The French in 2002, Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014 and Germany in 2018 all followed their stuttering starts as champions by bombing out in the group stage.
A summary of Wednesday's action in the Champions League quarter-finals first leg.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Lionel Messi's fifth-place finish in this year's Ballon d'Or vote was absurd, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said of the Spanish champions' Argentina forward on Tuesday.
Martinez's team face the 1998 World Cup winners in St Petersburg on Tuesday for a place in the final
Featuring Neymar, Coutinho, Dembele, Pogba, Bale...
Monaco swept into the Champions League quarter-finals and left Manchester City to pick up the pieces of another failed European campaign after a 3-1 victory on Wednesday sent them through on away goals.
Novak Djokovic claimed a record-breaking 23rd men's singles Grand Slam title when he beat Norway's Casper Ruud 7-6(1) 6-3 7-5 in the French Open final.
The French fans will be largely outnumbered by the Morocco supporters
Messi was three ahead of nearest rival Kylian Mbappe, who scored 33 times for Paris St Germain as they won France's Ligue 1.
Brazilian soccer great Pele said on Saturday he was "strong" and grateful for the widespread support he has been receiving after being hospitalized in Sao Paulo earlier this week as he battles colon cancer.
Les Bleus, who face Poland in the last 16 on Sunday, underperformed at the Education City stadium and only after Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele came off the bench did they pose any threat.
France overwhelmed Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup final at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium on Sunday to lift the trophy for the second time in 20 years.
Lionel Messi's second-half goal gave Argentina a 1-0 home win over Ecuador on Thursday to get their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign off on the right foot.
A new chapter in the celebrated rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will unfurl on Thursday when they meet in an exhibition match as the Portugal forward gears up for his first game in Saudi Arabia since joining Al Nassr.
Inter Milan got a crucial 1-0 win at Juventus on Sunday
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain became the second England international to leave Arsenal in two days when he joined Premier League rivals Liverpool for a reported 40 million pounds on Thursday.
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday
Brazil return to winning ways with dreary win over Ecuador in their World Cup qualifiers.
IMAGES from the UEFA Nations League matches played on Monday.
"Our parents talked to us about Maradona, and we will talk to our sons about Messi. We hope that we will win the cup, and we can celebrate with him and all the people in Argentina," said Nicolas Gomez, a fan from Argentina.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Alvaro Morata scored a brace to help Atletico Madrid deliver a statement performance as they outclassed city rivals Real Madrid.
Didier Deschamps has tough choices to make ahead of his young team's World Cup opener against Australia and the experienced Olivier Giroud could find himself on the bench.
'We're going to have time to talk in the future but any big player in the world will always be welcome at PSG.'
Real Madrid fought back from two goals down as Vinicius Jr grabbed a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-2 win over visitors Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
A record audience of more than 3.5 billion people watched this year's World Cup in Russia, with the final between France and Croatia attracting 1.12 billion viewers, world soccer's governing body said on Friday.
The Germans were desperate to impress in front of a home crowd to make amends for their shock 2018 World Cup first-round exit, but instead they rarely broke through the French rearguard.
Bayern Munich won its sixth Champions League crown in Lisbon on Sunday night.
PSG's big buy has been left out squad for the Ligue 1 match against Brest.
IMAGES from the FIFA World Cup first semi-final played between France and Belgium on Tuesday
The Brazilian is likely to make his first appearance of the season for the Ligue 1 leaders at home against Racing Strasbourg on Saturday.
Arsenal have signed forward Nicolas Pepe from French club Lille for a club-record fee, the Premier League side said on Thursday.
Playing in front of defenders, for much of his career Kante's abilities had gone unnoticed given that as recently as 2013 he was playing in France's second division.
The storyline underpinning the match for most of the world is whether Lionel Messi can get his hands on the trophy in his fifth attempt to finally lift himself up alongside, never above, Diego Maradona in the hearts of his nation.
France was always among the favourites but an underwhelming set of warm-ups plus a timid start suggested their reputation rang louder than reality
Karim Benzema fired Real Madrid to a 1-0 win in the city derby against Atletico Madrid on Saturday which underlined Real's La Liga title credentials. Bayern Munich scored three goals in the opening 26 minutes to defeat Mainz 05 3-1 away on Saturday and go two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with their sixth straight win.
Playing at the Parc des Princes against the team who denied them the title last year was the perfect occasion for PSG, owned by big-spenders Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, to wrap up their fifth title in the Qatari era.
Having won eight of the past 12 league titles coming into this campaign, where has it gone so wrong for Barcelona?
The Brazilian, the only player to claim three World Cup winner's medals and a man often called the greatest footballer of all time, said all monies raised will help Brazil's fight against and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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