Portugal didn't need Cristiano Ronaldo to rack up its biggest-ever win in a competitive game.

Excited Bolivian fans gathered at the La Paz international airport to welcome Lionel Messi ahead of Argentina's World Cup qualifying game against the home team on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old Messi traveled with the defending World Cup champions but is not a certain starter at the game because of fatigue.

Have a summer, Germany. Dirk Nowitzki went into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and now his homeland stands atop the men's international basketball world.

Tournament MVP Dennis Schroder scored 28 points, Franz Wagner added 19 and Germany capped off an unbeaten run through the World Cup by holding off Serbia 83-77 in the final on Sunday night. It was Germany's first World Cup title; its previous top showing in the event was a bronze at Indianapolis in 2002.

Mikal Bridges pulled off an overtime-forcing miracle. It wasn't enough to keep the U.S. from heading home from the World Cup empty-handed, and after 87 years of waiting Canada has again medaled on one of basketball's biggest stages.

Dillon Brooks scored 39 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points and 12 assists and Canada won its first medal at a global men's tournament since 1936 by topping the U.S. 127-118 in the third-place game in Manila on Sunday.

Luis Rubiales, the suspended head of the Spanish soccer federation, finally folded under immense pressure Sunday and resigned three weeks after his kiss of a player on the lips overshadowed Spain's first-ever Women's World Cup title.

Rubiales had been at the center of a controversy that had gone far beyond Spain's borders and the world of sport after he kissed Jenni Hermoso during the globally televised awards ceremony after Spain beat England to win the title on Aug. 20 in Sydney, Australia. The player said the kiss was without her consent.

After an outlay of $1 billion, Saudi Arabia's transfer window shut with the oil-rich kingdom having announced itself as a new powerhouse in global football.

Leading target Mohamed Salah may not have joined Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema by moving to the lucrative Saudi Pro League, but it seems inevitable more stars will eventually be lured away from Europe's biggest clubs.

The Asian Games are set to go in China, the first multi-sport international event in the country since pandemic restrictions were lifted there about nine months ago.

This giant sports festival in the eastern city of Hangzhou involves more athletes than the Olympics with 12,417 entered, according to organizers.

Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi is back in contention for the prestigious award a year after being omitted from the nomination list, which this time doesn't include longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi, the Inter Miami star who led Argentina to the World Cup title in December, was named on Wednesday to the 30-man list of nominees along with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé.

The coach of Spain's World Cup-winning women's soccer team was fired Tuesday, less than three weeks after the victory celebration that led to the suspension of the country's soccer federation president for kissing a player.

The Spanish soccer federation offered no immediate explanation for the dismissal and mostly praised Jorge Vilda, saying he was "key to the notable growth of women's soccer" and thanking him for leading the national women's team to its first World Cup title and to No. 2 in the FIFA rankings.

Brazil is about to start its sixth attempt to add a sixth star to its famous soccer shirt.

The vibe is very different from the start of its past five South American World Cup qualifying campaigns, though, because the Selecao is rebuilding with an interim coach, its star player not based in Europe and promising young players are either struggling for form or injured.