as favourites at least against yengen sport, who are the first side from new caledonia to get to the fifa showpiece. the winners of wednesday‘s tie will take on concacaf champions league winners monterrey in the quarterfinals on saturday. 10 years after their team bus was attacked by gunmen in lahore, sri lanka are back in pakistan to play their first test match in the country since the atrocity. they‘ll play two tests, under heavy security: one in rawalpindi which starts on wednesday, and the second in karachi next week. sri lanka have named a full strength squad including the likes of angelo mathews and dinesh chandimal, who skipped the recent one day series there. rory mcilroy has turned down a reported $2.5 million to compete in saudi arabia next month. the northern irishman says the idea of playing in the event does not excite him and that the decision not to compete is also based on morality. the country has been criticised for its record on human rights. tiger woods revealed last week that he had also turned down an offer to play in the european tour event. before we go, we had

wenger was appointed fifa's new chief of global football development last month. but despite his new role, wenger said he's more than happy to advise arsenal's new caretaker manager freddie ljungberg as he begins his career at the emirates. i want them to do well and i wish freddie well. he has wanted to do thisjob for a long time. he has got an opportunity and let's get him to work with his ideas and let's support him. it's being billed as the clash on the dunes as saudi arabia hosts the biggest heavyweight fight of 2019, the rematch between andy ruinunior and anthonyjoshua. it comes six months after ruiz‘s shock world title win in new york — notjust inflicting the briton‘s first defeat as a professional, but the manner of it reverberated around the sporting world. well they're back to do it all again on saturday and joshua says he's fully prepared this time around. it was an unknown test, i give the man his credit, he was victorious, well done to him for that. now it's my turn to kind of right my wrongs. he thinks he is probably going to do the same thing

both players also won their categories earlier this year in the best fifa player of the year awards. and the win for messi comes just 2a hours after he scored the winning goal for barcelona in their la liga win over atletico madrid. it's a record sixth time the 32—year—old has taken the award and comes ten years after he won it for the first time. translation: ten years ago, i was awarded my first ballon d'or here in paris. i remember i came with my three brothers. i came with my three brothers. i was 22 years old and everything that was happening to me, it was unthinkable. now, ten years later, i have received the sixth one in a totally different and special moment in my personal life, with my wife and my three sons. while megan rapinoe won the women's award in a year that saw her claim a second fifa women's world cup with the usa as they hoisted the trophy aloft in france. the 34—year—old co—captain of her country is also known for being an activist and an advocate for numerous lgbt organisations. i mean, like, i can't believe i'm actually the one winning it in this field

he's been named as fifa's new chief of global football development. the move ends speculation linking him to the vacancy at bayern munich. wenger‘s been out of work since leaving arsenal 18 months ago after 22 years in charge during which he won three premier league titles and the fa cup seven times. prior to that, he was in charge of french league side monaco and grampus eight injapan. it isa it is a position that i can share what i know and i can help football to grow, hopefully in quality and as well in knowledge. and i would think as well it is good to believe that people have been working at the top, top level on the competitive side and sharing their knowledge at some stage, which people take after, and i believe that is why for the former players, and it is for the former managers. there were three more world records at the world para—athletics championships on wednesday. they were set by brazilian discus thrower alessandro da silva and shot putters vladimir sviridov of russia and liu li of china who all won gold. rounding up the other high

the change followed pressure from football's world governing body, fifa — and the death of a fan who set herself alight, after being arrested for trying to attend a match. more than 3,500 women bought tickets for the world cup qualifier against cambodia, where they were granted access to a special women's—only section of the azadi stadium. but amnesty international described the move as a cynical publicity stu nt because the capacity is 78,000. there are supervisors from fifa that came to observe and check the behaviour of the iran federation so the atmosphere is very good, it's very sympathetic and i hope we all enjoyed the match. well, they would have enjoyed the match — with sardar azmoun scoring a hat—trick as iran thrashed cambodia 14—0. karim ansarifard went one better — scoring four — as the iranians made it two wins out of two in group c. there were plenty of goals all round asia on thursday. yang xu scored four as china beat guam 7—nil, jamie maclaren scored a hat—trick in australia's 5—nil win over nepal, in group f, japan scored 6 against mongolia while k

