Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic have been named ITF World Champions for 2011.

Djokovic won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in a stellar year in which took over as the top-ranked men's player, finishing with a 70-6 overall record.

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been voted the French player of the year by France Football magazine after scoring 32 goals in 56 matches for club and country in 2011.

Benzema, who scored crucial goals to help France qualify for next year's European Championship, won the magazine's vote ahead of Barcelona defender Eric Abidal and Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who was third.

Beating Real Madrid 3-1 last weekend will make things easier on Barcelona as it bids for another title at the Club World Cup, defender Gerard Pique said Tuesday.

European champion Barcelona will face Qatari club Al-Sadd in the semifinals on Thursday, with the winner advancing to take on either South American champion Santos or J-League side Kashiwa Reysol.

Andre Villas-Boas believes his Chelsea side are back in the thick of the title race following their 2-1 win over Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Victory saw Chelsea move to within seven points of City who suffered their first defeat in 15 league games so far this season at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Real Madrid's first chance to exorcise the memory of its 3-1 defeat to Barcelona at the weekend comes with a visit to third-tier team Ponferradina in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday.

"This is very welcome to us. For any club of our level, playing against Madrid is the best," said Ponferradina president Jose Fernandez. "It's also important economically. For us, it's like a lottery win."

UEFA has started taking ticket applications for 2012 European Championship matches from fans of the 16 competing countries.

UEFA says it will sell at least 6,000 seats to fans of each team at each of the 24 group-stage matches.

Asian champions Al-Sadd play Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, a "dream" tie the Qatari side's coach has claimed they can win.

Stubborn Al-Sadd were up against it for long periods in Sunday's clash against Esperance of Tunisia, which was marred by fans of the African champions trying to get on the pitch at the end, with at least one succeeding.

Chelsea star Nicolas Anelka is to join Shanghai Shenhua on a two-year contract, the club said Monday, in a huge boost for China's scandal-hit Super League.

The 32-year-old French striker will join the club next month, Shenhua said in a brief statement, which did not mention the value of the ground-breaking deal.

London 2012 Olympics supremo Sebastian Coe has defended a controversial budget hike for the Games' opening and closing ceremonies, saying it will make for the "largest piece of television ever".

The British government last week agreed to more than double the budget for the ceremonies to 81 million pounds ($127 million), sparking criticism by Olympians such as world-record-holding marathon runner Paula Radcliffe.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp was unable to hide his frustration with referee Chris Foy after watching his team lose ground in the English Premier League title race.

Spurs old boy Matthew Etherington's first-half double was sufficient to earn Stoke a 2-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, ending a run of 10 wins and a draw from their previous 11 top flight matches for Redknapp's team.