Louis van Gaal says the visit of Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea side to Old Trafford on Sunday will be extra special for the Manchester United manager as he greets his "modest" former apprentice.
The following is a factbox on former Dutch international who was popularly known as 'Flying Dutchman'.
Australia's top winter football codes have resolved to play on with spectator bans for as long as they can reasonably do so, but the governing body of Super Rugby had little choice but to suspend the sprawling rugby union competition.
Football legend Pele described the FIFA corruption scandal as a "shame", but made it clear that the reputation of the game was not tarnished.
Belgium have scored 14 goals in five matches and were hugely impressive in their 2-1 quarter-final victory over Brazil, with Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne combining to devastating effect to oust the five-times world champions.
Rafael Nadal to play for Spain in new Davis Cup Finals while World No 1 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, have already said they would support the ATP Cup -- seen as a rival team event to the Davis Cup -- when it begins in Australia just a few weeks after the ITF's flagship event.
Soccer's five-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messi said on Thursday he knew nothing about an alleged tax evasion scheme when he signed contracts related to image rights.
Tunisia won at the World Cup for the first time since 1978, beating Panama 2-1 in their final World Cup Group G match on Thursday.
Belgium struck early and held off a late Brazil fightback to send the five-time champions tumbling out of the World Cup with a 2-1 victory in an end-to-end thriller on Friday that earned them a semi-final against France.
Chelsea have signed Stoke City's Bosnian international goalkeeper Asmir Begovic on a four-year contract, the Premier League champions confirmed on Monday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Two-time champions Ghana are seeking to revive their fortunes in the tournament, having last won it way back in 1995, when they stunned a Brazilian outfit that had the likes of Julio Cesar in its ranks.
Atletico Madrid have moved to strengthen their forward line for next season following the exit of Mario Mandzukic by agreeing to buy Colombia striker Jackson Martinez from Porto.
Chile defender Gonzalo Jara will miss the rest of the Copa America after being suspended for three matches for sticking his finger up an opponent's backside and feigning injury during a match.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will go head-to-head once again for the title of world's best footballer after being short-listed along with Neymar on Monday for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or.
Knee injuries have sidelined him for large parts of this season, however, and the Belgium international has started only four Premier League games.
Defying all odds, an 11-year-old football prodigy from an impoverished area of Bhubaneswar has been selected to train at Germany's most iconic club Bayern Munich, as an academy player for two months.
Uruguay's Edinson Cavani has always played second fiddle to his more illustrious attacking colleagues at country or club level but the long-haired marksman emerged out of those shadows with his twin strike in the World Cup round of 16 last week.
Manchester City's Sergio Aguero has been playing like one of the gods all year and after being honoured by the FSF at its annual gala dinner in London.
Croatia ruthlessly exposed England's limitations in the second half of the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday as Zlatko Dalic's side fought back to secure a famous 2-1 extra-time victory.
Angel Di Maria, with all the abundant gifts that make him at nearly 60 million pounds the most expensive signing in English football, may have found a club where he could again become the king, not some undervalued courtier.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the second year running and the third overall on Monday after a prolific, trophy-filled year with Real Madrid.
No one expects Nigeria to win, but by now everyone knows that shirt...
At least two of the eight first-round groups of four produced tough obstacles for their participants to progress to the knockout rounds.
"I want to reach the highest level possible as a player and I think the most important thing is that at the end of the season we can be happy and maybe have some titles," playmaker De Bruyne told the City website (www.mcfc.co.uk).
European champions Portugal came up against a superior version of themselves as they were knocked out of the World Cup by Uruguay on Saturday. Although Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo will grab the headlines -- the former for his two brilliantly goals and the latter for what could well be his World Cup farewell -- Uruguay owed their 2-1 win to a superb all-round performance.
A beautifully-worked Antonio Di Natale goal saw lowly Udinese beat AC Milan 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday to deal a huge blow to the visitors' prospects of European football next season.
Lionel Messi may lack a World Cup for Argentina but his 10 years with Barcelona have seen him rewrite the history books and become symbolic with the club's golden era.
Breaking records has become Cristiano Ronaldo's favourite pastime. Very few footballers can do everything and Ronaldo is of that rare breed
Manchester United will sell goalkeeper Victor Valdes after the Spaniard refused to play in the reserves, manager Louis van Gaal said.
River Plate could face a Monumental Stadium ban after a fan threw a piece of wood and hit Godoy Cruz defender Leandro Grimi as he celebrated scoring the equaliser in his team's 2-1 upset win on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Germany will retain their World Cup title in Moscow to equal Brazil's record of five wins in the tournament, according to a Reuters poll of financial specialists more used to predicting market moves.
The 28-year-old, who joined Arsenal in 2006, scored 108 goals in 397 appearances but has struggled to hold down a first-team place this season under manager Arsene Wenger.
The two-times Olympic 100m gold medallist and three-times world 100m champion said she will return to competition in 2018.
A goal by Salomon Rondon gave Venezuela an upset 1-0 win over Uruguay in Philadelphia on Thursday that put them on the verge of the Copa America Centenario quarter-finals with the record 15-times champions facing elimination. When midfielder Alejandro Guerra lobbed Fernando Muslera from more than 30 metres, the Uruguay goalkeeper chased back but only managed to tip the ball onto the bar and striker Rondon raced in to tap it into the net in the 36th minute. Venezuela, who beat Jamaica 1-0 in their opening Group C match, have six points, three more than Mexico, who beat Uruguay 3-1 on Sunday and were playing the Jamaicans later on Thursday in Pasadena. For Venezuela, looking for their maiden title, it was a first win in nine Copa America meetings with Uruguay while Rondon became the first "Vinotinto" (red wine) player to score at three tournaments.
City are 18 points clear of second-placed Liverpool after beating Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and need just four wins from their final nine games to be sure of the title.
Barcelona's star footballer Lionel Messi was named the Best International Athlete award, while Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, who recently won the Wimbledon singles titles, were named the best male and female tennis players respectively, at the 2015 ESPY Awards in California, on Wednesday night.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