have fifa done the wrong thing? all of a sudden by what happened to sahar khodayari we need to find practical solutions so that women have free access to matches. it isa women have free access to matches. it is a focus. during last year ‘s mockup progress are some women were allowed at the stadium to watch on giant screen. the hope that this week authorities honour their pledge to go week authorities honour their pledge togoa week authorities honour their pledge to go a step further in what could prove a game—changer. tennis and they're down to the last 16 at the shanghai masters where novak djokovic is among those through to the 3rd round. the world number one and defending champion remains on course to retain the title that he won last year after a straight sets victory over the canadian denis shapovalov. djokovic, who's bidding to win the shanghai masters for a 5th time, came through 6—3, 6—3, and now he'll face the big—serving american john isner. in the bottom half of the draw, the number a seed domin

a fifa panel met to rule on a dispute between the two sides, who had failed to reach agreement on settling payment for the striker. cardiff had argued they were not liable for the fee because sala was not officially their player when he died. scotland have reignited their rugby world cup campaign with a much improved 34—0 victory over samoa. having been comprehensively outplayed by ireland in their opening match at the tournament injapan they scored four tries in a bonus point win that could prove crucial in a wide open group a. our correspondant katie gornall sent us this report from kobe there was so much pressure on scotla nd there was so much pressure on scotland coming into this game against samoa, defeat was not an option and then you they do notjust have to win, but they had to score four tries in the process, that would yield that all—important bonus point and give them the best chance of progressing from pool a which is wide open at the moment. nerves in the stadium, the conditions were against them, it was very hot and humid in there, butjust as the anxiety was beginning to b

the newly—crowned fifa player of the year set up antoine griezmann for the opening goal but came off at halftime with a thigh injury. arthur had put barca 2—0 up before a santi cazorla goal pulled a goal back for the visitors. so just a third league win in sixmatches so far this season. but that victory drags barca up to fourth, one point behind surprise package granada whose draw at real valladolid was enough to send them top. real betis, meanwhile, beat levante 3—1 with two goals from loren moron who has five goals in five games now. a in five games now. shock result in the english leag cup a shock result in the english league cup on tuesday with tottenham hotspur, champions league finalists last season, beaten on penalties by fourth tier colchester united —— fourth tier colchester united —— fourth tier colchester united —— fourth tier tear. samoa have kicked off their rugby world cup campaign with a bonus point victory over russia in kumagaya on tuesday. russia led 6—5 at the break, after two penalties from yury kushnarev. the samoans were down to just 13 men for

it's the sixth time that messi has won a version of the fifa player of the year award. he led barcelona to two trophies last season, and won his 10th league title with the club — he beat cristiano ronaldo and virgil van dijk in the voting. megan rapinoe, who scored six goals as the usa retained the world cup this year, beat lucy bronze and alex morgan to the women's award. rapinoe also became a vocal advocate for many of the issues facing football during the world cup and continued that theme in her acceptance speech. if we really want to have meaningful change, what i think is most inspiring, would be if everybody other than raheem sterling and curra valley, if they were as outraged about racism, as they were. if everybody was as outraged about homophobia as the lgbtq players. if everybody was as outraged about equal pay or the lack thereof, or the lack of investment in the women's game, other than just women, that would be the most inspiring thing to me. as you saw, both awards were presented by the fifa president gianni infantino, and he took time to address the is

the eventual winner will be named at next month's fifa football awards in milan. the sight of australian batsmen steve smith being brought to the ground by a bouncer travelling around 150km/h during the second ashes test has reignited the debate about concussion in cricket. smith had looked disorientated as he left the pitch on saturday — yet he was soon given the all clear to continue. now a leading brain injury charity says it was incredibly dangerous. our sports correspondent andy swiss has more. hit in the neck at 90mph. and the ball which struck steve smith has now sparked a far broader debate. why? well, after leaving the field for assessment, smith was allowed to return. just a0 minutes later, he was back batting again. but then, the next morning, he complained of headaches and was ruled out of yesterday's final day. so, should smith have ever been allowed back on? well, one leading brain injury charity believes not. i was surprised, i was disappointed and i was worried. the reality is that it is too short a time to accurately diagnose whether or not he w

we're more than three years away from the 2022 fifa world cup in qatar but for many nations the long and ardous road to football's flagship event is already underway after asia got the ball rolling last month. on monday the preliminary round draw for african qualifying was made in egypt. the continent's 28 lowest—ranked sides,s were all in the hat. they'll play each other in a home and away knockouts. the 1a winners willjoin the continent's top—ranked 26 sides, those a0 teams will then be split into ten groups of four for the second qualifying round. but even at this stage there are some tasty ties to look forward to. what was also very interesting, burundian tanzania, two teams which just competed in the africa cup of nations and also liberia and sierra leone, two great players emerged from these teams. his excellency, the president of liberia and also a famous sierra leone player. interesting encounters. there are no more small teams. 0nce interesting encounters. there are no more small teams. once you have a good coach was technically and tactically prepared, you can install i

