Sport's Strangest Crimes

Clare Balding tells the story of how a shocking act of violence altered sporting history, and how a visionary tennis champion fought to find her way back to the life she once had

Former referees and a FIFA insider: can the USA ‘94 conspiracy theory floated by the Iraqi Football Federation over 30 years ago finally be explained? James travels to Cologne to retrace the steps of England’s failed 1993 World Cup qualifying campaign under Graham Taylor. Could Taylor’s men really have been caught up in the same plot? If anyone will know it’s the men in black who held the whistles at the time and those working inside FIFA’s glass-walled offices who are now ready to talk.
Presented by James Montague
Written by Ben Wyatt and Emma Weatherill
Production co-ordinator: Juliette Harvey
Production manager: Debbie Waddell
Development Executive: Emma Shaw
Executive Producers: Ben Wyatt, Emma Weatherill and Joe Kent
Sound Design and Composition: Melvin Rickarby
Assistant Commissioner: Rob Green
Commissioning Executive: Stevie Middleton
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

Patronage and power: lessons from an Italian footballing scandal. From the pitch of the San Siro to a pre-dawn FBI raid of a luxury hotel in Geneva, James gathers a new understanding of the mechanics of football-match manipulation, in a way that makes him question a footballing scar from the past that has remained close to his own heart.
Presented by James Montague
Written by Ben Wyatt and Emma Weatherill
Production co-ordinator: Juliette Harvey
Production manager: Debbie Waddell
Development Executive: Emma Shaw
Executive Producers: Ben Wyatt, Emma Weatherill and Joe Kent
Sound Design and Composition: Melvin Rickarby
Assistant Commissioner: Rob Green
Commissioning Executive: Stevie Middleton
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

As the FIFA draw takes place in Washington DC and the great and the good of the footballing world convene in the US capital, spies come out of the woodwork to speak to James. Former CIA operatives and military intelligence aficionados spill their beans, but could the ex-CEO of USA ‘94 have the most intriguing lead?
Presented by James Montague
Written by Ben Wyatt and Emma Weatherill
Production co-ordinator: Juliette Harvey
Production manager: Debbie Waddell
Development Executive: Emma Shaw
Executive Producers: Ben Wyatt, Emma Weatherill and Joe Kent
Sound Design and Composition: Melvin Rickarby
Assistant Commissioner: Rob Green
Commissioning Executive: Stevie Middleton
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

World Cup qualifiers return to Doha in 2025, and so does football conspiracy, but can James see through the controversy to get to the bottom of what happened on similar pitches over thirty years ago?
Presented by James Montague
Written by Ben Wyatt and Emma Weatherill
Production co-ordinator: Juliette Harvey
Production manager: Debbie Waddell
Development Executive: Emma Shaw
Executive Producers: Ben Wyatt, Emma Weatherill and Joe Kent
Sound Design and Composition: Melvin Rickarby
Assistant Commissioner: Rob Green
Commissioning Executive: Stevie Middleton
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.