Sports

Professional footballers have been warned by the world players' union FIFPro to think twice before signing to play for clubs in Cyprus, Greece or Turkey.

FIFA expects a total of nearly 3.3 million tickets to be available for the tournament in Brazil, but only about 1 million are being offered in the first stage of sales.

The Socceroos announced that the match against France will take place at the Parc des Princes in Paris on October 12 after their clash with Brazil in Brasilia on September 8.

Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay will undergo surgery on his right leg on Thursday.

Marchisio had to be replaced by Paul Pobga after 21 minutes of Juventus' 4-0 victory over Lazio in the Italian Super Cup on Sunday.

Arsenal suffered a shock 3-1 home defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday, finding themselves unable to capitalise on Olivier Giroud's early goal.

Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck scored two goals each to ensure defending champions Manchester United kicked off their Premier League campaign in style.

Barcelona's team doctors have cleared Lionel Messi to play in the club's Spanish league opener against Levante.

Maradona is to be a part-time consultant for an Argentine fifth-tier team during visits home to Buenos Aires.

Football's governing body said that it fined the federation about $10,700 for "not complying with the request from the FIFA Disciplinary Committee."

Metalist was to face Schalke next week in a first-leg match but first-leg match.

Rickie Lambert made a goal-scoring debut, clinching a 3-2 win over Scotland as international football's oldest rivals met for the first time in 14 years.

Indian football team's disastrous performance at the international level continued as they went down 0-3 to Tajikistan in an international friendly.

Aranzubia will be with Atletico under a one-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Messi was due to return to Barcelona on Wednesday morning to continue his treatment on his left thigh.

Fabregas twisted ligaments in his right ankle during Barca's pre-season 3-1 friendly win over a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur.