There will be 14 winners of the Champions League, or the old European Cup, in the 32-team group stage draw Thursday after PSV Eindhoven advanced in the qualifying playoffs.

PSV, the European champion in 1988, beat Rangers 5-1 in their playoff second leg Wednesday to complete a 7-3 aggregate score.

Paris Saint-Germain defender Lucas Hernandez was called back Thursday to the France squad ahead of a European Championship qualifying match, nine months after a serious knee injury.

Hernandez, who joined PSG from Bayern Munich, was included in a 23-man list by France coach Didier Deschamps.

American NBA stars ripped world sprint king Noah Lyles on social media for comments saying he is offended when teams declare themselves "world champions" for winning an NBA crown.

U.S. sprint star Lyles won the 100- and 200-meter titles and helped the U.S. 4x100 relay capture gold at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

It was the Luka Doncic show again at the World Cup.

The first required step at the Basketball World Cup for the Americans is now complete. They're going to the tournament's second round.

An achievement, technically — but one barely worth acknowledging.

Lebanon lost its third Basketball World Cup game Tuesday.

Seven teams had already reached the knockout stage — defending champion Spain, the United States, Canada, Germany Latvia, Lithuania and Montenegro. Eight teams including Lebanon cannot advance.

The mother of Spain's suspended football chief Luis Rubiales, who is under fire for planting an unsolicited kiss on the lips of player Jenni Hermoso, went on hunger strike Monday in support of her son.

Angeles Bejar began her protest inside the Divina Pastora church in the southern seaside town of Motril, saying she would continue until Hermoso "tells the truth" about what happened, a family member told reporters outside of the church.

Prosecutors at Spain's top criminal court said Monday they had opened a preliminary investigation into Luis Rubiales' forcible kiss on the lips of a star of World Cup player Jenni Hermoso on grounds it could constitute a crime of "sexual assault."

"Prosecutors from the National Court have opened a preliminary investigation to look into the facts, which could constitute an offence of sexual assault," a court statement said, indicating it would offer Hermoso a chance to file suit to that end.

It was late in the first quarter of the U.S. team's opener at the FIBA World Cup. Austin Reaves was in transition and tossed a lob to Cam Johnson, who got sandwiched in midair by two New Zealand defenders and took a hard fall.

Steve Kerr expected such plays to happen.

Nicolas Batum has been part of France's national team for about 15 years now. He was part of a gold-medal game loss to the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics. Part of another gold-medal game loss at last year's EuroBasket. Part of a pair of semifinal-round losses at the last two FIBA World Cups.