Mario Balotelli and AC Milan strike partner Stephan El Shaarawy headline Italy's squad for upcoming matches against San Marino and the Czech Republic, while Antonio Cassano remained left out.

The Azzurri will host San Marino in a friendly in Bologna on May 31 then visit the Czechs in Prague on June 7 for a World Cup qualifier.

Maria Sharapova brushed aside America's Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1, to reach the Rome Open quarter-finals on Thursday.

She will face Italy's Sara Errani for a place in the semi-finals in a repeat of last year's French Open final which the Russian won.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal endured a three-set thriller before overcoming big-hitting Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Rome Masters quarter-finals.

Gulbis, ranked 46th, and a winner in Rome in 2010 over Roger Federer on his way to the semi-finals, saved two match points in the third set, but finally went down when he sent a forehand wide to the massive relief of a dancing, celebrating Nadal.

David Beckham is retiring from soccer, ending a career in which he transcended the sport with forays into fashion and a marriage to a pop star that made him a global celebrity.

The 38-year-old former England captain, who recently won a league title in a fourth country with Paris Saint-Germain, said Thursday he will retire after the season.

Champions League finalists Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are proof that clubs do not have to spend beyond their means to achieve success, UEFA president Michel Platini believes.

The head of European football's governing body said the German sides, who meet at London's Wembley stadium on May 25, were an example for other clubs to follow.

Japanese automaker Honda said Thursday it will return to Formula One in 2015 as an engine supplier to British team McLaren in a bid to revive their championship-winning partnership.

Honda president Takanobu Ito said "McLaren-Honda" will aim to become "number one" in the elite racing world.

Werder Bremen has parted company with Thomas Schaaf, the longest-serving coach in the Bundesliga after spending 14 years with the club.

Werder said Wednesday that the 52-year-old Schaaf was leaving "by mutual agreement" with immediate effect. It didn't immediately announce a replacement.

A Seattle man trying to dribble a football 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) to Brazil in time for the 2014 World Cup died Tuesday after being hit by a pickup truck on the Oregon Coast.

Police in Lincoln City, Oregon, said 42-year-old Richard Swanson was hit at about 10 a.m. while walking south along U.S. Highway 101 near the city limits. He was declared dead at a local hospital. The driver has not been charged.

England defender Rio Ferdinand has retired from international football to focus on his Manchester United career.

Ferdinand was recalled to the England squad in March by Roy Hodgson after almost two years out of the national set up.

At the height of her success, high jumper Blanka Vlasic had to relearn how to leap.

There was really no other choice for the 29-year-old Croatian. A fragment of a bone in her left ankle broke off and embedded into her Achilles, requiring surgery to shave part of the tendon on her takeoff foot.