Germany were stunned 1-0 by Mexico in the opening game of their World Cup defence on Sunday as Hirving Lozano finished off a sharp counter-attack that exposed the ragged defending that the four-times winners had displayed in their warm-up games.
Angel Di Maria has claimed his former club Real Madrid put pressure on Argentina not to play him in the World Cup final in another bitter chapter in his departure from the Spanish giants.
Mats Hummels scored with a header in the 14th minute to give Germany a 1-0 victory over France in the first quarter-final of the World Cup at the Maracana, in Brazil, on Friday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Dressed as a mermaid with shells covering his nipples, Brazilian Murilo Sousa voiced hope that the record number of openly gay athletes at the Rio Games would boost acceptance in his South American nation, amid a backlash over same-sex marriage.
There was ecstasy and agony in equal measure for the Indian contingent on Friday.
Bayern Munich had to put their Bundesliga title celebrations on hold on Saturday after beating gutsy Mainz 05 2-0 while Borussia Dortmund also won, 3-0 at Hanover 96.
JD(S) will help them build a competing app, which, will work on a cooperative model, where drivers will own the app and will decide prices which the customers will have to pay
Czech Republic's Tomas Necid scored a stoppage-time penalty as they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Croatia in a dramatic Euro 2016 Group D encounter on Friday that was interrupted due to flares thrown on the pitch. With Croatia captain Dario Srna in tears during the national anthem having returned from the funeral of his father earlier in the week, the Croatians swarmed all over the Czechs from the first whistle, with Perisic opening the scoring in the 37th minute to lead at halftime.
'The phenomenal Max Verstappen was both sloppy and superb in Germany, getting caught out during the first two starts, and even spinning his car around to give the crowd something to gasp at with a Batmobile-esque 360 degree turn. 'After Hamilton crashed and Verstappen sniffed victory, though, he pounced hard, put his foot down, and took a deserved race win,' says Rediff's F1 columnist Raja Sen.
Atletico Madrid reached the Champions League final on away goals on Tuesday after a 2-1 defeat at Bayern Munich, in which both sides missed a penalty, with the exhilarating tie finishing 2-2 on aggregate.
Here's a collection of some of the best photos, taken last week, from around the globe.
Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday
Germany eased into the Confederations Cup semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Cameroon on Sunday as the VAR system was again thrust into the spotlight when the on-field official needed two reviews of an incident to reach the right verdict.
20 shades of unusual buildings and homes around the world.
A brilliant performance from Angel Di Maria spurred Argentina to a crushing 4-2 friendly win over world champions Germany on Wednesday in an entertaining rematch of July's World Cup final.
Manchester United took over at the top of the Premier League while Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi could be out for up to two months with a knee injury and rampant Bayern Munich extended their perfect start to seven league wins.
World champions Germany will not be present at the Euro 2016 final in Paris after being knocked out by hosts France 0-2 at Marseille. French football fans painted the town red, white and blue after Antoine Griezmann scored twice to take his country within a striking distance from European glory. The Les Blues will now face Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in the final at Paris.
Portugal's Nani is poised to make his 99th appearance for his country in a crunch clash with Hungary on Wednesday and has been an automatic choice for the Selecao for a decade, yet there is a feeling the forward has not fulfilled his dazzling potential. Nani, blessed with searing pace, mesmerisingly quick feet and more tricks than a children's entertainer, will turn 30 in November and Euro 2016 could give the Fenerbahce star the platform for a transfer back to one of Europe's elite leagues. Scorer of Portugal's sole goal at the tournament - a neat finish in a 1-1 draw with Iceland - Nani has so far outperformed his captain and former Manchester United team mate Cristiano Ronaldo although he should have added to his tally of 18 international goals in Saturday's stalemate against Austria.
A round-up of all the results from the 16th World Athletic Championships in London
Real Madrid produced a gutsy performance to earn a 1-0 win at Sevilla, on Sunday, which took them level on points at the top of La Liga
English clubs took their spending on players for the season soaring past 1 billion pounds on Monday, but the biggest signing on transfer deadline day was that of a manager as Manchester City confirmed Pep Guardiola will take over this summer.
Rediff.com's Manu Shankar had the privilege to visit the Mandela House in 2010. He recollects his experience.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Hot favourite Caster Semenya qualified for the women's 800metres semi-finals at the Rio Olympics with supreme ease on Wednesday and will no doubt be braced for another wave of discussions about her gender should she go on to take the gold medal on Saturday.
Alexandre Lacazette's free-kick sent Arsenal into the Europa League semi-finals with a comfortable 1-0 win away over Napoli, while Chelsea beat Slavia Prague 4-3 in a roller-coaster game, helped by a Pedro brace.
In the absence of a coach, Indian javelin thrower Davinder Singh Kang was forced to take tips from a competitor 'friend' from Sri Lanka during his qualification round at the World Championships in London.
Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus consolidated their top-flight leads at the weekend while Paris St Germain proved too strong for Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Marseille.
Cristiano Ronaldo finally became the highest scorer in Real Madrid's history while Bayern Munich set a record for the greatest number of successive wins at the start of a season in the Bundesliga this weekend.
The fate of Sunday's intriguing European Championship final between France and Portugal weighs largely on two men wearing the number seven shirt, one already at the top of the game and the other one getting there fast.
When UEFA decided eight years ago to expand the European Championship from 16 to 24 teams, its then president Michel Platini promised the standard of the tournament would not drop.
Mariya Kuchina won thewomen's high jump with a clearance of 2.01 metres on Saturday to become Russia's second gold medallist at this world championships. The 22-year-old from Moscow had a blemish-free card to that height, her lifetime best performance.
France striker Olivier Giroud ended a run of 10 international games without a goal by netting a stunning winner as the world champions claimed a deserved 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in their Nations League clash on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp enjoyed a satisfying return to Borussia Dortmund as his new side frustrated his former charges and claimed a valuable away goal to draw 1-1 in their Europa League quarter-final, first leg on Thursday.
As the countdown to 2018 starts, it's time to rewind those moments in sport that stood out this year.
Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world
About 41,000 rooms are being provided for the Games and any failure to have them ready in time would be a potential blow to President Vladimir Putin's hopes that the Winter Olympics will show how far Russia has come since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.