Wigan Athletic's players have agreed to refund the club's travelling fans after Sunday's humiliating 9-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Seventh-placed Liverpool, who have 14 points from nine matches, travel to a Newcastle side buoyed by their League Cup victory over Manchester City.
Inter Milan's aversion to Europa League football continued with a 3-1 defeat at Sparta Prague, while AS Roma ended a continental hoodoo stretching back seven games with a 4-0 home win over Romanian side FC Astra on Thursday.
Cristiano Ronaldo shows no signs of flagging as he approaches his mid-30s but there are plenty of other worries for a team with an ageing central defence and a number of players struggling for form.
Diego Maradona's Argentina finally clinched a place in the 2010 World Cup finals following a tortuous qualifying campaign with a 1-0 away win over bitter rivals Uruguay on Wednesday. Substitute midfielder Mario Bolatti stabbed home the only goal five minutes from the end of a tense, foul-riddled match at the Centenario, ending Uruguay's hopes of a victory that would have put them through.
Substitute Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hat-trick in the last 11 minutes to fire Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-1 win at home to Hamburg SV on an afternoon of late Bundesliga drama on Saturday.
Mario Balotelli scored a minute from time to give Inter Milan a 2-1 win over beleaguered Juventus in their Italian Cup quarter-final on Thursday, leaving Juve coach Ciro Ferrara on the brink of the sack.
Germany will travel to the World Cup with all six strikers from their preliminary World Cup squad to keep their offensive options open, coach Joachim Loew said on Monday.
Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez, the Bundesliga's most expensive ever purchase, is already feeling insecure at his new club.
Novak Djokovic has lost his aura of invincibility but coach Andre Agassi says nobody should be surprised if the Serb goes on to claim his fourth Wimbledon title this month.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
The 31-year-old is still recovering from the knee injury which forced him to limp out of the Euro 2016 final against France in the first half, coach Fernando Santos said.
Juventus have been fined 10,000 ($14,330) after their fans sang racist chants and let off fireworks in Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by Serie A strugglers Catania, the Italian Soccer League said on Monday.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Premier League-based trio Diego Costa, Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla were among a high-profile list of absentees when Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque named his provisional 25-man squad for Euro 2016 on Tuesday. Costa injured his hamstring against Liverpool in Chelsea's penultimate game of the season. Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres was also absent from the squad despite his improved form towards the end of the season, as were Arsenal midfielder Cazorla and Valencia forward Paco Alcacer, Spain's top scorer in their qualifying campaign.
Inter Milan's game at faltering Juventus on Saturday could be stopped if home fans again racially abuse visiting striker Mario Balotelli although the 19-year-old is unlikely to start for the Serie A leaders.
Summary of World Cup qualifiers played across the world on Thursday
Merseyside Police is reportedly investigating racist abuse received by Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli on Twitter after he tweeted 'Man Utd...LOL' after the crushing 5-3 defeat met by Manchester United at the hands of Leicester on Sunday.
An overhead television camera suspended by cables crashed to the ground in the Olympic Park on Monday, lightly injuring at least three people among the crowds below, the latest in a string of mishaps to hit South America's first Games. A TV news report showed two of the injured looking dazed, sitting on the ground near the heavy black camera housing. One woman, bleeding from her head as medics arrived, was taken away on a stretcher. The other walked from the scene wearing a neck brace.
Argentina overcame a late fightback from Canada to score a 4-2 victory and set up a clash with India in the seventh place play-off in the men's hockey World Cup, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
Teaching of world religion in schools and Quebec's Liberal government's decision asking new non-French-speaking immigrants to pledge to learn the language have become issues in the Quebec election campaign. Quebec votes December 18.
While Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar follow, there's no sign of Aamir Khan, whose latest film Dangal is one of the most successful Hindi films ever made.
Serge Gnabry scored twice as Bayern Munich beat Chelsea 3-0, while Antoine Griezmann's second-half equaliser handed Barcelona a vital away goal and earned them a 1-1 draw at Napoli in their Champions League last 16, first leg on Tuesday.
Croatia have no major injury concerns going into Sunday's World Cup final despite having played three 120-minute matches
Croatia will need their big-game players to step up.
For Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic the final is a chance to settle the score 20 years after the bitter defeat
France coach Didier Deschamps heaped praise on his players after they reached the World Cup final with a 1-0 win over Belgium on Tuesday, saying the lost final at Euro 2016 was still on his mind.
Luis Fabiano's looping header and a Mario Alvarez own goal gave Sevilla a 2-0 win over Getafe in their King's Cup semi-final first-leg on Wednesday.
Wayne Rooney marked his 500th game in English league football with a coolly-taken Panenka-style penalty for Derby County in their 1-1 draw against Fulham in the Championship on Friday. The 34-year-old ex-England and Manchester United captain, who made his debut for the Midlands club earlier this month after returning from a playing stint in the United States, cleverly chipped in a 55th minute penalty for the lead.
The Formula One season starts in Australia on March 17 with new regulations, changed lineups, a trio of young rookies fresh from Formula Two and the comeback of Poland's Robert Kubica.
Brazilian football great Pele said he was in good health in a video recorded at the Sao Paulo hospital where he has been treated for a urinary tract infection.
Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of moving into the top four stalled in a 2-2 draw at bottom club Norwich City, while several VAR interventions overshadowed the action. Images from EPL matches played on Saturday.
New strikers Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano bagged their maiden Serie A goals to give AC Milan their first points of the season with a 2-1 home win over Empoli on Saturday.
A stunning strike by Romelu Lukaku gave Inter Milan a 2-1 win at Brescia on Tuesday although they had to cling on for three points in the face of heavy pressure from the promoted side.
Poland forward Robert Lewandowski became the second top Borussia Dortmund player to leave for arch-rivals Bayern Munich in less than a year when he agreed terms on Saturday to join them as a free agent at the end of the season.
Italian double winners Juventus claimed their third Super Cup title in four seasons as new signings Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala struck in the second half to secure their 2-0 win over Lazio in Shanghai on Saturday.
