More than the Score

After months of uncertainty, and doubts over whether they would participate in the World Cup, Iran get under way against New Zealand in Los Angeles. The team has faced visa problems and had to relocate their base camp to Mexico. The BBC’s Mani Djazmi discusses the issues around the team and their participation with Shahin Rahmani, a former football journalist and editor in Iran, who for the last 2...

More Than The Score joins football fans across the United States as the hosts record a comfortable win in their World Cup opener against Paraguay. The United States joined co-hosts Mexico and Canada in hosting their first match of the tournament, recording a comfortable 4-1 victory at the Los Angeles Stadium. Lee James joins a watch along in a New York bar, while Isaac Fanin gauged the reaction of...

Last year, the Caribbean island nation of Curacao qualified for the Fifa men's World Cup for the first time in their history - led by 78-year-old manager Dick Advocaat. He's now set to become the oldest man to ever coach at the finals, when he leads Curacao out against four-time world champions Germany. That got us thinking about how much experience matters for coaches. Does having decades of know...

The BBC’s Lee James and John Bennett are in New York City, where they discover excitement for the World Cup 2026 is starting to build, albeit slowly, against the backdrop of the New York Knicks run in the NBA Finals. They reflect on Mexico winning their opening match before turning their attention to another of the co-hosts, Canada. We hear Lee’s extended interview with Jonathan Osorio. The midfie...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup gets underway with hosts Mexico taking on South Africa in the opening match at the iconic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Expected to play a crucial role is South Africa's captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, whose performances over the past two years have established him as one of Africa's leading players. He spoke to Isaac Fanin about the rise of African goalkeepers and...

USA, Canada and Mexico are co-hosting the biggest ever World Cup, but which nation will go furthest in the tournament? The BBC’s Mani Djazmi is joined by CONCACAF football expert Jon Arnold to assess the co-hosts chances. We also hear from Canada manager Jesse Marsch, Former USA captain Marcelo Balboa and Mexican journalist Ricardo Otero. Marsch tells us he believes his side can make history in a...

Uzbekistan are set to finally make their World Cup debut as an independent nation - after years of near misses. More than the Score's Mani Djazmi speaks to Jaloliddin Masharipov, a winger who's been part of the Uzbekistan team for more than a decade, about how the team is getting ready for its big moment, and their star player - Manchester City's Abdukodir Khusanov. Jaloliddin's also looking forwa...

Half a century on from Pele's infamous prophecy that an African nation would win the World Cup before the year 2000, could the continent finally deliver its first World Cup in 2026? The BBC’s Lee James is joined by the former Democratic Republic of Congo captain Gabriel Zakuani and the former Sierra Leone captain Steven Caulker to discuss the hopes of the ten African sides competing in the tournam...

The United States, Canada and Mexico will host the most prestigious football tournament in the world. The holders Argentina will start as one of the favourites along with the likes of Spain, France, and Brazil. There are also some new names with Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan competing in the finals for the first time ever. Lee James is joined by John Bennett, Isaac Fanin and Mani Djaz...

Sierra Leone striker Kei Kamara has announced his retirement from football aged 41, after a 20-year playing career that saw him go from child refugee to one of Major League Soccer’s most popular players. More than the Score’s Lee James hears his story, from memories of growing up amid civil war in Sierra Leone to a football career that took him all across the USA, as well as a spell in the Premier...

Figure skating was the social media hit of the Winter Olympics, with stars like Alyssa Liu becoming globally famous over the course of the Games. But it wasn't just the skaters going viral - fans' eyes were also drawn to Jordan Cowan, a cameraman in a sparkling white suit, who took to the ice after routines to capture the emotion and atmosphere like never before. Formerly a competitive skater hims...

The New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years after they swept aside the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. They'll face either defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder, or Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs, for the NBA title. The likes of Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, Anne Hathaway and Larry David are expected to take their seats on Madison Squar...

India will take part in the Unity Cup, an invitational four-nation tournament in London. Joining them will be Nigeria, Jamaica and Zimbabwe. The event, launched in 2002, is designed as a celebration of communities with a large diaspora in the city. Football in India has endured a difficult period, however. The Indian Super League was shortened after starting late. There's a lack of quality foreign...

