African football leader Issa Hayatou took temporary charge of FIFA on Thursday after Sepp Blatter was "relieved of his duties" because of his 90-day suspension, the world governing body have announced.

Hayatou, 69, is president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and takes over as senior vice president of FIFA even though he has a troubled past.

As his scandal-haunted reign running world football came to an ignominious end, Sepp Blatter had become increasingly certain that FIFA rivals, the media, maybe even governments, were out to get him.

Some diehard supporters of the 79-year-old Swiss sports baron even compared him to "Jesus", being hounded out of office and crucified by his critics in a hateful press.

American rider Nicky Hayden, 2006 world champion, said Thursday he will retire from MotoGP next year to compete in the World Superbike Championship.

The 34-year-old Honda man, preparing to race in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, has announced his move to Ten Kate Honda from the next year.

Nico Rosberg is heading into this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix determined to keep alive his bid for the drivers’ world title by beating defending two-time champion and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton on a track that may throw up tire problems for most teams.

The 30-year-old German, who is 48 points adrift of the Briton after winning three races, to Hamilton’s eight, this season said he feels he has enough positive feelings to draw on to justify his optimism as he prepares for a keenly-anticipated contest.

Tottenham Hotspur teenager Dele Alli is one of several players hoping to make an impression when England begin their preparations for next year's European Championships against Estonia on Friday.

England secured their place at Euro 2016 by beating Switzerland 2-0 last month, when Wayne Rooney became his country's all-time leading scorer, and they will be looking to record a ninth win in nine Group E games in the encounter at Wembley.

FIFA's ethics watchdog on Thursday suspended the two most powerful men in football, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, for 90 days in a sensational new blow to the sport's scandal-tainted governing body.

While it said the bans were "provisional", the action almost certainly signals the end of the reign of FIFA president Blatter and deals a major blow to UEFA leader Platini's hopes of taking over.

On a night of big games in Asia, Japan will be under the most pressure as a defeat to Syria in their 2018 World Cup qualifier on Thursday would cast doubt on its chances of making it to Russia.

Only the eight group winners in the second round of Asian qualification are assured of a place in the third and last stage, where they will be joined by the four best second-placed finishers.

Fiji bowed out of the Rugby World Cup by overpowering a feisty Uruguay 47-15 in an action-packed Rugby World Cup match on Tuesday.

The Uruguayans contributed to the entertainment with a gutsy display that not only earned them their first try in the tournament, but a second to boot.

Juergen Klopp appears to be close to taking over as Liverpool manager.

Representatives of the former Borussia Dortmund coach are in talks with the Premier League club, which fired Brendan Rodgers on Sunday after the team's 18-month slump since nearly winning the league title in 2014.

Former West Germany and Bayern Munich great Gerd Mueller has Alzheimer's disease.

Bayern said on Tuesday that the 69-year-old Mueller has had the illness for "a long time" and that he has been cared for professionally with the support of his family since the beginning of February this year. His wife Uschi asked for understanding, as there will no official appointments or visits for his 70th birthday on November 3.