A third place finish at the World Cup on Saturday leaves a strong legacy for Belgian football, coach Roberto Martinez said
The CONCACAF region is widely viewed as favourite to host the 2026 tournament given FIFA rules that restrict Europe and Asia from hosting again so quickly.
Brazil failed to win for the first time in 11 games with their own lacklustre midfield as much to blame for the 0-0 draw with Mexico as the inspired goalkeeping performance of Guillermo Ochoa.
Nelson Mandela, 91-year-old former South African president, firmly intends to make a brief appearance at Friday's World Cup opening match, organisers and his family said on Thursday. But World Cup chief Danny Jordaan told reporters the decision on whether Mandela will appear at Soccer City for South Africa's encounter with Mexico would be determined on the day.
Photos of the World Cup match between Cameroon and Brazil being played in Brasilia
Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time World Cup playoff win over Czechs
India have so far won three gold medals with compound archer Abhishek Verma opening the tally by winning the individual event on Saturday.
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday.
A Ronaldinho-inspired Barcelona booked their place in the final with a classic 4-0 demolition of Mexico's America.
The trend has generated a wave of social media memes and satire, and even the creation of an app that allows you to track where to get the coveted stickers. New stock has been selling out in a matter of hours.
The three-nation United States-led bid to host the 2026 World Cup outscored its rival Morocco as both passed an inspection of their facilities and infrastructure, global soccer body FIFA said on Friday.
Meg Lanning's Australia, long the benchmark in women's cricket, will bid for a record-extending fifth T20 World Cup title after a rocky ride to their sixth final. Harmanpreet Kaur-captained India arrive at the MCG undefeated and without having bowled a ball in the rained-out semi-final against England.
Sweden can beat England in Saturday's quarter-finals and eventually win the World Cup in Russia if they can handle the pressure, former captain and record goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said.
The United States would have to grant entry to players, officials and fans from any country that qualified if it won the right to host the 2026 World Cup finals, soccer body FIFA said.
The United States qualified for the World Cup finals in Brazil after second half goals from Eddie Johnson and Landon Donovan gave them a 2-0 home win over Mexico on Tuesday.
Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Ronjan Sodhi will spearhead Indian challenge at the ISSF Shotgun World Cups in Mexico and United Arab Emirates in March and April.
Fernando Torres continued his recent resurgence as Chelsea brushed aside Mexico's Monterrey 3-1 with a confident display to reach the final of the Club World Cup in Japan on Thursday.
India, hosting its first ever FIFA tournament in the U-17 World Cup, will set the record of having the farthest distance between two venues in the event's history.
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.
Marcus Allback's equalising goal for Sweden in the Group B match against England was the 2,000th in World Cup finals history.
IMAGES from the FIFA World Cup match between Sweden and South Korea, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on Monday.
Frenchman Lucien Laurent, who scored the first goal in World Cup history in 1930, died on Monday aged 97.
The draw for the eight groups for the final round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will be played from June 12 to July 13 in Brazil, was just held in Costa do Saupe near Salvador de Bahia.
The stadium erupted in cheers once more with Fernandez's late strike which sealed Argentina's first win in the tournament and rekindled Messi's hopes of a first-ever World Cup title.
The Nike swoosh decorates the outfits of Brazil, France and England, the sides in the quarter-finals most favoured by betting websites to win the World Cup, plus Croatia.
World Cup sidelights: All the news from Brazil right here...
England beat Nigeria 2-1 in a friendly on Saturday that provided some clues as to how coach Gareth Southgate will line up his still experimental side when the World Cup gets underway in two weeks' time.
The officiating at this World Cup hasn't been of the highest standards at this World Cup. We bring you the Top-10 disputed calls made by referees and linesman in the tournament, so far.
Forget famous goal celebrations such as 'The Robot' by Peter Crouch and 'The Dive' by Juergen Klinsmann, here comes the South African 'Diski dance'.
The setting is unique but a succession of pre-tournament injuries and the lessons of past World Cups outside Europe suggest the football at Africa's first finals will resonate to familiar Latin rhythms.
FIFA slapped the Mexicans with a CHF 10,000 fine for what it called "discriminatory and insulting chants" during their surprise 1-0 win over Germany on Sunday.
South Africa and Mexico are likely to go on the attack in the opening game of the World Cup on Friday, hopefully ending a run of cagey and often dour starts to the finals. Against a backdrop of fevered enthusiasm and the deafening noise of vuvuzelas at Johannesburg's cavernous Soccer City, an entertaining tone for the tournament is likely to be set by two teams who are much better going forward than defending.
Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol upset Mexico's Monterrey 4-3 in a penalty shootout on Sunday to set up a Club World Cup semi-final against Brazil's Santos.
Germany coach Joachim Loew will stay in his post despite his team's group stage elimination at the World Cup in Russia.
the countries assured of places in the 32-team field for next year's World Cup finals in Russia after Tuesday's qualifiers.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Germany reached their fourth consecutive World Cup semi-final after defender Mats Hummels's first-half header gave the three-time winners a 1-0 victory over France at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana on Friday.
The Meerut-based Rizvi shot a world record 242.3 in the 10m air pistol event's final to beat reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany (239.7) to win the top prize.
The fourth of a five-part history of the World Cup from Uruguay in 1930 up to the preparations for the 2014 finals in Brazil.