Video assistant referees - or VAR - are among the most scrutinised figures in football. Decisions made using the technology have seemingly played huge roles in title races across Europe, and it once again looks set to be a major talking point at the upcoming men's World Cup. But what's it like to do the job itself? Back in November, John Bennett talked to the former referee Graham Scott, who spent...

New Zealander Scott Dixon has spent more than two decades as one of the biggest names in IndyCar racing. He's been crowned the overall IndyCar series champion six times, and, aged 45, is still one of the sport's leading drivers. His achievements in the US have made him a national hero in New Zealand - in 2025, he was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and he's twice been na...

Aaron Rai wasn't one of the favourites for this year's US PGA tournament - the second of the sport's four men's majors. But on the final day of the championship, the Englishman slowly emerged from a huge pack of contenders to top the leaderboard. Showing no nerves, he held off the likes of Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas to take his first major title, finishing three shots clear of the fi...

Welcome to Wrexham and Formula 1: Drive to Survive are among the wave of sporting reality TV shows that have become global hits over the past decade. They've also had a major influence on the teams and sports they feature, with Wrexham now targeting a place in the Premier League, while F1 has soared in popularity in markets such as the US. But why have behind-the-scenes shows like these become so...

Jada Tati was part of Namibia's junior inline hockey women's team, which beat the USA in 2022 to win the country’s first title at the World Skate Games. Inline hockey is similar to ice hockey, but played with roller skates rather than blades. Sophia Hartley is joined by BBC World Service Newsday presenter Isaac Fanin, who spoke to Jada about why she's since retired from the sport and how she's usi...

Spanish football manager Unai Emery has won four Europa League titles - can he win a fifth with Aston Villa? Emery led Sevilla to three Europa League titles in a row between 2014 and 2016 before winning it again with Villareal in 2021. So why is he so successful in European Football's second tier competition? As he prepares to lead a side in a 6th Europa League final, Delyth Lloyd is joined by the...

Last month, Madina Okot was picked 13th in the WNBA Draft - the earliest any Kenyan player has been selected in the competition's history. She was chosen by the Atlanta Dream after an impressive college career, even though she only took up basketball six years ago. She's also not had a straightforward route to the top level of the sport, with multiple rejections along the way, and faced a battle t...

Interim managers have played a big part in this Premier League season. Tottenham Hotspur’s decision to appoint Igor Tudor until the end of the campaign went badly wrong, with the Croatian sacked after just seven games. Calum McFarlane is set to lead Chelsea out for the FA Cup final, having been called up from his role as the club's under-23 manager following the sacking of Liam Rosenior. After bei...

Haiti has been a country in turmoil for more than a decade. A devastating earthquake triggered a humanitarian crisis in 2010, and many areas are under the control of violent criminal gangs. Its national football teams cannot currently play games at home - but this summer, the Haitian men's team will compete at the Fifa World Cup for the first time since 1974. Haiti also reached the finals of the w...

Russ Anber is one of the most distinguished names in boxing. In a career spanning more than 45 years as a trainer and cut-man, he's worked with some of the sport's biggest names, including heavyweight great Oleksandr Usyk, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Roy Jones Jr. He's also written a new memoir, Russ Anber: Unrivaled, in which he reflects on more than four decades of working in one of sport's most pres...

England fly-half Zoe Harrison says the introduction of smaller balls for this autumn's WXV Global Series is "the worst decision someone has ever made". Size 4.5 balls - about 3% smaller, but the same weight as a regulation size five - will be used for the tournament in September and October. Delyth Lloyd is also joined by the BBC’s Rugby reporter Sara Orchard and England World Cup winner Danielle...

Over the past three years, women's basketball has become one of the most watched and talked-about sports in the USA. Around 1.5 million viewers tuned in to this year's WNBA draft, where the Dallas Wings made Azzi Fudd the number one pick. However, much of the media coverage of the draft focused more on Fudd's relationship with the Wings' star player, Paige Bueckers, than on Fudd's attributes as a...