English football clubs are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on new players ahead of the ...

If three German psychologists have it right, the crimson-clad Chinese team has all the advantage in ...

BEIJING, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - It may be two days until the official opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics but Wednesday saw the first action of this year's Games, with the women's football tournament kicking-off the action.

Far away from the Chinese capital in Shenyang, northeast China, Germany and Brazil played out a goalless draw in the opening match of the competition.

BEIJING, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Roger Federer may be anticipating a 'dream Olympics' but, with just three days to go until the Beijing Games start, the dark cloud of doping was becoming as much a part of the atmosphere here as the pollution enveloping the Chinese capital.

FRANKFURT, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Adidas, the second biggest sports equipment maker, posted Tuesday a 12 percent increase in second quarter net profit, although its troubled US unit Reebok saw sales fall by just over 11 percent.

Adidas recorded a net profit of 116 million euros (180 million dollars), in part owing to a reduced tax rate, it said in a statement.

AMMAN, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Jordan's military court on Sunday jailed two football fans of Palestinian origin for burning the kingdom's flag while celebrating their team's April victory in the country's premier league.

The pair, who were not named, were each sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay a 100-dinar fine (around 140 dollars), a judicial official said.

PARIS, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The French government agreed Monday to pay businessman and ex-minister Bernard Tapie 285 million euros (450 million dollars), ending a 13-year furore over the sale of his Adidas sports group.

FRANKFURT, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Adidas, the second-biggest sportswear company in the world, feels that Chinese salaries are now too high and it will transfer some production to more competitive countries, its chief executive said in an interview on Monday.

BARCELONA, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - More than 5,000 athletes, gay and straight, from across Europe are converging on Barcelona for the Eurogames which get underway on Thursday in the Spanish port city, organisers said.

SHANGHAI, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - Chinese race walker Song Hongjuan, who competed in the last Olympics, has been banned from competing for four years after failing a drugs test, officials said Saturday.