Manchester City failed in an audacious transfer deadline day move for Leicester City midfielder Riyadh Mahrez, British media reported on Wednesday.
Sweden missed the influence of captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was resting a sore calf muscle, as they struggled to create chances in a dull 0-0 draw with Slovenia in their penultimate Euro 2016 warm-up in Malmo on Monday.
Schalke 04 are hoping their freshly-found discipline under new coach Roberto Di Matteo, coupled with his Champions League pedigree will help them beat Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday for their first win in the competition this season.
Centre-back Eric Abidal and midfielder Samir Nasri were missing when France coach Didier Deschamps named a 24-man squad on Thursday for next week's friendly against the Netherlands.
Ahead of the UEFA Champions League proper, which kicks-off next month, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com tells football fans what to expect in this year's competition.
Tottenham Hotspur sacked coach Andre Villas-Boas on Monday, a day after the London club were thrashed 5-0 at home by Liverpool, the Premier League club said on their website (www.tottenhamhotspur.com).
Centre forward Eder, who scored the winning goal in the Euro 2016 final against France, was among 10 players from that squad omitted from Santos's list. Other unlucky players included midfielders Andre Gomes and Renato Sanches, forward Nani and defender Eliseu.
Bosnia beat Iran 3-1 in their Group F finale on Wednesday to record their first World Cup win and deny the West Asians any chance of reaching the knockout stage.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Arsenal will face manager Arsene Wenger's former club Monaco with defending champions Real Madrid pitted against German club Schalke.
Photos from the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg match played between Benfica and Zenit St Petersburg at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon on Tuesday
Juve forward Cristiano Ronaldo had an unusually quiet game after scoring a hat-trick against Atletico in last year's competition, although he came within inches of grabbing a last-gasp winner when he sent a shot just past the far post.
Bayern Munich have all but secured their third consecutive Bundesliga title and victory over Hertha Berlin could see them clinch it as early as this weekend.
Barca made a slow start to the campaign under their new coach but after beating Paris Saint Germain in the quarter-finals they are on course to repeat the treble success.
As India's Dattu Bhokanal will be competing in the men's singles sculls rowing event fat the Rio 2016 Olympics, on Saturday, here is a beginner's guide.
Atletico Madrid's Jackson Martinez scored his first goal for the club when he came off the bench and curled in a superb effort to seal a hard-fought 3-0 victory at Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
The largest athlete's village in the history of the Games is a visceral monument to now-faded optimism. Planned when Brazil was booming, its harnessing of private sector wealth was meant to set the gold standard for a sustainable Olympics. Instead, the worst recession in generations pushed the luxury apartments out of reach.
The 25-year-old striker, who stands 1.76 metres tall, caught the eye on the big stage against Germany, driving home a penalty at the end of the first half before poking in the ball on 72 minutes following a rare blunder by Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Factbox on Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who became his country's all-time top goalscorer on Tuesday when he scored his 55th international goal.
If, as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said, a week is a long time in politics, four and a half months in football clearly represents an eternity.
Mbappe struck in the 74th minute to put PSG on 80 points from 29 games and on the brink of retaining the title with second-placed Lille, who beat Nantes 3-2 away earlier on Sunday, still 20 points behind having played a game more.
Manchester United were denied by a spirited Stoke City performance as Joe Allen pounced late to secure the visitors their first point at Old Trafford since 1989 in a deserved 1-1 Premier League draw.
Photos from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday.
Chelsea coach Antonio Conte declared himself 'a serial winner' after leading his side to a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup final on Saturday and said it was up to the club to decide whether to fire him.
With most Manchester United fans praying for much-needed defensive reinforcements, manager Louis van Gaal made a surprise deadline-day swoop for flamboyant Colombian striker Radamel Falcao on Monday.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is eager to build his team around midfielder Paul Pogba despite media speculation linking the French World Cup winner with a move away from Old Trafford.
Bayern Munich will not only have to overturn a 3-0 Champions League semi-final first leg deficit against Barcelona on Tuesday but they will have to do it against a superb defence and in the midst of their biggest slump in years.
Chelsea's 2-1 defeat at surprise league leaders Leicester City on Monday, their ninth loss in 16 league games since the start of a season that has gone spectacularly wrong, proved to be the final straw.
Leicester's EPL title credentials on show against champions Chelsea.
Benfica's Oscar Cardozo scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 extra-time win over Lisbon rivals Sporting in the Portuguese Cup last 32 on Saturday with Luisao grabbing the winner after a blunder by visiting keeper Rui Patricio.
The shadow of their disappointing 2014 World Cup campaign still hangs over Spain as they prepare to defend their European Championship crown in France next month, according to coach Vicente del Bosque.
Thirty-two countries, ranging from Finland and Sweden to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and Kazakhstan, have declared interest in hosting matches at Euro 2020 which will be staged across the continent.
A summary of Tuesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Hegerberg hat-trick fires Lyon to fourth straight Champions League
Manchester United ended their one-year Champions League hiatus in emphatic style when Wayne Rooney struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 destruction of Club Bruges that sent the three-times winners through 7-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.
This and more from the happenings in the world of football
A summary of Tuesday's group matches in the UEFA Champions League.
An Aaron Ramsey strike and a Kalidou Koulibaly own goal gave Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final, while Chelsea beat a stubborn Slavia Prague 1-0.
As the mercurial Messi rings in his 28th birthday, Rediff.com brings you all the exciting moments from the ace footballer's life.