i've been hearing that fifa is colonising africa again. fifa. we have defined a roadmap that is a leading document, that will transform together, that you have to transform, because i want your contribution to make it a success. infantino was speaking at the caf congress in cairo ahead of friday's africa cup of nations final. algeria face senegal, who are bidding to win the trophy for the first time. senegal lost in their only previous final in 2002, and star striker sadio mane says he would swap the champions league medal he won with liverpool last month to win the cup of nations with his country, who are the tournament favourites. algeria, though, say their coach has filled them with the belief they can win the title for the first time since 1990. it is important that we be very... a team, as we are, and it is important for algeria, because we used to have good individualities, and nowi think we feel very strongly as a team. translation: how is it played? i always say it comes down to details, details like when you have the chance to score and

they‘ re the second—highest placed african nation in fifa's world rankings but tunisia could only manage a draw against angola at the africa cup of nations. it finished 1—1 in their match in group e thanks to a second half angola equaliser. in the other game in the group, mali thrashed the tournament debutants mauritania 4—1whilst aston villa'sjonathan kodja got the only goal of the game as ivory coast beat south africa by a goal to nil. meanwhile ghana begin their campaign against benin on tuesday. and they'll be hoping to improve on a series of near—misses. across the last six tournaments they've finished runners—up twice and reached four other semi finals. we've been talking to one of their star players about why he thinks they're one of the teams to watch: this is why you should support ghana. we are an exciting team and we don't want to go into the bench andi we don't want to go into the bench and i believe this is going to be a yearforghana. i and i believe this is going to be a year for ghana. i will give and i believe this is going to be a yearfor ghana. i will give it to

there has been no reaction today orfrom fifa. they say they are not in a position to comment further but french police can detain michel platini for up to 48 hours in this building. defending champions kashima antlers beat sanfrecee hiroshima 1—0 in the home leg of their asian champions league last 16 clash on tuesday. the only goal of the game came midway through the first half, brazilian midfielder serginho nodding in from close range with the second leg taking place next tuesday in hiroshima. ub an all chinese clash guangzhou evergrande beat shandong luneng 2—1 at home but it all came down to this own goal in the 80th minute. having an away goal on the score sheet will at least offer some consolation to shandong for their home leg next week. peru beat bolivia 3—1 on tuesday to improve the team's chances of advancing to the knockout stage of copa america. jefferson farfan and edinson flores second half goals in rio dejaneiro taking them top of the group for the time being — 25,000 fans were at the maracana stadium so it

the world governing body, fifa, is hoping once again the tournament can help grow the game across the globe. but there is one success story that will forever go down in women's football history. japan, who scotland and england will face in group d, won the competition in 2011, but the victory came after unspeakable national tragedy. 0ur sports news correspondent chris mclaughlin has been injapan and has the story. the world cup in germany, 2011. against all the odds, japan are crowned champions. a road to glory paved by, even inspired by, tragedy. just a few weeks earlier, this was japan. a huge tsunami follows a massive earthquake. parts of the country were completely devastated. those who watched as they prepared for the world cup say they almost pulled out. instead, they won it. that when back in 2011 has become as much a part of the culture here as neon lights and karaoke. national identity and pride here are just so important. but i wonder if that moment in time has actually helped grow the game. the japanese fa say yes, attendances and participation, they say, have increased dra

fifa president gianni infantino said last year the expansion from 32 teams could be brought forward from 2026 to the 2022 tournament, but the change would have required qatar to share hosting duties with other countries in the region. the 2026 world cup will still increase to 48 teams, though, as planned. our football correspondent john murray has more. over two years ago, fifa voted unanimously to increase the number of teams at the world cup from the current 32 to 48 for the tournament in 2026, which will be hosted by the usa, canada and mexico. last year, fifa president gianni infantino said he hoped it would be possible to bring forward the expansion to the 2022 world cup in qatar. that would, however, have required qatar to share hosting duties with other countries in the region, and fifa have now decided, after what they describe as a thorough and, hence process , describe as a thorough and, hence process, that change could not be made for 2022, and it would not be feasible for qatar to host a 48 team world cup on its own. holders kashima antlers are through to the last 16 of the a

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