FIFA elects a new president on Friday, a vote seen as crucial to restoring the image of world football's scandal-tainted governing body.

Here are the five men vying for the job

Stan Wawrinka reached his second final of the season as Nick Kyrgios retired injured from their semi-final at the ATP Dubai Championships on Friday.

The Australian quit due to back pain while trailing 6-4, 3-0, having had on-court treatment after the seventh game of the opening set.

Louis van Gaal has challenged young forward Marcus Rashford to show consistency in his Manchester United career following a breathtaking first appearance in the 5-1 Europa League victory over Denmark’s FC Midtjylland.

Rashford was only called into the starting line-up for his debut when Anthony Martial injured his hamstring in the pre-match warm-up -- the second successive week United have lost a player in such circumstances after goalkeeper David de Gea pulled out of the first leg.

Manchester United came from behind to beat Midtjylland 5-1 with a brace from debut striker Marcus Rashford while Tottenham beat Fiorentina 3-0 and Liverpool squeezed past Augsburg to make the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday.

United had been trailing 2-1 from the first leg, and went 3-1 down on aggregate to the Danish champions before an own-goal, 18-year-old Rashford's brace, an emphatic Ander Herrera penalty and a late Memphis Depay strike saw United qualify 6-3 on aggregate.

Three-time World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo insists he could see out the remainder of his career at Real Madrid due to his love for the Spanish capital.

The Portuguese has been constantly linked with a move back to Manchester United or to Paris Saint-Germain despite becoming Madrid's all-time record goalscorer with 347 goals in just seven years at the club.

Argentine football star Lionel Messi has sent not one, but two jerseys to the five-year-old Afghan boy who became an Internet sensation last month when he was pictured wearing a plastic bag with "Messi" scrawled on it in marker pen.

Murtaza Ahmadi traveled with his family from eastern Ghazni province to Kabul to receive the gifts sent by Messi through UNICEF, where he is a goodwill ambassador.

Serie A leaders Juventus will be without Claudio Marchisio for two successive games against Inter Milan after the influential midfielder suffered a thigh injury against Bayern Munich in midweek.

Marchisio was replaced at half-time in a 2-2 draw with Bayern on Tuesday which has left their Champions League last 16 tie delicately poised ahead of the return leg on March 16 in Munich.

Ten-man PSV Eindhoven battled to a 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday, comfortably surviving more than 20 minutes after a red card for striker Gaston Pereiro.

PSV coach Phillip Cocu said before the match that both sides would likely settle for 0-0, but he was far happier than Diego Simeone with the goalless stalemate after PSV held on following Pereiro's dismissal for two senseless fouls.

Sergio Aguero scored one goal and helped create another as Manchester City powered to a 3-1 first-leg win over Dynamo Kiev in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Aguero and David Silva's goals gave City a 2-0 cushion at the break before Vitaliy Buyalskiy pulled one back for Dynamo and Yaya Toure secured a valuable third away goal for City.

The powerbrokers of Asian football have long claimed that the sport's future rests in Asia, and given the recent spending boom by Chinese clubs, that future appears closer than even they dared predict.

Chinese Super League clubs have splashed out close to $300 million in the winter transfer window -- which closes Friday — on big names from Europe and South America such as Ramires, Alex Teixeira, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jackson Martinez and Gervinho. This has led to speculation as to whether it can become one of the leading domestic football competitions in the world and help propel the global balance of power eastwards.