The bid by four South American countries to host football's 2030 World Cup will stay intact until next year regardless of political tensions in the region, a top team bid official says.

Michael Boys, the executive secretary of the bid of Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that he and his team will approach only politicians who are already in office to discuss plans to host the centennial World Cup in seven years.

The Asian Games are an attention grabber. For starters, they involve more participants than the Summer Olympics. Organizers say more than 12,000 will be entered when the opening ceremony takes place Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. This is more than the 10,500 expected for next year's Paris Olympics.

The giant numbers are partly due to the staggering array of events with many regional specialties, sports, and games you won't find in the Olympics. And there's also cricket, which appears headed to the Olympics as soon as 2028 in Los Angeles, and certainly for 2032 in Brisbane, Australia.

Striker Kylian Mbappé continued his scoring spree and right back Achraf Hakimi also found the net as Paris Saint-Germain opened its Champions League campaign with a 2-0 home win against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Mbappé's penalty put PSG ahead in the 49th minute following a video review. Referee Jesús Gil Manzano stuck to his decision and ruled that defender Niklas Süle handled the ball from Mbappé's shot.

Tottenham wing-back Ivan Perisic has suffered an ACL injury to his right knee, the Premier League club said Wednesday.

Spurs said Perisic would undergo surgery to repair a "complex" injury sustained in non-contact training.

Most of Spain's World Cup-winning players ended their boycott of the women's national team early Wednesday after the government intervened to help shape an agreement that was expected to lead to immediate structural changes at the country's football federation.

Only two players, Barcelona teammates Patri Guijarro and Mapi León, opted to leave the training camp in the eastern city of Valencia after receiving guarantees from the government that they would not be sanctioned, with the rest staying after being told that some of their demands for reform would be met.

Cristiano Ronaldo was held scoreless in his first game in the Asian Champions League as his Al Nassr team beat Iranian club Persepolis 2-0 in Tehran on Tuesday.

The game was played inside an empty Azadi Stadium after Persepolis was ordered to play without fans for one game by the Asian Football Confederation after Indian club Goa complained about an offensive social media post made by the club in 2021.

Manchester United might have to summon the spirit of 1999 when it opens its Champions League campaign at old rival Bayern Munich.

United has started the Premier League with three losses in its opening five games and was booed by its own fans after the latest defeat against Brighton on Saturday.

History is not on Pep Guardiola's side as he tries to lead Manchester City to back-to-back Champions League titles this season.

Real Madrid is the only club to retain the trophy in the modern era by winning it three times in a row from 2016-18.

The player in the middle of the controversy that engulfed Spanish soccer after she was kissed on the lips by an official has accused the country's soccer federation of trying to intimidate the World Cup-winning players by picking them for the national team even though they asked not to be called up.

Jenni Hermoso, who said she did not consent to the kiss by former federation president Luis Rubiales during the World Cup awards ceremony last month, said in a statement early Tuesday that the federation's decision to call up nearly half of the 39 players who said they would not play for the national team as a protest was "irrefutable proof" that "nothing has changed."

Hundreds of soccer fans stormed into a hotel in Tehran on Monday, hoping for a glimpse of star player Cristiano Ronaldo after he arrived with his Saudi teammates ahead of a game.

Chanting "Ronaldo, Ronaldo," the fans pushed past police, filling the corridors and public spaces of the Espians Palace Hotel.