7 Biggest Scandals in Sports History; From Tiger Woods’ Mistresses to Russia’s Doping, Maradona’s Hand of God

Allegations that Barcelona might have paid referees in the past have rocked the sports world, with the Spanish giants currently under investigation over their dealings with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the then vice-president of the referees' committee.

So serious are the charges that UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has called it 'the worst he has ever seen.' The Blaugrana's current President, Joan Laporta, has maintained the club's innocence.

As Laporta continues to trade words with La Liga President Javier Tebas, Sports Brief takes a look at some of the worst scandals in sports history. Kindly note that this list is by no means exhaustive, as the term scandal is subjective. And there have been lots of them.

1. Nelson Piquet

If you have watched Formula 1 long enough, you will know cars crashing is as common as Bruno Fernandes complaining about a referee's decisions.

But when a player crashes intentionally to aid his teammate, it goes against the dictates of sportsmanship. Piquet was accused of crashing deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help Fernando Alonso win the race. Both were teammates at Renault.

The scandal was later known as the crashgate scandal, with Piquet admitting that he was asked to crash his car. Alonso won the race.

2. Tiger Woods

The Gold legend has had extreme highs and lows even as he chases a 16th major at the 2023 Masters. Woods was involved in an accident in 2009 as he reportedly ran away from his incensed wife, Elin Nordegren, who had uncovered his cheating patterns.

12 women later came out claiming they had had an affair with Woods, with the five-time Masters champion admitting his fault and publicly apologising to his family. He divorced his wife, and many have argued that he has never hit top form again despite winning the 2019 Masters.

3. Hand of God

Diego Maradona produced one of the most scandalous moments in football during the 1986 World Cup. Maradona led an Argentina squad against England in the quarterfinals.

He scored with his hand, with Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser failing to spot it. With no VAR those days, the goal stood as Argentina went all the way. Maradona christened it the 'hand of God.'

4. Qatar World Cup

Sticking with World Cup, Netflix released its explosive docu-series that reportedly lifts the lid on widespread and systemic corruption in the world governing body for football, FIFA.

Titled FIFA Uncovered, Sports Brief reports that the four-part docu-series sought opinions of whistleblowers, experts and former and current officials of FIFA.

Thomas Tuchel explains how he was sacked by Chelsea as he begins his new role

Football

Though no official inquiry has ever been made, the whistleblowers showed how top FIFA officials failed to follow due processes in the awarding of major FIFA competitions.

5. Calciopoli scandal

The Calciopoli scandal threatened to bring Italian football to its knees in 2005 after a number of clubs were found to be complicit in corrupt activities that involved paying off the referees.

Juventus bore the brunt of the investigation after they were stripped of the 2004/2005 title and relegated to Serie B. Bizarrely enough, Italy won the 2006 World Cup, beating France on post-match penalties with 8 Juventus players playing in the final.

6. Russia doping menace

The Russian athletic industry collapsed in 2016 after Dr Grigory Rodchenkov revealed how the government was involved in doping in an intricate web of deception and fraud.

Russia was subsequently banned from all major events, including the Olympics, by World Anti-Doping Agency. The state-sponsored menace saw the country stripped of 48 gold medals it had won in previous competitions.

This ban has since been lifted but Russia remains suspended due to the Ukraine invasion.

7. Kerrigan and Harding

Let's put this in perspective. Imagine Lionel Messi sending goons to attack Lionel Messi or Michael Johnson giving instructions for LeBron James' to be hurt(if they played in the same era, that is).

This is precisely what happened after Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in 1994. Kerrigan and Tonya Hardi ng had this ice skating rivalry in the 90s. It appears that Harding felt threatened that she organised for Kerrigan to be attacked.

In the attack carried out by a man hired by Harding's ex-husband, Kerrigan was assaulted by a metal pole on her left thigh just before the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

In a sweet example of revenge, Kerrigan recovered and defeated Harding in the next Olympics by placing second to Harding's eighth. Karma works!

Harding later admitted complicity. We had a replica of this situation in 2021 after PSG Women's Aminata Diallo was accused of plotting an attack that injured her teammate, Kheira Hamraoui.