to leave voicemail messages sharing opinions on topics including England’s World Cup prospects, Scotland’s tournament chances, team selections, VAR decisions and standout players.
Fans can submit messages by calling a dedicated freephone number from within the UK. According to Betfair, selected contributions will be reviewed by Shearer, who will respond to a number of them on a weekly basis throughout the tournament.
The initiative will run during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Shearer’s responses published across Betfair’s media channels.
As part of the launch, Betfair also presented a selection of fan-submitted opinions to Shearer, with the former striker providing his reactions ahead of the start of the tournament.
The campaign forms part of Betfair’s World Cup content and customer engagement activity surrounding the competition.
“One Premier League title in 18 years, and an eight-game managerial spell that ended in relegation shouldn’t qualify someone as a Premier League all-time great, should it?” was one spiky opinion put to Shearer this week.
“That’s one Premier League title more than you!” was the brutal response from the Betfair Ambassador.
Betfair Spokesperson James Mackie said: “When it comes to England at a World Cup, everyone and their nan has an opinion. At Betfair, we love to celebrate those big, bold takes that make football the beautiful game. So, we’ve launched Shearer’s Hot Take Hotline to give fans the opportunity to put their steaming opinions to an English football legend, and each week Alan will call it how it is.”
