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Episode details

World Service,01 Mar 2013,25 mins

The Adventures of Rudi Gutendorf

World Football

Available for over a year

FIFA's former Head of Security Chris Eaton accuses the sporting authorities - and various Governments around the world - of playing a game of 'pass-the-parcel' and failing to tackle match-fixing. He says FIFA is powerless to deal with the world of organised crime and explains how the Russian mafia are also involved. The German Rudi Gutendorf holds the record for coaching the most national teams (18). Now aged 86, he tells us how he helped to unite Rwanda after the Genocide, turned down a bribe to throw a match while coach of Nepal and how there was a player’s mutiny while he was at Hamburg following the decision to sign the unpopular ‘little English guy’ Kevin Keegan. Exactly two years after a deadly earthquake killed 185 people in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, we report on how football is still struggling to return to normality. And we speak to ‘Sleep Coach’ Nick Littlehales who has worked with Ryan Giggs, John Terry and Didier Drogba helping them find ways to get a good night’s sleep to improve performances on the pitch.

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