Laporta, whose first spell in charge between 2003 and 2010 garnered unprecedented success, announced his candidacy for a second term on Monday.
A summary of Thursday's World Cup qualifiers.
The next 12 months will see many world cinema heavyweights unveiling exciting new films.
Rediff.com brings you a wrap of big stories in pictures with the Best Sports Photos of the Week.
Messi's love for Barcelona, who he joined when he was just 13, is deep.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A frustrated Lionel Messi said he is tired of being blamed for problems at Barcelona after he was accused by Antoine Griezmann's former agent of making life difficult for the French striker at the La Liga club.
Order of play on the main show courts at the French Open.
Dutchwoman Celine van Duijn was the surprise winner of the 10m platform title at the European Championships on Wednesday, holding her nerve while the favourites disappointed.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called for his successor, Gianni Infantino, to be suspended by the global soccer body after criminal proceedings were opened against Infantino in Switzerland. Swiss authorities said on Thursday that proceedings had been launched against the current FIFA boss by a special prosecutor looking into meetings he had with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
Images from Day 7 of the 2022 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Saturday.
Xisca is a supremely private person, so much so that she is not on social media. She does not discuss her relationship with her family either.
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.
The mohalla committee movement in Mumbai celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The movement, which was born in the wake of the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-1993, has played an important role in ensuring that Hindu-Muslim riots do not recur in the Maximum City.
Naomi Osaka's total is the most ever earned by a female athlete in a 12-month period.
'Maria will look at it and see no one dominant. Serena Williams is the only player in the past who has been like a thorn in her side, but she feels mentally superior to most of the other and she feels she can win against them all'
Says he has given 'lesson of humanity'.
The glittering career of Russian former World No 1 Maria Sharapova was in tatters after she was given a two-year ban by the International Tennis Federation. Check out the high points in her career...
Read on to find out who is the more popular team among the models.
Maria Sharapova will not care less what reception she receives when she plays her first Australian Open match since completing a doping ban on Tuesday, according to three-times Melbourne winner Mats Wilander.
Muguruza wins all-Spanish clash with Badosa at WTA Finals
Setien's complaint piled yet more pressure on president Josep Maria Bartomeu less than an hour after a group seeking his removal announced they had gathered enough signatures to force a vote of no-confidence against him.
Lionel Messi scored a penalty for the third Champions League game in a row with the Spaniards maintaining their winning start to the group stage.
Images from Day 10 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Thursday.
Russia's former World No 1 Maria Sharapova said she could not wait to return to tennis in April after her drugs ban was reduced to 15 months on Tuesday.
A quick look at the winners of the 94th Annual Academy Awards.
"Both in terms of what you save on the wage bill as well as the money you make, it would've been desirable. But this is something the coaching staff have to consent to and that's not my place.
South Waziristan, in north-west Pakistan, is regarded as the home of the Taliban. Forget playing any sport, but girls here rarely go to school. Under such circumstances, how does a girl realise her dream to be a sportsperson.
We asked you to share pics and stories of your furry companions.
Brazil fought back from a goal down to score three times in the second half and record a 3-1 win over Venezuela that maintained their 100 percent record in qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup.
Maria Sharapova's reduced suspension for a doping violation is set to provide a healthy boost to her bank balance with corporate sponsors reaffirming their commitment to the Russian player. The 29-year-old can return to the court next April after the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her two-year ban by nine months on Tuesday. Sharapova's stunning admission in March that she had tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open, and her subsequent ban by the International Tennis Federation, saw a number of sponsors distance themselves from her.
The 27-year-old is a reported target for Barcelona, whose President Josep Maria Bartomeu said last week that Neymar wanted to leave the Ligue 1 side to return to Spain, but that PSG were reluctant to sell him.
Paris Saint Germain's Neymar, Laywin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes as well as Marseille's duo of Dario Benedetto and Jordan Amavi were given their marching orders after rival players threw punches and kicks at each other.
Tennis sensation Maria Sharapova yet again rules the Forbes' list of highest-paid female athletes.
It wasn't just the tennis that amazed audiences at Roland Garros.
The Spanish media showed no mercy to Barcelona after their epic 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, calling for huge changes at the club after a night that will be difficult to erase from their memory.
Images from Day 9 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Monday.
Russia's suspended athletics federation said on Wednesday it had paid a multi-million-dollar fine to World Athletics in a move that could help it avoid expulsion by the sport's global governing body. Last month World Athletics said the federation would be expelled if it failed to pay $6.31 million, a sum that includes a fine for breaching anti-doping rules, before August 15.
World Athletics, the sport's governing body, limited the number of Russians eligible to compete internationally this year to 10 in response to doping offences by senior staff at Russia's suspended athletics federation.
IMAGES from Day 6 of the matches played at the US Open at Flushing Meadows on Saturday.
