Rafael Benitez was overcome with emotion as he was presented as the new coach of Real Madrid on Wednesday.

The former Liverpool boss has signed a three-year deal to take charge of the club where he began his coaching career in the youth ranks during the early nineties.

When LeBron James left behind the Miami Heat last July after four consecutive NBA Finals trips to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers, he never dreamed to be so close to a title so soon.

But when the NBA Finals open Thursday, James will be there for the fifth year in a row as his revamped Cavaliers face the Golden State Warriors in the best-of-seven championship series.

With a new coach and a revamped squad, England go into the Women's World Cup seeking to atone for the disappointment of their group-stage exit at the 2013 European Championship.

England have reached the quarter-finals at the last two World Cups, but they failed to win a single game at the Euro in Sweden two years ago, which cost long-standing coach Hope Powell her job.

Retired Chinese tennis star Li Na, who is credited with introducing the game to the country's masses, announced Wednesday that she and her husband have a newborn daughter.

"Jiang Shan and I would like to introduce our Alisa to my lovely 'Na fans'," the 33-year-old wrote in an early morning posting to China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Sepp Blatter on Tuesday resigned as president of FIFA in a stunning capitulation to critics as a mounting corruption scandal engulfed world football's governing body.

The 79-year-old Swiss official, FIFA president for 17 years and only reelected on Friday, calmly told a hastily arranged press conference that a special congress would be called as soon as possible to choose a successor.

Ghana stunned favourites Argentina 3-2 at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup on Tuesday, with Ukraine demolishing Myanmar 6-0 and USA advancing to leave hosts New Zealand facing an early exit.

Six-time champions Argentina, already reeling after a 2-2 draw with unfancied Panama, were 3-0 down and looked completely outclassed before a late fightback.

Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him tied to the Catalan giants until 2020.

"FC Barcelona announces it has reached an agreement with Jordi Alba for the renovation of his contract until 2020," the club said in a statement on Tuesday.

FIFA on Tuesday admitted that it had processed a $10 million payment from South Africa to football official Jack Warner but denied that the world body's secretary general Jerome Valcke was involved.

A FIFA statement said that neither Valcke "nor any other member of FIFA's senior management were involved in the initiation, approval and implementation" of the 2007 transfer from South Africa to Warner, then president of the North, Central America and Caribbean football confederation.

Second seed Roger Federer reached the French Open quarter-finals for the 11th time on Monday with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over France's Gael Monfils.

Federer, the 2009 champion, will now face Swiss Davis Cup winning teammate Stan Wawrinka for a place in the semi-finals.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova's bid for a third French Open title in four years is over.

Coughing between points on an overcast day, the second-seeded Sharapova was outplayed throughout a 7-6 (3), 6-4 loss to 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the fourth round Monday.