Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands attacked near the foot of the final climb to win the ninth stage of the Tour de France in extreme weather conditions as Alberto Contador pulled out of the race on Sunday.

Briton Chris Froome stunned his passive rivals to snatch the overall leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de France when he won the eighth stage with a lightning attack on the final descent on Saturday.

Mario Mandzukic and Nikola Kalinic grabbed hat-tricks as Croatia achieved a record win as an independent nation by demolishing San Marino 10-0 in their final Euro 2016 warm-up match in Rijeka.

Factbox explaining how the voting system will work at the FIFA presidential election on Friday.

Israel, Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia and Ukraine were also found non-compliant of the WADA Code and can no longer conduct anti-doping programs

Real Madrid's Gareth Bale and Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey will miss Wales' friendly at home to the Netherlands on November 13, manager Chris Coleman said on Wednesday.

The Dutch, who have not missed a Euro finals since 1984, kept their playoff chances alive with a 2-1 win in Kazakhstan

Belgium make Wales wait after Hazard's strike, while Czechs beat Latvia to qualify

Malta make Italy sweat, while Bale takes Wales closer to competition

Bosnia captain Edin Dzeko struck a hat-trick to kick-start their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign as they beat no-hopers Andorra 3-0 in a one-sided Group B match in Andorra La Vella on Saturday.

True and deep action is awaited.

Wales continued their unbeaten start to the Euro 2016 campaign as a nervy 2-1 triumph over Cyprus, after they had been reduced to 10 men, bolstered the nation's dream of qualifying for a major championship finals for only the second time.

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has defended the Premier League leader's handling of the head injury he suffered during last weekend's 2-0 league victory over Arsenal.

Defender Giorgio Chiellini scored three times, including an own goal, as Italy beat Azerbaijan 2-1 in their Euro 2016 Group H qualifier in Palermo on Friday.

Europe is preparing for UEFA's first full-blown 'week of football' as the marathon Euro 2016 qualifying competition gets into full swing - although it promises to be a distinctly underwhelming experience.

Arsenal and Manchester City meet at The Emirates on Saturday when both teams will seek to roar into life after making spluttering starts to their Premier League campaigns.

Eden Hazard expects to enjoy playing with greater freedom and less pressure on his shoulders this season as Premier League leaders Chelsea demonstrate their strength in depth by challenging for four trophies, including the Champions League.

An incredible map designed by Rafaan Anvari, William Samari and Ray Yamartino highlights what (almost) every country is famous (or infamous) for.

Lionel Messi's picture was on the front pages rather than the sports sections of the Spanish media on Thursday, after the World Player of the Year and his father were accused of tax fraud.

These 5 countries have no airports at all.

Spain and hat-trick hero Pedro turned on the style in a 4-0 World Cup qualifying win in Belarus amid a television blackout while Germany had Irish viewers turning off in droves as they romped to a 6-1 away win on Friday.

The Indian men's and women's teams cruised to identical 4-0 victories over Wales and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia respectively in the first round of the 40th Chess Olympiad at the Wow Hotel and Convention centre in Istanbul.

Indian shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu fared dismally and finished 25th out of 34 competitors on Day 1 of the qualification round of the men's trap event at the Olympic Games and has extremely slim chances of making it to Monday's finals. At the end of three rounds, Manavjit -- in his third Olympics -- totalled 70 points out of a possible 75, with rounds of 24, 24 and 22, at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

England booked a place at the Euro 2012 finals on Friday, while former champions France are among several teams who face nail-biting matches next week to determine their fate.

Less than one year after Spain beat the Netherlands to win the World Cup, the circus starts again on Wednesday although the opening match of the 2014 qualifying tournment will cause barely a ripple. Tiny Montserrat, who have won only two international matches, is scheduled to face Belize on neutral territory in a match which will be a far cry from last year's game at Soccer City, watched by an estimated 700 million television viewers.

Stuttering England were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Switzerland in their Euro 2012 qualifier on Saturday while Russia's stand-in striker Roman Pavlyuchenko grabbed a hat-trick to secure a 3-1 win against Armenia.

Germany broke Austrian hearts with a last-gasp win in Vienna on Friday, extending their perfect start to Euro 2012 qualifying on a night of far more serene progress for Italy and frustration for France.

We bring you a list of countries that do not have armed forces, or have done away with them completely

France received chilling notice that the road to post-World Cup redemption will be long and hard when they lost 1-0 to Belarus in Paris on Friday, while Portugal threw away two points in a frantic 4-4 draw at home to Cyprus. England and Italy were able to start repairing their reputations with contrasting wins in their first Euro 2012 qualifiers and Spain swatted away Liechtenstein 4-0 with an ease befitting their status as world and European champions.

Soon, the greatest global show will be over. Life will not be the same, probably a bit boring with no octopus, no blundering referees, no Paraguayan starlet or horrible cacophony (though by the end of the competition we will be missing it!).

Spain, who won Euro 2008 with a series of superb performances culminating in their victory over Germany in the final, are ranked number one in the world and were grouped with Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein.

Croatia need not worry about England taking it easy against Ukraine on Saturday despite having already qualified for the World Cup finals, coach Fabio Capello said on Friday.

World champions Italy and Euro 2008 winners Spain took determined steps towards World Cup qualification with victories on Saturday but France and Portugal are struggling after being held to disappointing draws. Nobody was in a position to join already-qualified Netherlands in securing a place at the finals in South Africa next year but Spain can make a provisional booking after seven wins out of seven following a 5-0 home thrashing of Belgium.

England coach Fabio Capello has added uncapped Bolton Wanderers defender Gary Cahill to his squad after captain John Terry and Wes Brown missed training on Wednesday with minor injuries.

England moved to within three points of next year's World Cup finals by crushing Andorra 6-0 on Wednesday to win their seventh successive Group Six qualifier.

The orange-clad army of Dutch fans can start booking flights for South Africa after the Netherlands became the first European nation to qualify for next year's World Cup finals with victory in Iceland on Saturday.

England secured an emphatic 4-0 victory in Kazakhstan on Saturday to move closer to qualifying for next year's World Cup finals.

Switzerland only provided information on tax fraud that led to criminal activity. But the Swiss definition of tax fraud is quite narrow, which means that a false invoice is not a crime. Now, any tax abuse will be covered.

OECD has identified at least four tax jurisdictions -- Jamaica, Qatar, Botswana and Ghana - whose tax information system would be studied to find out if they are emerging as the new tax havens following the crackdown on the existing ones. A unique tax identification number would be akin to a global permanent account number for Indian taxpayers which could remain the same across jurisdictions.

England goalkeeper David James is to have shoulder surgery this week and will miss the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Kazakhstan next month.