Italy host Croatia on Sunday in a crucial Euro 2016 qualifier but behind the veneer of Antonio Conte's seemingly rejuvenated Azzurri squad lies a murky backwater that is Italy's Serie A.

Italy's once revered top flight, a former haven for the finest purveyors of the 'beautiful game', is in crisis mode -- and big names from Johan Cruyff to Carlo Ancelotti are among those ringing the alarm bells.

As cars roar around a track on the outskirts of Damascus, motorsport fans for a moment forget the misery of Syria's civil war and revel in the thrill of the race.

For the first time since Syria's devastating conflict broke out in March 2011, the capital's regular "drift racing" championship has returned this autumn.

Football Federation Australia hit back Friday at a FIFA report that alleged taxpayer money went to buy votes during its bid for the 2022 World Cup, insisting it conducted a clean bid campaign.

Australia's top football body rejected assertions of impropriety in canvassing support for its failed bid by FIFA's Ethics Committee and said it had been "disappointed" by the process.

For Gerard Pique, Spain's apparently routine European championship qualifier against Belarus on Saturday has added importance.

Once an unquestionable part of both Barcelona and Spain's title-winning teams, the defender has apparently fallen out of favor with club coach Luis Enrique.

Milos Raonic withdrew from the ATP Finals with a quad injury before his final round-robin match against Japan's Kei Nishikori on Thursday.

The seventh-seeded Raonic, who lost his first two matches in Group B in straight sets, will be replaced by Spain's David Ferrer, the first alternate at the year-end tournament.

Arsenal's German midfielder Mesut Ozil will be sidelined for a further seven weeks with a knee ligament injury, he announced on Wednesday.

Ozil, 26, already out of action since early October, said in Berlin, where he was receiving an award: "I've already been injured for five weeks and I'm going to be out for another seven. It's a long process.

Russia and Qatar were cleared Thursday by a FIFA judge of corruption in their winning bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert formally ended a probe into the bidding contests, almost four years after the vote by the governing body's scandal-tainted executive committee. No proof was found of bribes or voting pacts.

Michael Schumacher's family is still confident about the former Formula One champion's future, but isn't giving any new details about his condition.

A message from Schumacher's family posted on his official website Thursday thanked fans and well-wishers "for facing this fight together with him and us."

Novak Djokovic lost the first two games of his match against Stan Wawrinka. After that, there was no stopping the world No. 1.

The top-ranked Serb stayed calm, withstood the early assault from the third-seeded Swiss, and then crushed him 6-3, 6-0 at the ATP Finals on Wednesday to close in on the coveted year-end No. 1 spot.

Brazilian football legend Pele was in a stable condition Thursday following surgery for kidney stones, the Sao Paulo hospital treating him said.

"He underwent surgery this morning to remove kidney stones and for now is clinically stable and recovering," read a statement from the Albert Einstein clinic, signed by Dr. Fabio Nasri.