Sport's Strangest Crimes

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.

The world of spies and sports collide as James speaks to security specialists and those who lived to tell the tale about rumours of America’s shadowy past. From claims of secret mass surveillance of the Olympic Games, both home and abroad, to the curious World Cup interests of Henry Kissinger.

But what does it all mean for the conspiracy theory he’s trying to make sense of, the claim that America influenced a World Cup qualifying tournament to protect USA ‘94?
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.

A political powder-keg World Cup qualifying tournament held in Doha. American security on the line. James tries to make sense of what went down in the desert shadows.
Thirty years on he reviews the matches, looking for clues about why the conspiracy persists, and hears what it was like to play for Iraq in the 1990s under the whip of Uday Hussein - Saddam’s son.
Presented by James Montgaue
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 Weathrill 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.

Can an ex-referee with a cryptic message help James unravel an explosive conspiracy about the build-up to World Cup USA 1994?
James travels to Bucharest to find out more …
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.
ARCHIVE:
AP Archive - Iraqi football team celebrates Asia Cup victory - (Aug, 2007)
Firstpost America -FirstPost Live TV - Iraq’s World Cup 2026 qualification - (March, 2026)
White House Communications Agency - Clinton’s USA ‘94 opening speech - (July 1994)
Spitting Image Productions - The Mary Whitehouse Experience World Cup skit anticipating America as hosts - (Oct, 1990)
Los Angeles Times - Uncle Sam’s Visas? Not for Iraq, Iran : World Cup: Both fail to qualify, alleviating fears of U.S. officials over possibility of political terrorism - (Oct, 1993)
CSPAN - Trump announces World Cup taskforce alongside Infantino - (March, 2025)

Conspiracy theories and the football World Cup seem to go hand in hand.

Football writer James Montague is digging into one that refuses to fade; a story that takes us back to the first time America hosted the men's football World Cup..

Did the US influence a qualifying tournament to keep its enemies Iraq, Iran and North Korea from playing at USA ‘94? It’s a conspiracy theory put forward by the Iraqi football federation over thirty years ago and one that’s obsessed football writer James Montague for over a decade.